Ceremony at Tennessee Prison for Women marks first time bachelor's degrees awarded to 'inside students'
Kim Chaudoin | 615.966.6494 |
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Previous coverage of Lipscomb LIFE graduation
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As the sound of bagpipes drift into the gym, faculty, students, family and friends excitedly gather in anticipation of the pending graduation.
Close your eyes and you imagine yourself sitting in Allen Arena for the traditional commencement celebrating the end of the educational journey for hundreds of graduates as faculty are led to their seats by the pomp and circumstance of the pipes and drums.
Open your eyes and you realize you’re sitting in the gymnasium at the Tennessee Prison for Women listening to bagpipes herald the beginning of a very unique ceremony.
Lipscomb University awarded its first bachelor’s degrees to inmates from the Tennessee Prison for Women on Friday, Dec. 15, in a graduation ceremony held at the prison.
The women are students in Lipscomb University's LIFE program, The Lipscomb Initiative for Education. They are the third cohort to graduate through this program, and the first at the Tennessee Prison for Women (TPFW) to receive bachelor’s degrees. These women have received face-to-face instruction from university professors and have studied side-by-side with traditional Lipscomb undergraduate students at the prison each Wednesday night for the last 10 years through the Lipscomb LIFE program. All students involved earn college credit for the course.
During the Dec. 15 ceremony at TPFW, four offender participants in the Lipscomb LIFE program received their Bachelor of Professional Studies degrees in organizational leadership. Two others participated in the ceremony but will not complete their requirements for graduation until next year. Two other students received Associates of Arts degrees at the ceremony. The cumulative GPA of today’s graduates is 3.825.
This culminates a decade of study and work for the women, many of whom have life sentences. To earn the Associates of Arts Degree, the inmates had to earn 63 credit hours, following the Tennessee Board of Regents’ general education requirement. To earn the Bachelor of Professional Studies degree, students had to earn 126 credit hours. All of the women who participated in today’s ceremony have gone through Lipscomb University’s competency-based education program assessment center that awards up to 30 hours of college credit based on mastery of particular competencies. Through Lipscomb’s Competency Assessment and Development Center, the CORE (Customized, Outcome-based, Relevant, Evaluation) program measures 15 competencies on a badge system. Depending on the level of proficiency demonstrated by an individual in those competencies, college credits may be awarded. CORE competency credits may then be applied toward a Bachelor of Professional Studies in Organizational Leadership or any other adult degree offering.
“Over the last ten years the LIFE program has grown in majors and we’ve grown in degrees, but more than anything we have watched the women grow,” said Richard Goode, Lipscomb professor and founder of the Lipscomb LIFE program. “We have watched the women flourish. We have watched their imaginations grow and have taken them in some places they never imagined they would go.”
Class subjects have included judicial process, art history, ethics, negotiation, literature, theater, public speaking and math, among other subjects. Since the program launched, students have compiled three literary journals and have held a theatrical production in the prison as well.
Gloria M. Gross, warden at the Tennessee Prison for Women, offered her welcome to the crowd of family, friends, faculty and classmates.
“I especially thankful to Lipscomb University for their partnership in rehabilitation efforts,” said Gross. “To the graduates, I want to thank you for taking advantage of change. Change is what it’s all about. You have persevered, and I am proud of you. Hats off to you.”
Lipscomb only offers one associate degree, which was specially developed for this program. The first nine Lipscomb LIFE students received these degrees on Dec. 13, 2013. The second cohort received their degrees on Dec. 18, 2015.
Including the eight offender students who participated in the Dec. 15 ceremony, there are a total of 37 offenders who are taking classes through the Lipscomb LIFE program.
Nina Morel is dean of the College of Professional Studies, which houses the Lipscomb LIFE program as well as the university’s competency-based education. She encouraged the graduates to remember three words as they reflect on the day’s activities.
“There are three words I want to give you today,” said Morel. “The first is ‘breathe.’ Remember that the Father gave us the breath of life. It’s a tool of comfort we have from God. The second word is ‘belong.’ We are designed to belong in community and to take strength in that. The third is ‘become.’ Become who you were created to be, and never stop becoming a better version of yourself.”
Morel added a final word — “beyond” — in her charge to the graduates.
“Many of you will take this education and continue to transform your life because of it,” she said. “Through it, you have discovered the life of the mind, the spirit and the heart.”
Kate Watkins, Lipscomb professor and Lipscomb LIFE director, also addressed the graduates.
