As we prepare for a much-needed Fall Break, we are excited to share highlights of our recent activities as we look forward to the work planned for the remainder of the semester. First, please join us in offering a hearty congratulations to Babette Cieskowski, OPEEP’s Education Program Senior Specialist, for winning the Ohio Arts Council Individual Excellence Award for Poetry and for being chosen as a Virginia Center for the Creative Arts Fellow!! We are thrilled to celebrate this achievement and applaud her amazing literary talents.
We are happy to welcome Nico Fuentes to the OPEEP team as a Graduate Associate. Nico, a PhD student in WGSS, will be supporting OPEEP’s social media management, event planning, and LAM’s research. We look forward to the experience and insights Nico will bring to our work. You can learn more about Nico’s background and interests in their profile in this month’s issue.
Enrollment for Spring 2027 classes is underway. We are gearing up to offer classes at four facilities: London Correctional Institution (LoCI), Southeastern Correctional Institution (SCI), Richland Correctional Institution (RiCI), and the Ohio Reformatory for Women (ORW). Dr. Terrance Hinton’s class at SCI, SOC 2211S: Corrections, is already at capacity! Fortunately, there are several other opportunities to take an OPEEP class in the spring. At LoCI, Dr. fabian romero is teaching COMPSTD 4822: Native American Identities and Dr. Viet Trinh is teaching AFAMAST 4620: Race Policing and the American City. Dr. Terri Winnick is teaching SOC 3430: Sociology of the Family at RiCI. And at ORW, Dr. Elizabeth Sheehan is teaching ENG 3261: Fiction Then and Now – Fashion and Literature and Dr. Bart Elmore is teaching HIST 3706: Coca-Cola Globalization. Be sure to read Dr. Elmore’s profile in this newsletter. And see our website for full details about classes and to apply. The classes at men’s prisons are contingent upon campus student enrollment, so please spread the word in your networks. Faculty, we are happy to visit your classes this semester to talk about OPEEP. Please email us at opeep@osu.edu to make a request. And consider adding our website to your Carmen course page.
Planning is also underway for classes for the 2027-28 academic year. If you are a trained OPEEP instructor who is interested in teaching next year, be on the lookout for the interest survey soon and be sure to complete the Qualtrics survey by Oct. 27. If you are not yet trained, save the date for our next OPEEP Instructor Training, which will be held May 17-19, 2027. Applications will open in early spring.
OPEEP’s Mellon sponsored extracurricular activities continued this month with a writing workshop led by Dr. Linda Mizejewski, retired professor of Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies, and Sam Risak, a PhD student in the English department. Check out Stormy’s report of the fun workshop they conducted for members of LAM and the degree cohort. LoCI is looking forward to hosting Dr. Jason Rawls for a presentation next month on listening to music like a hip hop producer. We are eager to have more faculty present on their research and/or creative practices at our partner prison facilities in Marysville, London (LoCI), and Lancaster (SCI). Please use this form to indicate your interest.
In this issue, we continue our “A Day in the Life” series with a contribution from Jwoo, who offers insight into life at a men’s prison. We also feature a Philosophy for Humans (P4H) update from Steph, highlighting their bittersweet membership changes and their ongoing projects.
Thanks for your continued support and engagement! Be sure to follow us on Instagram @osu_opeep.
We hope that you have a restful break and return rejuvenated for the rest of the semester!
Drs. Tiyi Morris and Mary Thomas