Happy New Year! We hope that you had a wonderful winter holiday and that the spring semester has started well. As we begin 2025, we have a lot to celebrate and a lot to look forward to. With one semester under their belts, the degree cohort at the Ohio Reformatory for Women (ORW) is embarking on the new semester with loads of enthusiasm for their two courses – WGSS 1110: Gender, Sex and Power, taught by Dr. Sierra Austin-King and WGSS/SLAVIC5450: Human Trafficking taught by Dr. Jennifer Suchland. After two weeks of classes, the students are already discussing connections they are making between these classes and previous readings from Autumn classes and LAM Collective. The entire ORW cohort is enrolled in both classes along with two campus students in Dr. Austin-King’s class and nine campus students in Dr. Suchland’s class. These major classes will provide students with a solid foundation in the discipline and help them hone their academic skills as they prepare to undertake a full load of coursework this Autumn.
You’ll be able to read one student’s reflections on their first semester as an OSU student in this newsletter. We are eager to have more campus students take OPEEP classes at ORW and the other prison facilities where we teach. Students, stay tuned for our Autumn 2025 courses! Faculty, registration for our May 5-7, 2025 Instructor Training is now live!
The degree students are learning how to become students, and how to fit the demands of academic success into their already full schedules. Many have jobs and participate in or lead a variety of other programming, groups, and classes at ORW. This spring you’ll have the opportunity to find out more about our students through our new series titled “A Day in the Life.” We hope you enjoy our first profile in the series highlighting “Jessica’s” daily routine.
Former and current OPEEP students, be sure to attend our Job Skills Workshop on Thursday, January 23. OPEEP Education Specialist Tori Lewis will help you map out the best ways to highlight your OPEEP classroom experience when applying for jobs, internships, and research assistant positions. There are two opportunities to participate: at 10am or 2pm in 239 Dulles Hall. Refreshments will be served.
An RSVP is appreciated but not required. Hope to see you there!
In November, LAM Collective hosted two poetry workshops –one by OPEEP’s own Education Program Senior Specialist and award-winning poet Babette Cieskowski. And the other by local poet Ajanaé Dawkins. Babette and Ajanaé guided LAM members through some of the basics of reading and understanding different forms of poetry and provided guidance for them to pen their own poems. We can’t wait to share our poetic productions in our newsletter and on social media in the future.
This month we are also thrilled to include a newsletter submission from the Philosophy for Humans (P4H) Learning Community at Southeastern Correctional Institution (SCI). Facilitated by Drs. Amy Shuster, Alia Dietsch, and Tristram McPherson, P4H meets bi-weekly to “build community to support transformative education and resist dehumanization.” We look forward to being able to regularly spotlight the amazing work they are doing at SCI.
As always, we appreciate your support, and we ask that you follow us on Instagram at @opeep_osu and Facebook and consider donating to our Campus Campaign.
Thank you.
Dr. Mary Thomas and Dr. Tiyi Morris
