EMMA PIRHALA / MANAGING EDITOR

Professor Greg Prieto passed away after a year-long battle with cancer on Oct. 13. Prieto was a force on-campus, known for his innovative pedagogy, passion for advocacy and warmth to all. During his 12-year career with USD, Prieto made his mark on campus — developing meaningful relationships, thought-provoking courses and serving as a champion for LGBTQ+ representation and immigration. 

Serving in the sociology department, Prieto was hired in 2013 after meeting sociology professor and former department chair Julia Cantzler. Cantzler shared the moment where she knew he belonged at USD. 

“Greg did his teaching demo and it was like a master class,” Cantzler said. “A friend of mine referred to it as a near perfect moment. Where you’re watching somebody who’s younger than you, less experienced, and they’re just so gifted at what they do. At that moment I was like, we have to hire this guy. Absolutely 100% he’s the best teacher I’ve ever seen. And that’s just spending 45 minutes with him in a random class that he’s not even teaching. I just remember thinking, I’m going to learn a lot from this person, just from how phenomenal he was. He was just a gifted teacher.”

Prieto was a dedicated and award-winning professor who received the 2016 Outstanding New Preceptor Award, as well as the 2017 Most Inspirational USD Professor. He believed that connecting with his students on a deeper, more personal level was one of the greatest gifts of teaching and helped him inspire students. 

“The best moments we had together were the in-between times when we weren’t doing a structured activity, so I think the other big piece [shaping my teaching] was this turn to a more strategically vulnerable, a more personal, more holistic, more human approach,” Prieto said in an interview published in the third edition of the “Arts and Sciences” magazine. 

The joy Prieto found in teaching persisted, even after receiving his diagnosis of stage IV colon cancer in March 2024. He began chemotherapy and returned to work once he was cleared. Prieto explained that he wanted to continue teaching. 

“I thought to myself, ‘Okay, in the time I have remaining, what do I want to do,’” Prieto said in an interview. “Well, something good for the world. But like, what? What I’m actually good at is teaching. The decision was so obvious. And when I thought about what I would teach, I couldn’t imagine teaching anything other than the process that I was so bound up with – how your own dying inspires a reflection on how you want to live.”

And so, he began teaching a course entitled “Sociology of Living and Dying.” The class explored the challenges of mortality and encouraged discussions of personal experiences. Through the course, Prieto grappled with his own mortality while inspiring students. After his passing, Cantzler took over another one of Prieto’s courses. 

“It blew me away how, them and their six weeks of knowing him for a couple hours a week, not even in person all the time, how touched they were by him because of that light — that warmth,” Cantzler described. “That his care for everybody else, including his students, was just so palpable all the time. It would be hard to sit in a room with him and just not feel that.”

Prieto’s legacy lives on through his relationships across campus. While at USD, he helped run the student-ran drag show, which has since concluded and maintained connections with the Mulvaney Center. Cantzler shared that, although he is gone, Prieto’s presence is still felt.

“He exists — in this institution in particular — because of all the amazing, intentional work he put in to creating a campus that is more inclusive and that is a place where people feel more loved and supported,” Cantzler shared. “I feel very strongly that that is due in no small part to Greg.”

Dean Noelle Norton offered her thoughts on Prieto’s impact on the USD community.

“He is part of the glue that will keep the College of Arts and Sciences moving forward with a clear set of mission, vision and values,” Norton said. “His belief in the dignity of every human being, his consideration of his work on immigration issues, his consideration of the most important social questions of our day have really impacted the campus in so many ways. I will miss him greatly.”

Prior to his passing, Prieto offered a message in an interview with his close friend Dr. Jillian Tullis for an article.

“There is this way in which the beauty and the horror of the situation is like all braided up together,” Prieto said. “You feel the delicacy of [life], and then you feel the preciousness next. I’m the guy at the music festival who’s crying and everybody’s like, ‘oh, he must really love that song,’ and I’m like, no, I’m trying to memorize this moment. I never want to forget what this felt like.”

Prieto is survived by his husband Zach, and his many friends and family members. In lieu of flowers, his family requested that donations be made to the College of Arts and Sciences to support the Dr. Greg Prieto Memorial Scholarship Fund.

Greg Prieto was an award-winning educator and gifted teacher. Photo courtesy of Michelle Kennedy