Deninne Pritchett serves Central Piedmont as a leader and a scholar

There are few who love learning as much as Deninne Pritchett. Deninne is committed to helping students reach their full potential. She does so by drawing from a wealth of personal experience, having gone from a student who struggled to get started, to a leader at Central Piedmont Community College and beyond.

She has been teaching at the college for nearly 10 years and is also an alumna. She holds bachelor’s, master’s and doctorate degrees, serves as the faculty director for Central Piedmont’s Truist Honors Program and is a Fulbright Specialist.

“I continued through school for 15 years straight, and I decided when I was a student here that I wanted to come back and work at Central Piedmont,” she said.

Yet her path was not linear. She first enrolled at the college in 2000 and dropped out the same semester.

“Once I started to recognize that it was about the transformational process of learning and that you could gain more out of the process rather than focusing on the end result or the outcome, I started to understand what higher education offered,” she said.

Deninne noticed that “the vibe was different” at Central Piedmont. In fact, after she dropped out, instructors took a personal interest in her, calling and emailing and encouraging her to return. Although she wasn’t quite ready to come back, she decided that when she did, she knew where it would be.

When she resumed her academic career in 2007, she wasn’t sure what she wanted to do but knew that she would earn her degree at Central Piedmont. She took some sociology and psychology courses, and after earning her Associate in Arts degree, she went on to obtain advanced degrees at Grand Canyon University. She also earned her Ph.D. in psychology with an emphasis on cognition and instruction from Grand Canyon.

Along the way, Deninne began work in professional development and as an instructional assistant at Central Piedmont. She spent time as an adjunct, full-time instructor, department chair and faculty fellow while serving on several committees aimed at advancing the college's strategic vision. 

Today, she is an associate professor of psychology, in addition to the founding faculty director of the Truist Honors Program.

The program is entering its fourth year and is designed for students who Deninne calls “finishers,” individuals who are motivated to fully complete a task once started. It was something Deninne felt was a perfect fit for her to helm. With her leadership and guidance, driven individuals have received prestigious awards, attended renowned conferences, and won numerous competitions. 

Deninne also does important work in education globally as part of the Fulbright Specialist Program, an international exchange sponsored by the U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs. 

A Fulbright Specialist is one of approximately 400 experts across the country, selected for their specific expertise in an area. Deninne’s was in education. Although the program has an acceptance rate of 20%, Deninne was determined to be part of it.

“I made up my mind that I was going to apply, and I was going to succeed,” she said.

Deninne’s project was with Universidad Mayor de San Francisco Xavier in Bolivia, working to modernize its 20-year-old psychology curriculum. She helped the school focus on real-world application and career readiness, while also helping the institution understand how the curriculum connects to its local community and the world at large.

After collaborating with the university for a year online, Deninne spent two and a half weeks in Bolivia in February.

Outside of her academic roles, Deninne is a theme park enthusiast, and she spends significant free time working on self-development. She does so as she continuously works to help develop others.

Whether locally or overseas, she partners, collaborates and works tirelessly with colleagues to develop curricula, as well as students and faculty in their own pursuits. 

“If we can convince students to believe or we can get students to recognize their own greatness, they can be anything that they want to be,” Deninne said. “Whatever they set their mind to, whatever their goals are, they can achieve those. It's about helping them unleash that greatness even when they don't yet recognize it exists.”

It’s the same mindset that has carried Deninne from a student unsure of her path to leading the college’s most high-achieving students and providing curriculum expertise on a global scale.