Center for Social Concerns launches new prison education initiative with lunch, panel discussion
The Center for Social Concerns celebrated the launch of Notre Dame Programs for Education in Prison (NDPEP) with a lunch and panel discussion Wednesday (Nov. 16), featuring John McGreevy, the Charles and Jill Fischer Provost at the University of Notre Dame, as well as graduates of various NDPEP programs and others.
In collaboration with Holy Cross College, Marian University, the Bard Prison Initiative and the Indiana Department of Correction, NDPEP reorganizes a number of new and existing education programs under a single umbrella within the Center for Social Concerns.
Among other things, it will:
- Provide strategic, administrative, programmatic and financial support to higher education efforts within Indiana prisons, including the Indiana Prison Liberal Arts Network, Inside-Out, the Moreau College Initiative, the Women’s College Partnership and Shakespeare at Notre Dame’s prison programs.
- Expand, deepen and evaluate the transformational impact of prison education efforts;
- Provide career development and other re-entry supports for students; and
- Create avenues for student and faculty research on incarceration.
Speaking at the lunch were McGreevy; Suzanne Shanahan, the Leo and Arlene Hawk Executive Director of the Center for Social Concerns; Michael Hebbeler, managing director of NDPEP; Max Kenner, founder and executive director of the Bard Prison Initiative; and Christina Reagle, commissioner of the Indiana Department of Correction.
David Campbell, the Packey J. Dee Professor of American Democracy at Notre Dame, moderated the panel, which included Lisa Hochstetler (Women’s College Partnership), Chris Foggie (Moreau College Initiative) and Notre Dame junior Ava Downey (Inside-Out). Inside-Out is a prison exchange program at Westville Correctional Facility in Westville, Indiana, about 50 minutes east of Notre Dame.
A resident of Nappanee, Hochstetler earned her associate degree from Marian University while serving a 12-and-a-half-year sentence at the Indiana Women’s Prison in Indianapolis. She is currently pursuing her bachelor’s degree from Marian, with the aim of becoming a youth advocate.
She credited the Women’s College Partnership with restoring her sense of self-worth.
“It’s given me a sense of being worth something; I’m no longer worthless,” the mother of four said. “It’s given me a chance to chase my dreams.”
Foggie, who’s also pursuing his bachelor’s degree after earning his associate degree in prison, expressed a similar sentiment. He served five years at Westville Correctional Facility. He was recently released from parole.
“It gave me ownership, ownership of my dreams,” Foggie said.
Speaking to the faculty in the room, he said, “Not one time did any of you guys give me any doubt in myself. And that’s one thing when you go to prison that’s instantaneous: doubt. It’s everywhere. You don’t know what’s going to happen the next day. I don’t have that doubt anymore.”
The Center for Social Concerns is an interdisciplinary institute dedicated to justice education and research for the common good with communities near and far.
For more information, visit socialconcerns.nd.edu.
Latest University News
- Record four Notre Dame students named 2024 Goldwater ScholarsA record four University of…
- Junior Kayle Lauck named 2024 Truman ScholarUniversity of Notre Dame junior Kayle Lauck has been named a 2024 Truman Scholar. She is the University’s 12th Truman Scholar since 2010 — a group that includes three Rhodes Scholars: Alex Coccia (’14), Christa Grace Watkins (’17) and Prathm Juneja (’20).
- Notre Dame launches University-wide Democracy Initiative to advance research, education and policy efforts to sustain and enhance democracyThe University of Notre Dame has launched an ambitious new Democracy Initiative, an interdisciplinary research, education and policy effort focused on advancing solutions to sustain and strengthen global democracy.…
- The Shirt 2024 to be unveiled April 19The Shirt Project invites students, alumni and fans of the University of Notre Dame to The Shirt 2024 unveiling at 4:30 p.m. Friday, April 19, on Library Lawn. This year’s unveiling will feature student groups including the band, cheerleaders, dance groups and…
- Notre Dame International extends global outreach and presence with new name: Notre Dame GlobalBeginning today (April 15), Notre Dame International will adopt a new name, Notre Dame Global, and will introduce itself on its new portal at global.nd.edu. The rebrand emphasizes the interconnectedness of the University of Notre Dame’s 12 locations around the world and reflects Notre Dame Global’s vital role in advancing Notre Dame as a leading global Catholic research university, on par with but distinct from the world’s best private universities.
- Three Notre Dame faculty named 2024 Guggenheim FellowsBarbara Montero, a professor of philosophy; Gretchen Reydams-Schils, a professor in the Program of Liberal Studies; and Roy Scranton, an associate professor of English and director of the Creative Writing Program and the Environmental Humanities Initiative, are among the 188 scholars, scientists and artists chosen from approximately 3,000 applicants for the fellowship. The Guggenheim Foundation awards these fellowships to outstanding scholars in order to add to the educational, literary, artistic and scientific power of the country.