Title: Professor
Company: World Languages Department of Bergen Community College (Retired)
Location: Union City, NJ United States

Before she retired, Magali Jerez was a professor and administrator for the World Languages Department at Bergen Community College for 25 years. Before and during her career as an educator, she received two Ph.D.’s, a Master’s in counseling and psychology and a Bachelor’s in languages. Although she may say that the a career in education chose her, she stayed because of the impact that teachers have on the lives of students. She loves acting as a mentor to students and being able to give them the tools they need in order to be successful in their careers.

Dr. Jerez gets an immense sense of pride and accomplishment when she sees her students succeed. In her first-level language classes, she was able to witness her students go from knowing nothing about a language, to performing a skit with colleagues. She also wrote the music, lyrics and words for “Let’s Pray for Peace,” a piece in the 2003 International Festival of Music. She has also translated from Spanish to English and French to Italian. She has published a number of language textbooks, as well.

As a woman in today’s world, Dr. Jerez feels that her dedication to the job has contributed to her success. The advice she has for younger generation of women entering the workforce is that education is always a plus. She advises them to never wait to go back to school because life gets in the way and the chance of continuing education becomes less and less. She speaks from experience when she says this, because it took her a long time for her to pursue her Ph.D. after she received her Master’s degree. Always inspired by learning, Dr. Jerez is currently attending medical school and studying to be a doctor, and plans on eventually opening her own practice.

Contact Dr. Magali Jerez