The Teachers College Curriculum & Teaching community mourns the loss of one of our most beloved alumni, Crystal Chen Lee (Ed.D. 2017), who passed away on June 14, 2025, after more than a month of fighting cancer. Crystal embodied the very best of what it means to be a Teachers College graduate — a scholar-practitioner whose work transformed youth lives and communities.
A Cornerstone of the C&T Community
From 2012 to 2017, as a doctoral student in the Department of Curriculum & Teaching, Crystal was a cornerstone of the academic community. Her presence radiated warmth and intellectual curiosity, and she possessed that rare gift of lifting others while pursuing her own scholarly journey. Those who knew her remember her contagious giggle that could brighten anyone's day, and the way she packed so much energy, intellect, and passion into her small frame — her brilliance and vibrant spirit seemed bigger than her earthly body.
Crystal had an extraordinary ability to make the doctoral journey joyful for everyone around her. She approached research with both intellectual rigor and playful humor, transforming even the most tedious aspects of graduate school into running jokes and shared laughter. Her generosity of spirit showed itself in countless ways: helping cohort members refine their research, listening empathetically to doctoral woes, coordinating baby showers and birthday celebrations, and toasting colleagues' defenses and new jobs. She celebrated everything — the small and the big — praising flowers and food, family and friends with equal enthusiasm. Whether encouraging a friend to try a fried egg on their banh mi sandwich or persuading colleagues to explore K-dramas and unfamiliar genres of entertainment, Crystal had a gift for elevating everyday experiences and expanding others' horizons.
Many of her Teachers College peers — from doctoral students to faculty — recall the spark of her laughter, which often echoed throughout the third floor of Zankel Hall. She was often the first to celebrate the wins of other doctoral students — cheering everyone on along their own journeys. And, of course, each celebration was accompanied by delicious eats. Like nobody else, Crystal could turn everything into a celebration over a delightful, shared meal. She will be very missed for these jubilant, laughter-infused gatherings.
Scholarship at Teachers College
What set Crystal apart was her unwavering belief in the power of education. Whether working with refugees, formerly incarcerated youth, or other underserved populations, she brought scholarly rigor and profound compassion to her work. Her research and practice demonstrated how literacy could become a tool for empowerment, helping young people amplify their own voices.
While a doctoral student at Teachers College, Crystal served as a researcher for Teaching Residents at Teachers College (TR@TC), a teacher residency program that seeks to bring career teachers into the New York City public schools. Crystal was not only an instructor for preservice teachers enrolled in TR@TC, but she also produced multiple peer-reviewed publications tracking this unique teacher education program. She wrote about bolstering teacher residents' reflective capacities, the ongoing work of building identities as social justice-oriented teachers, and the broad, long-term work of recruiting and retaining teachers.
Crystal cultivated a passion for youth and community-engaged research through her work with African immigrant and refugee young women through the Sauti Yetu program. This early work would become the foundation for her later groundbreaking initiatives. She was a dedicated colleague and researcher from the beginning of her scholarly career — consistent, tireless, and generating a bounty of critical research in the field of teacher education. She continued to publish research papers on teacher education with other Teachers College doctoral students and faculty long after she graduated from the Curriculum & Teaching doctoral program in 2017.
Crystal’s Legacy and Impact
Crystal's doctoral work at Teachers College constructed what would become an even more remarkable career dedicated to amplifying the voices of underserved youth. Her deep commitment to literacy education and community engagement became groundbreaking work that bridged the gap between academic scholarship and real-world impact.
In 2017, Crystal joined the faculty of North Carolina (NC) State University's College of Education as an assistant professor. In the Department of Teacher Education and Learning Sciences (TELS), she taught courses on teaching methods in English Language Arts, created two graduate-level courses on critical literacy and public engagement, and served on countless dissertation committees.
At NC State, she co-founded The Literacy and Community Initiative (LCI), an extension of her Teachers College doctoral research on African immigrant girls and their participation in an after-school literacy program. The initiative brought creative writing workshops to community-based organizations serving youth in the Raleigh, NC region. The organizations included the CORAL Riding Academy, where young women not only ride the Raleigh-based farm's kind horse-therapists but also learn about assertive communication, get academic support, and receive psychotherapy. At the end of the LCI's workshops, CORAL's girls published poems, flash fiction, and wrote of "things left to learn and unlearn" in a book called Healing Starts with a Story.
Crystal's work at CORAL Riding Academy is just one example among many of the LCI's projects. In its seven years, the LCI engaged over 200 high school students and published 15 books featuring more than 800 pieces of student writing. Crystal spoke fondly of the publication parties for the project's books — all of which are available to the public — and talked about how excited the young writers and organization staff members would be, witnessing the writings become edited and published in a book that they could hold in their hands.
The LCI's work didn't end with the publication of the young people's words. Crystal continued to formulate theories about critical literacy and the partnerships universities could forge with community organizations. She published extensively about the LCI, examining the dignity, hope, and uplifting these writing programs offered for young people. In 2024, Crystal, alongside Jose Picart and Jennifer C. Mann, published Amplifying Youth Voices through Critical Literacy and Positive Youth Development: The Potential of University-Community Partnerships (Routledge) about the power and joy of these collaborations.
Crystal's achievements were remarkable in both scope and impact. Her rapid promotion to associate professor with tenure at NC State, her recognition with numerous awards including NC State's Outstanding Engagement Award, and her appointment there as Senior Advisor of Strategic Excellence demonstrated her exceptional scholarly abilities and leadership. Her interdisciplinary work spanned AI ethics, community-based learning, and literacy education, addressing some of our most pressing societal challenges. Her colleagues describe her as brilliant yet humble, accomplished yet accessible — qualities that made her not just a successful scholar but a beloved mentor and friend.
Remembering Crystal
Beyond her professional accomplishments, Crystal will be remembered for the joy and sense of belonging she created wherever she went. She wore a signature bright red lipstick and often donned floral prints, a sartorial choice in line with her adoration of flowers. Music and singing at her church were a significant part of her life. Her beautiful singing voice, her love of good food, and her commitment to maintaining an inquiry stance in all things made her both a brilliant scholar and a cherished friend who brought creative community engagement to everything she touched. Crystal’s wake and service saw hundreds in attendance — both online and in person — a true testimony to how much she was loved and how many lives she touched.
Crystal Chen Lee represented the very best of us — brilliant, compassionate, innovative, and deeply committed to justice and equity in education. While we grieve her passing, we honor a life well-lived and a legacy that will continue to inspire future generations of youth and scholar-practitioners.
Our thoughts are with Crystal’s husband of eight years Daniel Joonyong Lee; parents Yih-Farn "Robin" Chen and Wen-Ling Chen; brother Jason Chen; and all who were fortunate to have known her. Her spirit lives on in every student whose voice was amplified, every community that was strengthened, and every colleague who was inspired by her example.
Rest in power, Crystal.