BOZEMAN — Ilse-Mari Lee, the inaugural dean of Montana State University’s Honors College and the longest serving academic dean at MSU, will retire May 15.

Born in South Africa, Lee came to MSU in 1989 as a cello professor. Nearly from her beginning at MSU, she also taught honors students and served on the selection committee for MSU’s prestigious Presidential Scholarship. In 2009, Lee was appointed as director of what was then known as the MSU Honors Program.

In 2013, under Lee’s guidance and leadership, the Montana Board of Regents elevated the program to become the MSU Honors College and promoted Lee to dean. In addition to leading the transition from an honors program to college, Lee was instrumental in reinstating the directed interdisciplinary studies degree in the Honors College, which is designed for highly motivated students to pursue studies at the intersection of different academic disciplines. In 2021, Lee, in collaboration with Assistant Dean Steven Davis, established the Honor Bound Program to recruit and retain highly motivated Indigenous students to the Honors College at MSU. The Honors College now numbers more than 1,700 students, with students coming from Montana and nearly all 50 states, as well as from around the globe.

Lee distinguished herself as a mentor to some of MSU’s most accomplished students and is known for her work preparing students to vie competitively for prestigious major awards, according to an announcement about Lee’s retirement from MSU Provost Robert Mokwa. Under Lee’s guidance, numerous MSU students have won such awards as the Rhodes, Truman, Marshall, Gates-Cambridge, Udall and Goldwater scholarships. MSU is among the top institutions in the country in the number of Goldwater Scholarships its students have received, with 90 such scholars, of which Lee mentored 39.

Lee is also a scholar and a dedicated teacher, Mokwa said. Her numerous awards include the Montana Arts Council Individual Fellowship, MSU’s Wiley Award for Meritorious Research, MSU’s President’s Excellence in Teaching Award and numerous excellence in teaching awards. He added that as a musician, Lee is known as a first-rate soloist, recitalist and chamber musician, as well as an internationally recognized composer. She founded the MSU Cello Ensemble in 1998, and, while she served as its director, the group toured throughout the Northwest and visited Italy, central Europe and China. As an award-winning film composer, she helped establish the music technology program in the School of Music.

“It has been the honor of my life to serve Montana State University, and by extension, the people of the great state of Montana,” Lee said. “Every interaction I have had with a student, staff member or colleague has been a gift. I am forever grateful to have had this opportunity.”

MSU Vice Provost Durward Sobek will serve as interim dean of the Honors College while the university conducts a search for Lee’s replacement.