{"id":26975,"date":"2023-05-22T08:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-05-22T12:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/design.ncsu.edu\/architecture\/2023\/05\/22\/shattering-glass-ceilings-to-shape-a-modern-world\/"},"modified":"2025-05-01T05:21:19","modified_gmt":"2025-05-01T09:21:19","slug":"shattering-glass-ceilings-to-shape-a-modern-world","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/design.ncsu.edu\/architecture\/2023\/05\/22\/shattering-glass-ceilings-to-shape-a-modern-world\/","title":{"rendered":"Shattering Glass Ceilings To Shape a Modern World"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\u201cLook to your left and look to your right,\u201d said Henry Kamphoefner, first dean of North Carolina State College\u2019s newly formed School of Design, in the fall of 1948. \u201cNext year, one of you will be gone.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Those were the first words Elizabeth Bobbit Lee recalled hearing from her new dean as he addressed Lee and her class of about 120 students.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThat was an understatement,\u201d Lee later wrote. \u201cWhen we graduated, there were only 23.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Elizabeth<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

A Lumberton native, Lee had already completed a year of architectural studies at State College when Kamphoefner arrived to shake things up. Yet, despite the disruptions of a retooled curriculum \u2014 enlarged from four years to five, with expanded coverage of modern design \u2014 Lee thrived, becoming the School of Design\u2019s first female graduate in 1952.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe were ready to go out and do real buildings,\u201d she recalled of the moment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lee did just that, launching an architectural career that included an early stint with the firm Skidmore Owings & Merrill in New York City. In the late 1950s, she returned to Lumberton to start her own firm, Lee Thompson Architects, with architect Ronald Thompson. There, Lee made a life designing houses and public buildings throughout the area, including the Robeson County Courthouse in Lumberton.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Along the way, Lee never stopped breaking barriers: She became just the second woman licensed by the North Carolina Board of Architecture and the first female president of the American Institute of Architects\u2019 North Carolina chapter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Elizabeth Bobbit Lee died in Lumberton on Feb. 2, 2010, having built a legacy of lifelong achievement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hear her story <\/h2>\n\n\n\n

In 2000, Les Thornbury recorded an oral history with Elizabeth Lee, which is archived with the NC State University Libraries’ Special Collections Research Center.<\/p>\n\n\n

Watch the recording<\/span>\n\t\t<\/use>\n<\/svg>\n<\/span><\/a><\/div>\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n\n

_______________________________<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Read other stories from our\u00a075th anniversary.<\/a><\/p>\n

This post was originally published<\/a> in College of Design Blog.<\/em><\/p>","protected":false,"raw":"\n\n\n\n\n

\u201cLook to your left and look to your right,\u201d said Henry Kamphoefner, first dean of North Carolina State College\u2019s newly formed School of Design, in the fall of 1948. \u201cNext year, one of you will be gone.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Those were the first words Elizabeth Bobbit Lee recalled hearing from her new dean as he addressed Lee and her class of about 120 students.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThat was an understatement,\u201d Lee later wrote. \u201cWhen we graduated, there were only 23.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Elizabeth<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

A Lumberton native, Lee had already completed a year of architectural studies at State College when Kamphoefner arrived to shake things up. Yet, despite the disruptions of a retooled curriculum \u2014 enlarged from four years to five, with expanded coverage of modern design \u2014 Lee thrived, becoming the School of Design\u2019s first female graduate in 1952.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe were ready to go out and do real buildings,\u201d she recalled of the moment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lee did just that, launching an architectural career that included an early stint with the firm Skidmore Owings & Merrill in New York City. In the late 1950s, she returned to Lumberton to start her own firm, Lee Thompson Architects, with architect Ronald Thompson. There, Lee made a life designing houses and public buildings throughout the area, including the Robeson County Courthouse in Lumberton.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Along the way, Lee never stopped breaking barriers: She became just the second woman licensed by the North Carolina Board of Architecture and the first female president of the American Institute of Architects\u2019 North Carolina chapter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Elizabeth Bobbit Lee died in Lumberton on Feb. 2, 2010, having built a legacy of lifelong achievement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hear her story <\/h2>\n\n\n\n

In 2000, Les Thornbury recorded an oral history with Elizabeth Lee, which is archived with the NC State University Libraries' Special Collections Research Center.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n
Watch the recording<\/span>\n<\/svg>\n<\/span><\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

_______________________________<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Read other stories from our\u00a075th anniversary.<\/a><\/p>\n"},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Under a new dean and a new curriculum, Elizabeth Bobbit Lee thrived as the sole female graduate in a class full of men, even as she set the mold for a life well lived.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":26976,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"source":"ncstate_wire","ncst_dynamicHeaderBlockName":"","ncst_dynamicHeaderData":"","ncst_content_audit_freq":"","ncst_content_audit_date":"","ncst_content_audit_display":false,"ncst_backToTopFlag":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[34],"class_list":["post-26975","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-_from-newswire-collection-277"],"displayCategory":null,"acf":{"ncst_posts_meta_modified_date":null},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/design.ncsu.edu\/architecture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26975","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/design.ncsu.edu\/architecture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/design.ncsu.edu\/architecture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/design.ncsu.edu\/architecture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/design.ncsu.edu\/architecture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26975"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/design.ncsu.edu\/architecture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26975\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28857,"href":"https:\/\/design.ncsu.edu\/architecture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26975\/revisions\/28857"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/design.ncsu.edu\/architecture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26976"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/design.ncsu.edu\/architecture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26975"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/design.ncsu.edu\/architecture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26975"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/design.ncsu.edu\/architecture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26975"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}