In her 2000-2001 interview with Barry Teicher, Mercile Lee discusses in detail the history of the creation of the Chancellor?s Scholars program. She relates her own background in religious education in Virginia, Connecticut, Kansas and then Wisconsin, and explains how she negotiated the numerous challenges of starting a merit-based scholarship on campus. In the process, she discusses issues of structural racism, minority climate on campus, and a number of key personalities who were instrumental in creating the program. This interview was conducted for inclusion in the University of Wisconsin-Madison Archives Oral History Project.