Two framed photographs hang on the wall of Dan Lee’s office. One is a portrait of 20-something Lee in full Navy uniform, and the other is of a naval spy ship he served on.
Under the frame is a shelf of books, several written by Lee himself.
The rest of his office is typical of an Augustana professor. There are papers scattered, plants sitting near the window and a chair for students to sit in, that has “been used quite a bit,” according to Lee.
His office shows the accumulation of 41 years of teaching at Augustana. Lee joined the Religion and Ethics department in 1974 and continues to teach and be actively involved on campus today, with no plans for retirement.
“I just love every minute of teaching,” Lee said. “I suspect that if I were teaching at a big ten university, I would be retired by now, because it’s the opportunity to spend time with students and have conversation with them that really makes it for me.”
Early Life and Education
Lee was born towards the end of World War II, in the mountains of Montana. He attended elementary school in a two-room country school house.
Later he moved to Moorhead, Minn., where he earned he majored in Philosophy, History and Political Science at Concordia College. During the undergraduate program, Lee discovered he wanted to be a teacher.
“I found all of this an exhilarating experience,” Lee said. “I decided that I wanted to share in that experience and help other people discover the types of things that I discovered when I was in college.”
After earning his degree, Lee moved on to Yale University for graduate school. But, his education was interrupted.
“The draft was still in place in the late 1960s. It was Vietnam era,” Lee explained. “Two years into graduate school, I received a letter indicating I would be receiving a job offer at the end of that year that I couldn’t refuse.”
Lee served three years with the U.S. Navy.
“I decided if I was going to go in, I wanted to gain as much from the experience as possible,” Lee said.
For one year, he was sent to language school to study Russian. He became fluent in the language and was assigned to naval intelligence, which involved surveillance and data collections, often from a spy ship.
Lee said serving for the Navy broadened his perspectives in ways he could not imagine, which helped him become a teacher.
“One problem with higher education…is that there are very few people who’ve ever done anything outside of the academic world,” Lee explained. “So, you have a lot of faculty members who are preparing students to function in a world which they have very little experience in themselves.”
After being released from active duty, Lee returned to Yale and finished his degree, before coming to Augustana in 1974.
Teaching at Augustana
“I didn’t apply for my position here,” Lee said. “My phone rang one afternoon and Tom Tredway, who was then the Dean of the college, asked if I was still on the job market.”
Instead of moving on to Yale law school, Lee took a chance and was interviewed at Augustana.
“I was just very impressed with the students I met here,” Lee said, adding that one of the students he met was Richard Priggie, who is now Augustana’s campus pastor.
“As I thought about this, I realized if (these students) were typical of Augustana, maybe that’s the place I want to be,” he said.
Lee decided to “give teaching a try,” finding it a privilege to work with students in and outside of the classroom.
Forty-one years later and Lee has not left Augustana’s campus. He is still a professor in the Humanities, Religion and Ethics departments. He also helps with three different groups of campus: Omicron Delta Kappa (ODK), the Augustana Veterans Support Group and the Phi Rho sorority.
His involvement with students is apparent to everyone on campus, according to Laura Hartman, Associate Professor of Religion.
“Dan always puts the students first,” she said. “He works long hours meeting with students, grading their papers and attending their events. I heard President Bahls say to Dan, ‘I think you attend more events on campus than I do!’”
Lee not only supports his students, but appreciates the opportunities Augustana provides them.
“One of the strengths of Augustana is that it has room for good ideas,” Lee explained.
Without an openness to hear student ideas, Lee said Augie Choice would not exist, as it was created and presented by two students.
He recognizes this opportunity in his job often, including every two years, when Lee takes a group of students to Rome.
Outside Involvement
While Lee is open to helping campus groups, he has been volunteered by others for some of them. For example, he was asked to be a  member of the Handel Oratorio Society, and now has sung in several performances.
He was also recruited to sing in the opera on campus, directed by John Pfautz.
“One part of the joy to do these things is that it puts you on an equal basis with students,” Lee said. “In many cases, they’re more talented than I am.”
Lee played a “cowardly police officer” in the opera, “Pirates of Penzance” in 2013.
“It appears now that my specialty is singing the role of cowards,” he laughed.
To further his interaction with students, Lee has also written some of the books he uses in classes.
Lee wrote the book, “Human Rights and the Ethics of Globalization,” in 2010 with his daughter, Elizabeth Lee.
He said the book has been cited several times and used in many classes. While on a trip to Australia, Lee even found a used copy of the book at a University’s library.
When he’s not working academically, Lee also helps train Miss Iowa contestants for the Miss America contest. He also sails, plays guitar, cooks and “resumes life as a make believe pioneer” while working on a log cabin in Montana.
Whether at work or not, people notice Lee’s love for what he is doing. Lee said one of the secrets is doing a variety of things, which is something a liberal arts school supports.
And, Lee’s colleagues support his decision to not retire, despite him turning 70 this year.
“He is doing good work in his research, he is enriching student lives through his teaching and he is living a good life as a professor,” Hartman said. “I aspire to be like that some day: loving my work so much that there is no need to retire early. I look up to Dan as a role model in many ways.”