Dr. Jennifer Priestley has been a part of the Marist community since 1980. After graduating with the class of 1984, she followed her passion for data science all around the world. This past year, however, she decided to return to her roots at Marist. However, she feels like she never left.

To follow Priestley’s journey to teaching in the Business, Computer Science, and Engineering Department, we must rewind to her first days at Marist.

Priestley entered as a ninth grader and became involved in many of activities, including cheerleading, swim, German Club, and The Blue and Gold. 

She attended Georgia Tech, where she studied economics. After college, Priestley studied quantitative business analysis at Penn State and became the youngest and first female president of the student body. 

After graduating, Priestley worked in various jobs in Atlanta, Florida, New York, and London related to data science with companies such as AT&T, Mastercard, Accenture, and Visa.

Upon returning, Priestley decided to work towards her PhD at Georgia State. She then taught at Kennesaw State University as a professor, teaching math and statistics classes for ten years. Priestley started the Masters and PhD programs in data science and became the Associate Dean of the Graduate Program.

Priestley held that position for eighteen years and retired from it in 2022. 

Priestley wanted to keep teaching, so she decided to come back to Marist to teach classes in marketing and financial management. She has completely rebuilt those classes, making them more rigorous and more applicable to the business world.

She is currently working to create a new elective for next year in business analytics. 

Priestley’s decision to teach at her alma mater was not a hard one. Even though the buildings and the technology has changed, the Marist family is a long-time tradition, and Dr. Priestley is excited to return to the community as a teacher.