Marianne M. Jennings: Mormon Scholar
Marianne M. Jennings is an emeritus professor of legal and ethical studies in business. She retired from the W. P. Carey School of Business at Arizona State University in 2011.
Jennings was raised in a small coal-mining town in western Pennsylvania. After one semester at a university where the anti-Vietnam War sentiment and drug culture were prevalent, she enrolled at Brigham Young University. Although not a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints at the time, she transferred to get away from that culture after members of the Church of Jesus Christ who worked with her father recommended it. She joined the Church on April 13, 1974, a few days before she graduated with a bachelor’s degree in finance. She also earned her J. D. from BYU. She interned with the Federal Public Defender and U.S. Attorney in Nevada.
While at ASU, she served as faculty director for the MBA Executive Program (2006–2007); chair of the University Hearing Board (1995–2011); director of the Joan and David Lincoln Center for Applied Ethics (1995–1999); and associate dean (1986–1987). She was also faculty athletic representative to the NCAA and PAC-10 (1986-1987).
In addition to teaching at ASU for thirty-five years, she has done consulting work for law firms, businesses and professional groups including AES, Boeing, Dial Corporation, Mattel, Motorola, CFA Institute, Southern California Edison, the Institute of Internal Auditors, Coca-Cola, DuPont, Blue Cross Blue Shield, Motorola, Mattel, Pepsi, Hy-Vee Foods, IBM, Bell Helicopter, Amgen, Raytheon, VIAD, the Arizona Auditor General, and the cities of Phoenix, Mesa, and Tucson.
Jennings has authored hundreds of articles in academic, professional and trade journals. Currently she has six textbooks and monographs in circulation as well as several books, including A Business Tale: A Story of Ethics, Choices, Success, and a Very Large Rabbit, which won literary awards; Building a Business Through Good Times and Bad: Lessons from Fifteen Companies, Each With a Century of Dividends; The Seven Signs of Ethical Collapse; and Somewhere Between Ezekiel and Miss Havisham, a book of essays on grief. A collection of her essays, Nobody Fixes Real Carrot Sticks Anymore, first published in 1994, is still in print.
Her columns have been syndicated around the U.S. and her writing has appeared in the Wall Street Journal, the Chicago Tribune, the New York Times, Washington Post, and Reader’s Digest. She was given an Arizona Press Club award in 1994 for her work as a feature columnist. She has been a commentator on business issues on “All Things Considered” for National Public Radio. She has conducted more than 500 workshops and seminars in the areas of business, personal, government, legal, academic and professional ethics. She continues to teach graduate courses in business ethics at colleges around the United States, including ASU, where she returned to teach graduate courses in late 2013.
Jennings is a member of several professional organizations and has been appointed to several boards. She has appeared on CNBC, CBS This Morning, the Today Show, and CBS Evening News.
She and her husband, Terry H. Jennings, are the parents of five children.
