Dr. Ker-Fong Lee

A Family Affair

Dr. Ker-Fong Lee
Professor, Downtown Campus

Born on Penang Island in the formerly British Malaya, Dr. Ker-Fong Lee came to the U.S. for college in 1968 when his girlfriend convinced him to decline a scholarship to study in Paris and join her in America. But being in the same country and being near each other were two different things. While Dr. Lee went to Denison University in Granville, Ohio to earn a bachelor's in chemistry and physics, his girlfriend enrolled at Vassar College – 800 miles away in Poughkeepsie, New York.

The distance was later bridged when they both arrived in Tallahassee for graduate studies at Florida State University and got married. After receiving their PhD’s — his in theoretical chemistry, hers in nuclear physics — Mrs. Lee started teaching at Florida A&M University in Tallahassee and Dr. Lee accepted a position teaching chemistry and physics at Florida Community College, just to stay close. For one long year, they saw each other only on weekends. Happily, she soon joined him here and Dr. Chew-Lean Lee has been Professor of Physics here since, now teaching at Kent Campus.

Even after 24 years, Dr. Lee still relishes the interaction with students. “Every semester is a new beginning – they all start out eager and excited to learn.” He notes how goal-oriented and highly motivated his students are, from older and more mature nursing and engineering students changing careers, to those fresh out of high school planning to transfer with an A.A. degree.

And Dr. Lee doesn’t see his students only in class. In 1984, he originated an annual Student Recognition Day awards program on Downtown Campus to acknowledge academic excellence in students. The program has since spread College-wide. “By honoring students for their achievement, we instill a sense of pride and accomplishment in them.”

He still keeps in touch with former students. “Many are now teachers, scientists, engineers, pharmacists, nurses, doctors; some are even professors and staff here at the College! he says. Together with Mrs. Lee he oversees the College’s chapter of the Society of Physics Students, which is one of only a few two-year colleges, among nearly 500 college chapters nationwide, to have been granted a charter.

Dr. Lee has worked at the Downtown Campus for the length of his career at Florida Community College. In fact, he occupies the very same office – he was the first tenant, moving in not long after the building opened. “Same paint behind the same bookshelves!” Dr. Lee laughs.

It was love that brought Dr. Lee to the United States in the first place, and it’s love that has kept him at Florida Community College – love of teaching and working with students.

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