ARTICLE
University of Saint Mary renews its effort to educate the imprisoned LEAVENWORTH — Three years after the University of Saint Mary here began a renewed effort to offer undergraduate degree programs at the Lansing Correctional Facility, a half dozen students there donned caps and gowns to walk a makeshift graduation stage this summer, earning their bachelor’s degrees and joining the ranks of USM alumni. The six students — Michael Gaynor, Charles Johnson, William Mason, Sean Murphy, Danny Pickerill and Zachary Smith — all earned a bachelor’s degree in computer information science. Their accomplishments were made possible by the Second Chance Pell Experimental Sites program initiative. USM began offering undergraduate degrees inside the correctional facility in 2021, after being selected as a participating educational institution for the Second Chance Pell program. “We are grateful that we are able to return to providing bachelor’s degrees behind the walls,” said Sister Diane Steele, SCL, university president. “We believe in the dignity of all people’s ability to learn, and we know that education greatly reduces recidivism. Evidence shows that quality education changes lives for the better.” For Saint Mary, it marked a return to a mission of serving the incarcerated. USM has a long history of offering postsecondary education at penal institutions. From the early 1980s to the mid-1990s, the university established programs at four correctional sites in the Leavenworth area. Three of this summer’s grads — Mason, Pickerill and Johnson — began taking courses from Saint Mary at the Lansing Correctional Facility in the early 1990s. They stopped when their Pell Grants ended in 1994. Thirty years later, the students finished their degrees and celebrated with family at a graduation ceremony in May. Read more...
LEAVENWORTH — Three years after the University of Saint Mary here began a renewed effort to offer undergraduate degree programs at the Lansing Correctional Facility, a half dozen students there donned caps and gowns to walk a makeshift graduation stage this summer, earning their bachelor’s degrees and joining the ranks of USM alumni.
The six students — Michael Gaynor, Charles Johnson, William Mason, Sean Murphy, Danny Pickerill and Zachary Smith — all earned a bachelor’s degree in computer information science. Their accomplishments were made possible by the Second Chance Pell Experimental Sites program initiative.
USM began offering undergraduate degrees inside the correctional facility in 2021, after being selected as a participating educational institution for the Second Chance Pell program.
“We are grateful that we are able to return to providing bachelor’s degrees behind the walls,” said Sister Diane Steele, SCL, university president. “We believe in the dignity of all people’s ability to learn, and we know that education greatly reduces recidivism. Evidence shows that quality education changes lives for the better.”
For Saint Mary, it marked a return to a mission of serving the incarcerated. USM has a long history of offering postsecondary education at penal institutions. From the early 1980s to the mid-1990s, the university established programs at four correctional sites in the Leavenworth area.
Three of this summer’s grads — Mason, Pickerill and Johnson — began taking courses from Saint Mary at the Lansing Correctional Facility in the early 1990s. They stopped when their Pell Grants ended in 1994. Thirty years later, the students finished their degrees and celebrated with family at a graduation ceremony in May.
Read more...