Since 1999, Joan Prittie has served as Executive Director of Project Safe domestic violence center—which was recently honored as the Nonprofit of the Year by the Athens Area Community Foundation. Joan teaches graduate classes at UGA, and is also the editor and principal author of the Georgia Domestic Violence Bench Book—a resource guide for judges. In her former life as an attorney, Joan represented indigent inmates in the Georgia state prison system, and as a pro bono project worked on behalf of 78 incarcerated survivors of abuse—securing one sentence commutation and numerous early paroles.

In 2024, Joan was appointed to the Georgia Commission on Family Violence by Governor Brian Kemp. She’s the recipient of the Commission’s 2021 Gender Justice Award, the 2015 UGA President’s Fulfilling the Dream award for social justice, and the 2014 ATHENA award for professional excellence and community service. In 2010, she received the national Sunshine Peace award for facilitating social change to end violence against women and children.

Joan is an ordained Elder in the Presbyterian Church. An active member of Covenant Presbyterian Church and former high school Sunday school teacher, she currently serves on the board of The Table at UGA (formerly Presbyterian Campus Ministry). Joan and her wife recently celebrated their 31st anniversary. They enjoy traveling the world and spoiling their rescued pitbulls.