Lee University recently announced Asher West as the recipient of the 2026 F.J. Lee Award. West was recognized for this honor during a special chapel service earlier this month. 
    
This annual award was established in 1968 in honor of the second president of Lee University. It is presented to the Lee senior with the overall most outstanding record of student achievement. Award winners demonstrate high standards of integrity, leadership, service, broad campus involvement, and academic excellence. Each department may nominate one student for the award, and from these nominees, a winner is selected by a faculty vote.    

“Asher is the embodiment of Lee’s values,” said Dr. Amy Jo Perry, dean for the School of Nursing. “He shows commitment to fulfilling his calling as a nurse by being fully present in every moment—in the classroom, in the clinical setting, or around campus. He honors God through his love and encouragement of others every day.” 
 
His Lee involvement includes working for the Office of Residential Life & Housing as a floor leader, resident assistant, and service leader and organizer for Hicks Hall. He was a student worker for the School of Nursing, involved with Operation Christmas Child, and was a member of the 2025 Homecoming Court.  
 
West has received numerous awards at Lee, including the Dean’s Scholarship, the Silas Dean Carlson Scholarship, the Nathan Smith Medical Missions Scholarship, and the Student Care Award. 
 
“Receiving this award continually reminds me of 2 Samuel 7:18–19, which says, ‘Who am I, O Lord God, and what is my house, that You have brought me this far? And yet this was a small thing in Your sight, O Lord God,’” said West. “God used Lee University to refine me like gold, establish a sturdy foundation, and lead me to my fiancée. I hope to be like a lighthouse—guiding ships lost at sea safely to the solid rock on which I stand—for many years to come.” 
 
In addition to his academic load and extracurricular activities, West has served as a small group leader for The Chapel in Cleveland and a young adults group leader at Calvary Chapel in Alpharetta, Georgia. His service includes involvement with community cleanup initiatives and work with local food pantries and various senior living facilities.  
 
After graduation, West plans to marry fellow Lee student Autumn Swanson and work at Parkridge Medical Center in Chattanooga as a graduate nurse resident in an orthopedic medical-surgical unit.