Programs

In fall 2023, all eligible incarcerated students will be able to access federal Pell Grants to support their pursuit of higher education while in prison.  When funding opens up, we will be geared up begin our college in prison program at a medium security men’s prison in Hagerstown.

In spring 2023, TU will open a center on campus specifically designed to support justice-impacted students. The Fair Chance Center, a first-of-its-kind in the state, will serve as the “go-to” spot for justice-impacted students and their supporters. Interested parties will receive information and guidance in their pursuit of higher education, no matter what stage they may be in the process.

We will support currently enrolled justice-impacted students, students who are transitioning from prison-based higher education programs (ours or others in the region) to TU’s main campus, people from the community who have not yet started higher education or who are returning to higher education after a break, and students who have graduated and wish to stay connected.

In fall 2021, FCHE partnered with TU’s Faculty Academic Center of Excellence at Towson (FACET) to form the Fair Chance Community of Practice (CoP). The FCHE CoP fosters regular interactive and engaging opportunities for faculty, staff, students, and community members to come together to build awareness, share best practices, create new knowledge and hone professional practices related to supporting justice-impacted people.

Events the Fair Chance CoP has hosted so far include discussions on “Prison Education as Social Justice” and “Mass Incarceration 101: How did we get here?”; a reading circle on prison abolition; and a “Meet the Author” event with Em Daniels, author or “Building a Trauma-Responsive Educational Practice: Lessons from a Corrections Classroom.”  

More information on upcoming events can be found under the “Events” tab.

Inside-Out courses provide unique opportunities to bring TU students and incarcerated students together inside a correctional institution to learn together as peers. Inside-Out works towards a paradigm shift for all participants, encouraging personal transformation and an increased sense of agency, thereby serving as an engine for social change.

Courses have been offered in two Maryland “jails” — the Baltimore County Detention Center (beginning in 2014) and the Harford County Detention Center (since 2017).

There are almost twenty instructors, representing six colleges and twelve departments, who have been trained to offer Inside-Out classes.

Inside-Out Instructors

• Elyshia Aseltine, associate professor, Dept. of Sociology, Anthropology & Criminal Justice, College of Liberal Arts
• Johannes Badejo, adjunct, Department of Computer and Information Sciences, Jess and Mildred Fisher College of Science and Mathematics
• Jennifer Ballengee, professor, Department of English, College of Liberal Arts
• Vera Case, lecturer, Business Excellence, College of Business and Economics 
• Cynthia Cooper, professor, Department of Communication Studies, College of Fine Arts and Communication
• Monika Conrad,  lecturer, Department of Psychology, College of Liberal Arts
• Walter Dearborn, lecturer, Department of Health Sciences, College of Health Professions
• Stephen Erik Hartmark, lecturer,  Dept of Sociology, Anthropology & Criminal Justice, College of Liberal Arts. 
• Corey Hennessey, adjunct, Department of Theatre Arts, College of Fine Arts and Communication
• Jennifer Johnson, MA Student in Counseling Psychology, College of Liberal Arts
• Ashley Kilmer, assistant professor, Department of Sociology, Anthropology & Criminal Justice, College of Liberal Arts
• Gauri Kulkarni, assistant professor, Department of Marketing, College of Business and Economics
• Tavia LaFollette, assistant professor, Department of Theatre Arts, College of Fine Arts and Communication
• Michelle Manasse, professor, Department of Sociology, Anthropology & Criminal Justice, College of Liberal Arts
• Morna McNulty, professor, Department of Elementary Education, College of Education 
• Katherine Orlando, graduate program director and lecturer, Dept of Instructional Leadership & Professional Development, College of Education
• Emily Parker, associate professor, philosophy and Department of Women’s and Gender Studies, College of Liberal Arts
• Jennifer Potter, chair and professor, Department of Communication Studies, College of Fine Arts and Communication
• Arundhati Rao, associate professor, Department of Accounting, College of Business and Economics 
• Briana Snyder, assistant professor, Department of Nursing, College of Health Professions
• Evangeline Wheeler, professor, Department of Psychology, College of Liberal Arts

Inside-Out Partners

• Baltimore County Detention Center
• Volunteers of America Chesapeake Resident Reentry Center