Grants and Writing Resources for Lee University

Lee students made up 26 of the 40 presenters at the seventh annual McNair-Ledford Undergraduate Research Symposium in fall 2025, coming from eight departments and 16 majors. They placed in both the poster and oral categories. The overall award went to a Lee student whose project asked why customer service workers burn out.

Summer Research

Lee's Office of Undergraduate Research and Scholarship supports student research and lists both paid and unpaid research opportunities, with no prior experience required. The student research page links to the Work-Study Research Assistant Program alongside training in responsible research and software for qualitative and quantitative analysis. Students from Appalachia can compete for the Colonel B. Ledford Scholarship, which the Appalachian College Association awards for summer research at member schools; Lee calls it a fully funded summer research opportunity.

The McNair Scholars Program, a federal TRIO program, prepares first-generation, income-eligible students for doctoral study. Scholars carry out a summer research project with a faculty mentor and housing provided. The program pays an educational incentive of up to $2,800 a year and up to $1,500 for research materials, and it funds graduate campus visits and trips to regional or national conferences. Applicants need 60 credit hours and a 3.0 GPA.

Conference Travel

Undergraduates presenting at a regional or national conference can apply to the Undergraduate Research and Creative Activities (URCA) committee for travel funding, usually offered in fall, spring and summer. Priority goes to the work with the most scholarly significance. First-time applicants and students from departments underrepresented in the past two years also get priority.

Student Journals

McNair scholars publish their findings in the McNair Research Journal, and the program's page posts each year's issue as a PDF, from 2018 through 2025. Creative writers have the Lee Review, Lee's official literary journal, produced each year by a student organization. Squires Library has digitized Lee Review issues from 1991 to 2011.

Doctoral Research

Lee's doctoral students present at the annual Doctoral Student Research Poster Symposium, co-hosted by the EdD, DNP and PhD in Marriage and Family Therapy programs. The fifth symposium had 16 presenters: nine PhD students, five EdD students and two DNP students, with topics from cell phone bans to childhood trauma and burnout. It's free and open to the public.

In the Doctor of Education in Professional Practice, dissertations are problem-based projects using action research methods. Candidates move through four dissertation courses, Dissertation I to IV, after coursework that includes quantitative and qualitative research methods.

Help With Writing

The Writing Center in Vest 102 works with students from every major, native and non-native English speakers alike. Tutors read drafts and ask questions about the writer's ideas instead of correcting the paper. Book a session through the Writing Center Schedule link under University Services on Portico.

If you'd like an editor's eye on a thesis chapter or a research paper before it goes out, we can help. See our Lee University dissertation and thesis editing and Lee University essay editing pages, or write to editors@editorsforstudents.com.