“For 10 years, the Tennessee Prison for Women has served as a hub for hospitality. Thank you for opening your doors to us,” said Watkins. “Today, there is a great cloud of witnesses to celebrate your good work. We thought we were bringing you an education, but the consensus from the faculty is that you are the teachers. You are the image of God to us all.”
One of the graduates, Barbi, who received her Associate of Arts degree in 2013 from Lipscomb, was selected to speak on behalf of the graduates by her peers.
“Thank goodness our success is not measured by the position we are in,” said Barbi. “Instead it is measured by the obstacles we have overcome while trying to get there. Those obstacles make us who we are. The journey to overcoming creates the very fabric of our selves. We all know there have been many obstacles to getting to where we are today. Our families and friends have overcome many obstacles simply because they travel the journey with us.”
“The LIFE faculty overcomes obstacles every day when you come in here to see us,” she continued. “So how much greater, how much sweeter the success when it is measured by the journey we have taken with our lives. So we feel successful today not because of any position we hold, but instead we are successful because we got here today by overcoming those obstacles with all of you.”
Donna, who also received her Associate of Arts degree in 2013, received her Bachelor of Professional Studies degree today.
“I am humbled,” she said. “You have to remember, I am a criminal and they came in here to us. Lipscomb saw that maybe we are rough around the edges, that maybe we really bad pasts, but they wanted to dig past that and till the soil that is at TPFW. And here we are today.”
“We are wiser, and you have taught us that we aren’t broken or thrown away,” said Erika, who received an Associate of Arts degree in 2013. “We have learned that our identity has risen above the prison culture.”
“Every since August 2011 when I first started this program, it has been my beacon,” said Crystal, who received her Associate of Arts degree during the ceremony. “It has been my guiding light when I didn’t know where to go or what to do. I thought my life was over — and Lipscomb gave me life.”
The day was very meaningful to Goode and Watkins, who have been involved with the program since its early days.
“To think that they have done ten years worth of undergraduate education without internet is almost supernatural – to know that they’ve done it with limited resources,” said Watkins. “They truly understand what education means and how it can transform lives. It’s inspiring to see they’ve taken it so seriously.”
“It’s a great honor to get to step in on this knowing that this working started long before I came along,” she continued. “It’s a humbling opportunity to even get to be on the guest list to be here today, to be present in this moment to get to peer behind the curtain to see God’s story being lived out and hoping that we can then get to carry that to the world on behalf of the students who will not get to come home with us.”
Goode said the day is particularly meaningful to him because he has known these students since the program began a decade ago.
“There are relationships built and you get to know people when you are with them week in and week out for years, so I do kind of feel like a dad in getting to celebrate with them in this moment,” said Goode. “I know that graduation is about the graduates. But it’s also about the people who are coming to celebrate with them. We are thrilled for them and we are here to say that we are proud of their accomplishment, and we are looking forward to seeing what their lives hold looking forward.”
Established in 2007, Lipscomb’s LIFE (Lipscomb Initiative for Education) Program introduced an innovative education format that brought Lipscomb’s traditional students out to the prison each week to study with the inmates in for-credit classes. The LIFE Program provides Lipscomb University students an academic and service-learning experience like few others. Up to 30 traditional students (“outside students”) each semester enroll in courses held on-site at the Tennessee Prison for Women and study alongside residents of the prison (“inside students”). The mix of students and specifically designed coursework provides academic and character-building benefits for both students at the prison and students from campus. As part of this program, courses are selected from the university curriculum and relocated from the Lipscomb campus to the Tennessee Prison for Women.
They attend class every Wednesday night at the prison. Each of these nights, professors from Lipscomb University, along with traditional students who are also enrolled in these classes, travel to TPFW where they are scanned in through security and sit side-by-side the inmates for class. Both the "inside" students and the "outside" students earn college credit for the course. The course content for these women was essentially the same as the courses offered on campus, but the classroom context and diversity of students provided a rich, life-changing educational experience. Whatever the academic discipline, together they all explored something of what it means to be a minister of reconciliation in today's world.
LIFE students at TPW develop better self-confidence, expanded life experience and good study habits. In fact, Lipscomb’s traditional students are afforded an eye-opening experience to get to know the inmates; an encounter that many students say has affected their life choices well after completing the class.
Today, the LIFE Program is one of only a handful of programs in the U.S. to offer a college degree to prison inmates. LIFE Participants, selected by the Department of Correction, must have a two-year record of good behavior and a high school diploma or GED in order to participate in the program. Several TPFW students have gone on to take additional courses on the Lipscomb campus after they are paroled.
— Photos by Kristi Jones; Video by Josh Shaw