• Home
  • About
  • Historical Overview
  • Timeline
  • A - M
    • A
    • B
    • C
    • D
    • E
    • F
    • G
    • H
    • I
    • J
    • K
    • L
    • M
  • N - Z
    • N
    • O
    • P
    • Q
    • R
    • S
    • T
    • U
    • V
    • W
    • X
    • Y
    • Z
  • Search
Encyclopedia of Lee University History
  • Home
  • About
  • Historical Overview
  • Timeline
  • A - M
    • A
    • B
    • C
    • D
    • E
    • F
    • G
    • H
    • I
    • J
    • K
    • L
    • M
  • N - Z
    • N
    • O
    • P
    • Q
    • R
    • S
    • T
    • U
    • V
    • W
    • X
    • Y
    • Z
  • Search

Distance Learning

Distance learning was adopted early by the institution as a means of providing ministerial training and instruction to students who were unable to attend classes on campus. A correspondence course of 20 lessons for $40 began on September 29, 1919 with 203 students enrolled. By the end of that first year, 788 students were enrolled in the course. Purlia Ables, a Sunday school teacher and church treasurer in Carbon Hill, Alabama, was the first graduate by correspondence. Nora Chambers, in addition to her role as teacher of the on-campus courses for the Bible Training School, graded the lessons and supervised the correspondence program. This endeavor was discontinued after a few years.

In 1976, non-traditional distance learning was re-established to provide students with an opportunity to receive ministerial training through extension and correspondence-based programs. 400 students enrolled during first year. This program developed over the next three decades, taking on different forms and modalities of instruction.

Lee partnered with three international schools in 2008 to offer graduate programs as off-campus instructional sites in either theology, christian leadership, or psychology. The schools are European Theological Seminary (ETS) in Germany, Seminario Ministerial Sudamericano (SEMISUD) in Ecuador, and Seminario Biblico Pentecostal Centroamericano (SEBIPCA) in Guatemala.

Lee's main distance and continuing education program was restructured in 2011 into the Division of Adult Learning with primarily online course delivery. By 2020, Lee enrolled approximately 1,000 students in programs delivered online or at one of three off-campus international sites. 

​/ L.F. Morgan
  • Home
  • About
  • Historical Overview
  • Timeline
  • A - M
    • A
    • B
    • C
    • D
    • E
    • F
    • G
    • H
    • I
    • J
    • K
    • L
    • M
  • N - Z
    • N
    • O
    • P
    • Q
    • R
    • S
    • T
    • U
    • V
    • W
    • X
    • Y
    • Z
  • Search