The morning of February 20th sad News hit St. Ambrose as we found out a beloved retired teacher of many years passed away. Students received notice from the Communication department stating, “The campus community has just learned that Dr. Ann Preston, retired professor of Communications, passed away early this morning. Ann was an admired and respected member of the St. Ambrose community. She came to St. Ambrose on August 15, 2001, as a full professor in the Department of Communications until her retirement on May 25, 2021. She served for many years as Department Chair of the Communications Department and continued to serve as an adjunct faculty member until this month”. Her passing will impact many students, alumni, and our chapter of Her Campus.
A Woman Who Inspired Writers
Who was Ann Preston to Her Campus at SAU? She was the advisor when the organization first started at SAU and served until she retired in 2021. She gave 11 years of service as the advisor to a group of women and inspired us. She also helped to start a Spoon University which is a small branch from HC. She took a few girls who had an idea of starting an HC Chapter and found 18 ladies to start the club and helped it grow into the group we are today. She influenced over 75+ members during her time here and so many more in her classroom. Ann’s office became a hangout space for many, especially the “Comm Girls”; they would be able to do homework, proofread things and unpack the HC Survival Kit together.
A Teacher that Gave Everything
Dr. Preston came to SAU in 2001 and has been an important part of the community ever since. During her time here she was a Professor in the Communication Department and also served as the Department Chair. She taught many classes such as Principles of Public Relations, Media Writing, Public Speaking, and so many other communication courses. She retired in 2021 but still served as an adjunct faculty member up until this past semester. Ann was a professor that made her classroom learning experience creative, including service, expanded thinking, and full of passion. Through her teaching, she helped her students develop and foster skills while also pushing for social change. She once shared some advice “that as students and as professors you should get to know each other in your department”. These are the people you are going to spend a lot of your time with during your time here. Classes with Dr. Preston were full immersion; you really got into the material using real-life experiences.
A Woman full of Love
Ann Preston was more than just a teacher; she had a great toy collection. When hearing others talk about her and looking up other stories I ran into an old article written about her by a past HC writer in 2016. She asked 14 questions and they really show who Ann was as a person outside of the classroom, and we got to learn about her before she became a teacher. In this article the question that caught my eye and made me smile the most was, “What beverage describes you the best?” Maybe that answer would be different now as several years have passed but maybe not. Her answer was Apple Pie with Goldschlager. Do you know why? Her reasoning was that “it’s warm and spicy with a tiny bit of treasure in it haha!” This is why I smiled at such a fun and surprising answer. This question opened my eyes to see the side of her that went beyond just a teacher or club advisor. Another question that caught my attention was, “Students are a little intimidated by you because you have this air of power and being a badass boss lady. Thoughts?” Her response to this question was funny, “Oh, thank you! I kind of try! Hahaha. I dress up in something of a power suit to intimidate you, I grade harder at the beginning too, and give the hard projects at the beginning for the same effect! My hard work is paying off, yay! People who think I’m intimidating are welcome to come and visit and see my toy collection and just hang out.” I wish you could have seen it. I have seen some photos and it shows that she is so much more than a professor.
Memories we will Never Forget
Faculty, staff, and students share their memories and experiences with Dr. Preston. I hope that hearing your story or others shared will bring you some peace and comfort during this time.
-“I had Ann for my media writing class which is a communications requirement. At the beginning of the course I received a D on my first paper and instantly wanted to drop it because I felt it may be too much for me during that semester. Ann was very patient with me in helping me feel better about staying in the course. It was an online course so I was constantly emailing her with questions about the different assignments. For the final project she had told me it was formatted beautifully and let me know she appreciated all my questions to her and my contributions to the class.” -Kayla, Class of ‘24
-“Dr.Preston is truly an amazing professor. You can see how passionate she is about communications and more importantly her students”. -Anonymous, Class for ‘22
-“Ann is a queen! She has been my favorite professor at Ambrose. I have taken at least 4 classes with her from 200-400 levels.” -Anonymous, Class of ‘19
-“There were plenty of times I arrived at her office unannounced with a problem and no matter what it was, she listened deeply and gave the best advice she could. She even tolerated a few of us giving her the affectionate nickname “Annie P”, which made me feel special because I don’t think she would let very many people call her that. My favorite memory of Dr. Preston is when our capstone PR Campaigns class took a field trip to visit our client – King’s Harvest Pet Rescue. We met the staff and learned more about their PR/marketing challenges, and of course, we also met a lot of adoptable pets. Watching her interact with the cats and dogs was just so sweet to me, her eyes were bright and you could see the compassion and immediate affection she had for them. I think about that day often and just how perfectly it captured her true character.” – Lindsey, Class of ‘16
The faculty, staff and students of our school will greatly miss having Dr. Ann Preston around, but I will never forget the impact her passion, teaching or leadership has left on us here. She was an inspirational woman. Our theme of the year for our chapter of Her Campus is Empowered Woman, Inspire Others and I believe that she is the complete embodiment of that.
