Crystal Chen Lee—a beloved educator, scholar and leader who dedicated her life to amplifying the voices of others and creating spaces so they could be seen and heard—passed away on June 14, 2025. She was an associate professor of English education, a faculty fellow with the Friday Institute for Educational Innovation and a senior advisor for strategic excellence in NC State’s College of Education.
Lee’s career as an educator began in New Jersey as a high school English teacher and debate coach after completing her bachelor’s in teaching from Rutgers University. She taught her students how “to appreciate, question and sometimes challenge the ways in which we think, read, write and act upon the world.”
As she got more involved with social action projects with her students, Lee found that she wanted to expand that work beyond the classroom by connecting nonprofits and organizations to high school teachers and students. “I entered into the research field of education in order to bridge this gap,” Lee said in 2017 when she joined the College of Education as an assistant professor after completing her Doctor of Education in Curriculum and Teaching from Columbia University.
“I try to do work that matters, work that would make a real positive impact on people’s lives, especially in the lives of youth.”
In her eight years at NC State, Lee was a cornerstone in the Department of Teacher Education and Learning Sciences (TELS), the College of Education, the campus community and the broader community. She created two graduate courses in TELS and was a founding faculty member and founding coordinator for a doctoral concentration in TELS. She was also serving as the chair or co-chair of six dissertation committees and was a member of 13 others.
Additionally, Lee was a member of NC State’s AI in Society group, served as senior personnel on the Data Science Academy’s Researchers in AI for Safety and Ethics (RAISE) project, and was the co-principal investigator on an interdisciplinary grant focused on empathy in AI in microtransit.
She was promoted to associate professor with tenure in 2023, and in August 2024, she began serving on the College of Education’s leadership team as a senior advisor for strategic excellence. In that role, she advised the college’s deans and department heads in areas related to strategic priorities, particularly fostering connection and community.
Creating connection and community cut across Lee’s teaching, research and outreach, with a focus on literacy education and the practice of community-based learning.
Of particular note, in 2018, she co-founded the Literacy and Community Initiative (LCI) with Professor and Friday Institute Deputy Director Jose’ Picart. LCI partners with community-based organizations to amplify youth voices by encouraging them to write and publish their own stories. As to why she co-founded LCI, Lee once said: “We want to amplify the words of students who are often invisible or silenced in formal schooling spaces. We intend to flip this narrative so students can lead other students in inspiring ways.”
Since its launch, LCI has engaged over 200 high school students, conducted over 350 hours of literacy instruction and published 15 books with over 800 pieces of writings.
Of LCI’s impact, a former participant once said: “Writing a book gave me the sense that if I was capable of writing this book, I am capable of going to college and of pushing forward. Who would have thought that at the age of 16 or 17, I would have been a co-author and by the age of 18, we would have written two books?…This whole experience didn’t give me a voice; it amplified my voice. It made me realize that my voice can do so much.”
While at NC State, Lee was recognized with numerous honors and accolades. Among them, she received NC State’s 2021 Outstanding Engagement Award, which recognizes faculty members for their outstanding contribution to engagement efforts. She was also inducted into NC State’s Executive Council of the Academy of Outstanding Faculty in Extension and Engagement. And, in April 2024, she received the College of Education’s inaugural Faculty Strategic Excellence Award in recognition of her significant contributions to the advancement of the college’s land-grant mission through excellence in teaching, research and service.
“I am grateful and honored to receive the inaugural Faculty Strategic Excellence Award because I try to do work that matters, work that would make a real positive impact on people’s lives, especially in the lives of youth,” Lee said at the time.
Related Stories:
- Meet Crystal Chen Lee
- Video: Empowering Youth Voices Through the Literacy and Community Initiative
- Video: The Literacy and Community Initiative Storytelling Art Show
- Video: Celebrating Newly Promoted and Tenured Faculty (2023)
- Crystal Chen Lee Receives College of Education’s Inaugural Faculty Strategic Excellence Award
- With Help of Literacy and Community Initiative, Directed by Crystal Chen Lee, High School Students with Juntos N.C. Publish Peer-reviewed Article
- Christy Byrd, Crystal Chen Lee Develop Webinar to Help Educators Learn to Promote Youth Voices
- Juntos Students Publish 2nd Book with Support from Crystal Chen Lee
- Literacy and Community Initiative Shares Framework for Critical Literacy and Successes of Program in New Book
- Crystal Chen Lee and Jackie Relyea Receive Outstanding Engagement Awards
- Categories:
