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Sarah Lee joined the University of Southern Mississippi in August 2020 as Director of the School of Computing Sciences and Computer Engineering. She brought nearly a decade of faculty and leadership experience from Mississippi State University (MSU), where she served as Assistant Department Head in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering.

At USM, Sarah’s leadership has transformed the School through strategic initiatives that doubled student enrollment and earned the University a prestigious NCAE-C designation. She has also been widely recognized for her contributions: the Heart of Gold Faculty Service Award at USM (2021), the ISC² Diversity Award (2022), and the Women Leading Change Award from Women for Progress Inc. (2023). In 2021, she was part of a team recognized as a Top 10 Finalist in the XPRIZE Rapid Reskilling Competition for creating alternative tech skills development pathways.

Before transitioning to academia, Sarah built a 19-year career at FedEx in information technology, managing major software development projects such as a courier route planning system and a customer relationship management system. Her accomplishments were recognized with multiple FedEx Hall of Fame awards and leadership endorsement through the company’s Leadership Evaluation and Awareness Process (LEAP).

Since leaving industry, Sarah has been a national advocate for broadening participation in computing. In 2016, she and Dr. Vemitra White received a National Science Foundation INCLUDES grant to establish the Mississippi Alliance for Women in Computing (MSAWC), part of a national initiative to increase U.S. leadership in STEM. The alliance works to recruit and retain women in computing and to strengthen their transition into the workforce.

At MSU, she launched several impactful outreach programs, including the Mississippi Affiliate of the NCWIT Aspirations in Computing Award for high school students and the Bulldog Bytes summer program, which introduces K–12 students to programming and cybersecurity. Bulldog Bytes grew into a nationally recognized program, supported largely by the NSA’s GenCyber initiative. For her teaching and mentorship, Sarah received MSU’s highest faculty honor, the John Grisham Master Teacher Award (2020).

Her efforts also extend to supporting students with disabilities in computing through collaborations with AccessComputing at the University of Washington and The Clovernook Center for the Blind and Visually Impaired. She has mentored students through the Dow Diversity Fellowship and continues to expand access to computing careers through her work with the Mississippi Coding Academies. She also co-founded the Last Mile Education Fund, which helps remove financial barriers for students completing degrees in computing and engineering.

Sarah holds a BS in Business Administration and Computer Information Systems from the Mississippi University for Women, an MS in Computer Science from MSU, and a PhD in Computer Science from the University of Memphis.

A fifth-generation native of Lowndes County, Mississippi, Sarah enjoys genetic genealogy and has assisted many individuals in locating family members through DNA research. She is active in the Bernard Romans Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution, the Lowndes County Pioneer Society, and the Pace Society of America. She is married to David M. Lee Sr., Esq., and they have two children. 

Sarah Lee
PHD