Desiree Lynne DePriest

November 26, 1956 – June 1, 2022

Desiree Lynne DePriest passed away on June 1, 2022 following a near-decade long fight with neuroendocrine cancer. Desiree was an artist, activist, futurist, professor, and writer. Her professional work covered a range of topics: information systems, artificial intelligence, instructional design, neural correlates of consciousness, and cognitive coupling. She explored these topics across numerous books including “Intercultural Management,” a textbook she authored for IUBH International University of Applied Sciences, “Quantum Teaming: A Primer,” and “Socioeconomics, Diversity, and the Politics of Online Education,” which she contributed to with her colleagues at Purdue University Global. She created Purdue Global’s IT internship program and served as the inaugural faculty advisor for GITA, the school’s IT alumni program.

This work has earned her numerous teaching awards such as the 2017 CDLT “Best Practices” award from the American Association of Adult Continuing Education (AAACE). She earned a Ph.D in Management and Organization with an emphasis on Information Technology from Capella University and two master's degrees in Information Systems and Telecom, respectively. She also earned a bachelor’s degree in Psychology from Howard University.

Outside of her professional work, Desiree was a singer, a painter, a poet, television and podcast host, and author. Desiree’s poetry was featured in a number of anthologies, including one published by the National Library of Poetry. Her fantasy duology “The Soul of Idrisa,” tells the story of a young woman growing into adulthood as her love defies the orthodoxy of her culture. Her books and poetry offer unique takes on patriarchy, politics, spirituality, and the power that different types of love – familial, romantic, and self – can have on the material forces of history.

Desiree was preceded in death by her mother Delores and father Ottie Sr., and is survived by her twins Danielle Therese and David Swan, 25, whom she often credited as her greatest work.

Funeral service for Desiree will be at Mt. Moriah, Newcomer and Freeman Funeral Home & Mount Moriah Cemetery South on June 17, 2022 from 10-2PM.