Founding Faculty Member, Sociologist | 1946–62
Rose Hum Lee was born in 1904, when Chinese immigrants like her parents were not legally allowed to own property, vote or become citizens. she joined the faculty at Roosevelt and, in 1956, she became the first Chinese American and the first woman to head a sociology department in the United States. Lee described Roosevelt as a school created to “impart the truth to all regardless of race, color or creed.”