A Lasting Legacy

Alumna Endows IS Scholarship

As a student, Samantha Lee (’05) discovered that sometimes a little bit of guidance and determination can lead to good things.

“When I was a senior in high school, I began taking courses at Georgia Southern to get ahead academically,” she said, a decision which provided her with two scholarships, and eventually dual degrees in information systems and accounting.

Fortunately for Georgia Southern University students, Lee’s academic and career success has led to her endowment of the Susan Rebstock Williams Business Technology Scholarship. While this makes Lee the youngest person to ever endow a scholarship at Georgia Southern at the age of 29, she views this opportunity as a way to demonstrate her appreciation to the University that gave her so much.

“Without the scholarships I received as an undergraduate, I wouldn’t have this career right now,” she said, about her work as a technical product manager for CCH, a company that provides information and software services for CPAs, corporate tax, accounting departments and tax attorneys.

“I want another young woman to have the same chance that I had. I look at my profession and where I work, and there aren’t a lot of women in true information systems and IT roles. I decided that I wanted to do something to make a difference,” said Lee, about her reason for endowing the scholarship, which is presented annually to a female sophomore, junior, senior or graduate student pursuing a degree in the field of information systems.

For Lee, naming the scholarship after Williams was a no-brainer. “Susan is the best mentor that a woman in the technology program could ask for,” she said, praising the information systems professor who Lee feels truly influenced her academic and professional career path.

Williams, the former chair of the information systems department and associate dean of the College of Business Administration, was surprised and very honored by the scholarship. “My husband and I were attending an IS alumni reunion when Samantha announced the founding of the scholarship in my name, and I was astounded,” she said. Williams has taught systems programming and database classes since 1994 at the University and is the recipient of the Award for Excellence in Teaching in COBA as well as the William A. Freeman Professor of the Year Award.

“There are some students you know are very special, and who have a tremendous desire to learn,” said Williams, describing Lee. “Samantha has a legacy at Georgia Southern – a commitment and desire to give back. I look at her as a shining example – a role model for other students.”