Grant Supports Summer Courses Offered by Trinity’s Prison Education Project

A grant from the Lower Connecticut Valley (LCV) branch of the American Association of University Women (AAUW) supported summer courses offered by Trinity’s Prison Education Project (TPEP) at York Correctional Institute, Connecticut’s state prison for women.

Anna Terwiel, assistant professor of political science and a co-director of TPEP, said that Trinity typically offers one course at York in the spring semester, while partners from Quinnipiac University offer one course in the fall. There is no charge to the students who take the courses.

“This summer, because of the grant, we were able to offer two half-credit courses taught by Trinity faculty,” Terwiel said. “Religion and Gender in Contemporary America” was co-taught by Shane A. Gleason, associate professor of public policy and law, and Leslie Ribovich, director of the Greenberg Center for the Study of Religion in Public Life and associate professor of religious studies and public policy and law; and “Introduction to Philosophy” was taught by Shane M. Ewegen, professor of philosophy.

Terwiel—who previously was awarded a fellowship from the AAUW in support of her forthcoming book, Prison Abolition for Realists—connected with the local LCV chapter of the AAUW in spring 2024, when she gave them a presentation about her research and the importance of prison education.

“The AAUW supports education for women, so the members asked how they could support access to higher education for incarcerated women,” Terwiel said. “Rather than giving scholarship money to individual students, they decided to fund these summer courses, giving a whole group of students access to credit-bearing courses.”

By fall 2024, the LCV Education Scholarship Program (ESP) Board approved a $10,000 grant to fund summer courses at York. AAUW-LCV board member Judith Slisz M’72 volunteered to coordinate the collaboration. “The ESP Board and the entire LCV chapter are excited about the LCV/TPEP collaboration, which aligns with our mission to provide scholarships and educational programming with the goal of advancing equity and education for women and girls,” Slisz said. “When we learned of the program at YCI that enabled women to enroll in credit-bearing college classes, we were eager to participate in this program. We have since learned that some of the women from YCI have gone on to further their studies, at least one of them at Trinity College. We appreciate our interaction with TPEP faculty, and we hope to continue our involvement with this program.”

Joseph Lea, visiting lecturer in human rights and a co-director of TPEP, said that 11 students completed both summer courses at York and each received 1 credit. “This grant really helped to keep the students engaged with studying and having discussions all summer,” Lea said. “It gave us a great continuity of student participation and completion.”

Lea added that the members of the LCV branch of the AAUW encouraged the students at York to continue pursuing higher education, and sent notes of accomplishment and appreciation to the students for their participation in the courses. “The students from York can apply to the AAUW scholarship fund, as anybody can, when they’re released,” Lea said.

Founded in 2012, TPEP (formerly Trinity Prison Seminar Series) is one of the longest running college-in-prison programs in the state. As part of Trinity’s Human Rights Studies Program, TPEP offers credit-bearing college classes to incarcerated people at two locations in Connecticut: York Correctional Institution, in East Lyme, and Hartford Correctional Center, the city jail. Among the goals of TPEP are to reduce educational inequities, support incarcerated people, and help them succeed after release. TPEP is co-directed by Terwiel, Lea, and James C. Truman, director of peer tutoring in writing and senior lecturer in Trinity’s Allan K. Smith Center for Writing and Rhetoric.

Trinity also offers students many opportunities to learn about mass incarceration and related issues. Students may earn an Experiential Certificate in Carceral Systems and Social Change by taking two academic courses and engaging in one co-curricular experience that takes them outside of the classroom.

Learn more about Trinity’s Prison Education Project here.