Community Involvement
Dr. Lee had a strong commitment to public and community services. Dr. Lee's public services consist of local, state and federal levels on either voluntary or full-time appointments basis. The details could be found in a chronological order in her vita/bio with occasional newspaper clippings. She was appointed by mayors, governors, US Department Secretaries, the US Congress and even President Bush in various capacities.
In the Houston community, she was always involved in certain volunteer work along with her multiple roles and career development. She joined, supported and founded a number of Chinese and non-Chinese non-profit groups and organizations during her 26 years of residence in Houston, Texas.
Dr. Lee's first volunteer work was starting the weekend Chinese class. Six months after Dr. Lee and her then husband Dr. Stanton Yao received their Ph.D.s from Purdue University, they moved to a suburb named Clear Lake City (CLC) of Houston in February, 1972. Dr. Yao's new employment with Lockheed Electronics was one of the space contractors for NASA. There were about 200 Chinese families in CLC. A majority of them were engineers employed by various space contractors. Nearly all of the young professionals were immigrants from Taiwan like the Yaos. Unlike those earlier Chinese Americans in the Chinatowns in New York, San Francisco, and Los Angles whose children had access to Chinese schools every day, these new immigrants' children, ranging from zero up to eight or nine year old, had no opportunity to study Chinese. The children in Chinatowns normally attended the Chinese Schools after their regular school hours on a daily basis. Since the new immigrants in Houston scattered in various suburbs they could not send their children for a daily Chinese class. Thus, Dr. Lee came up with the new idea of weekend Chinese class for those new immigrants' children.
The first weekend Chinese Class (later called school) in the United States was launched only one month after the Yaos' arrival in CLC in their apartment with two other Chinese-American ladies: Mrs. Peggy King and Mrs. Cynthia Chan. They were all Christians; Mrs. King taught the 3-8 yr. old children to sing, Mrs. Chan was the "manager" for supplies and refreshment and Dr. Lee presented Bible stories in Chinese. This Chinese Class was initially called Space City Chinese Class, then Space City Chinese School and finally, Clear Lake Chinese School. Six months later, the Yao family had to move into their new house between CLC and Houston. With Mrs. King's assistance, the Chinese School relocated to her church, Nassau Bay Baptist Church. It was no longer just one class; children were grouped based on their age and taught by volunteer parents. That was in the summer 1972. Quickly, this concept of weekend Chinese school was disseminated by Mrs. King's newspaper articles and recognized by the officials of the Republic of China (ROC). Interested ROC officials and parents from other parts of Houston often came to observe the classes for their own new program. Today, there are numerous Chinese Schools in the US: 2000 and some even have parents' associations.
As the Chinese class began in spring 1972, Dr. Lee also organized the monthly Space City Parent Discussion Group. Being a new mother herself and specialized in Child Development and Family Life she tried to share her professional knowledge of parenting with local Chinese American parents who often were caught between east and west-cultural conflicts. Later, this group became the Space City Family Association and would host several annual social events.
Shortly, Ms. Peggy King organized the Chinese Amateur Musicians Association (CAMA) because she played guitar and was a good singer while Dr. Lee was an accomplished pianist. They both supported the CAMA with their performance at the annual concerts. Dr. Lee also was church pianist for several years.
To recognize outstanding Chinese American piano students in the greater Houston, Dr. Lee and Mr. Wayne Ng organized an annual concert for young musicians. This organization did not last long due to students' busy extracurricular activities as they grow older.
In addition to serve the Chinese American community, Dr. Lee was also active in the Bay Area League of Women Voters. Later, she was involved in the Houston Minority Women Work Force as some newspaper clippings show.
Her other involvements in Organization of Chinese Americans (OCA) and Organization of Chinese American Women (OCAW) can be found in separate folders.
As of May 27, 2010
Dr. Lee had a strong commitment to public and community services. Dr. Lee's public services consist of local, state and federal levels on either voluntary or full-time appointments basis. The details could be found in a chronological order in her vita/bio with occasional newspaper clippings. She was appointed by mayors, governors, US Department Secretaries, the US Congress and even President Bush in various capacities.
In the Houston community, she was always involved in certain volunteer work along with her multiple roles and career development. She joined, supported and founded a number of Chinese and non-Chinese non-profit groups and organizations during her 26 years of residence in Houston, Texas.
Dr. Lee's first volunteer work was starting the weekend Chinese class. Six months after Dr. Lee and her then husband Dr. Stanton Yao received their Ph.D.s from Purdue University, they moved to a suburb named Clear Lake City (CLC) of Houston in February, 1972. Dr. Yao's new employment with Lockheed Electronics was one of the space contractors for NASA. There were about 200 Chinese families in CLC. A majority of them were engineers employed by various space contractors. Nearly all of the young professionals were immigrants from Taiwan like the Yaos. Unlike those earlier Chinese Americans in the Chinatowns in New York, San Francisco, and Los Angles whose children had access to Chinese schools every day, these new immigrants' children, ranging from zero up to eight or nine year old, had no opportunity to study Chinese. The children in Chinatowns normally attended the Chinese Schools after their regular school hours on a daily basis. Since the new immigrants in Houston scattered in various suburbs they could not send their children for a daily Chinese class. Thus, Dr. Lee came up with the new idea of weekend Chinese class for those new immigrants' children.
The first weekend Chinese Class (later called school) in the United States was launched only one month after the Yaos' arrival in CLC in their apartment with two other Chinese-American ladies: Mrs. Peggy King and Mrs. Cynthia Chan. They were all Christians; Mrs. King taught the 3-8 yr. old children to sing, Mrs. Chan was the "manager" for supplies and refreshment and Dr. Lee presented Bible stories in Chinese. This Chinese Class was initially called Space City Chinese Class, then Space City Chinese School and finally, Clear Lake Chinese School. Six months later, the Yao family had to move into their new house between CLC and Houston. With Mrs. King's assistance, the Chinese School relocated to her church, Nassau Bay Baptist Church. It was no longer just one class; children were grouped based on their age and taught by volunteer parents. That was in the summer 1972. Quickly, this concept of weekend Chinese school was disseminated by Mrs. King's newspaper articles and recognized by the officials of the Republic of China (ROC). Interested ROC officials and parents from other parts of Houston often came to observe the classes for their own new program. Today, there are numerous Chinese Schools in the US: 2000 and some even have parents' associations.
As the Chinese class began in spring 1972, Dr. Lee also organized the monthly Space City Parent Discussion Group. Being a new mother herself and specialized in Child Development and Family Life she tried to share her professional knowledge of parenting with local Chinese American parents who often were caught between east and west-cultural conflicts. Later, this group became the Space City Family Association and would host several annual social events.
Shortly, Ms. Peggy King organized the Chinese Amateur Musicians Association (CAMA) because she played guitar and was a good singer while Dr. Lee was an accomplished pianist. They both supported the CAMA with their performance at the annual concerts. Dr. Lee also was church pianist for several years.
To recognize outstanding Chinese American piano students in the greater Houston, Dr. Lee and Mr. Wayne Ng organized an annual concert for young musicians. This organization did not last long due to students' busy extracurricular activities as they grow older.
In addition to serve the Chinese American community, Dr. Lee was also active in the Bay Area League of Women Voters. Later, she was involved in the Houston Minority Women Work Force as some newspaper clippings show.
Her other involvements in Organization of Chinese Americans (OCA) and Organization of Chinese American Women (OCAW) can be found in separate folders.
As of May 27, 2010