College and Local Prison Continue to Collaborate

When sociology professor Elaine Leeder (in photo, right) began an educational collaboration between Ithaca College and the Elmira Correctional Facility in 1998, the program was an informal series of lectures presented by various faculty members from Ithaca, Cornell, and Elmira College. As the 2000–2001 academic year got under way, however, Ithaca College made it possible for interested inmates with a high school diploma or its equivalent to earn three credits for taking a yearlong course, Contemporary Issues in Sociology.

Though Leeder left the College in May to take an administrative position at Sonoma State University in California, the program she started continues to thrive. This academic year the college will be offering Topics in Communication, a yearlong, three-credit course developed by David Shapiro, associate professor of organizational communication, learning, and design, who will also teach the course together with Bryan Nance (in photo, left, with David Shapiro), assistant director of admissions in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at Cornell. Two book publishers --- Waveland Press and Allyn & Bacon --- each donated 25 textbooks.

"The course will provide an overview of communication theories and practices in inter- personal and intercultural communication, organizational communication, and public/mass communication," Shapiro says. "We have twice as many students interested in this one course than there are slots available, but the prison mandate is no more than 20 students per class."

Eight of those students, Shapiro adds, will be ones who took the sociology course last year. Though the facility offers 10 vocational programs as well as other educational opportunities, Ithaca College is the only institution providing a free credit-bearing college course in the 1,800-inmate facility.

"Ithaca College’s commitment to prison education is incredibly generous and extremely valuable to the inmates," Shapiro says. "Though the physical environment of this maximum security facility can be quite intimidating, the students are hungry to learn and very appreciative."

"These are students with considerable life experience who are eager for intellectual stimulation," adds Sandra Herndon, OCL&D professor and chair of the graduate program in communications. "It is a privilege to work with them."

Herndon gave a presentation at the prison last year, as did assistant professor of politics Naeem Inayatullah. Both will be returning to make guest presentations this fall. They will be joined by Shapiro, Nance, two other Ithaca College faculty members, and a social worker from the Louis Gossett Jr. Residential Center.

"There are seven class sessions this semester, running every other week," Shapiro says. "I will be spending the first 30 minutes of each class attempting to connect the course readings with guest topics as well as reviewing student assignments. Then Bryan and I will turn it over to the guest presenters."

The course schedule is as follows:

• September 13, David Shapiro --- "Course Overview, Basic Communication Theory, including Persuasion Theory"
• September 20, Jodi Cohen, associate professor of speech communication --- "Persuasion According to Aristotle: Is it Culturally Biased?" and "Knowing, Being, and Doing: The Role of Communication"
• October 4, Naeem Inayatullah --- "International and Political Communication"
• October 18, Sandra Herndon --- "Interpersonal Communication: Lessons from 12-Step Groups and Crisis Telephone Lines"
• November 1, Bryan Nance --- "The Communication of Equity and Equality"
• November 15, Susan Allen-Gil, assistant professor of biology --- "Intercultural Communication: Communicating across Cultures --- Traditional Knowledge and Western Science"
• November 29, Maurice Haltom, social worker, Louis Gossett Jr. Residential Center --- "Intrapersonal Communication: Mind/Body Interaction"

The spring syllabus has not yet been finalized, Shapiro says, but presenters have been scheduled.

"Given the inmate interest, we hope more classes can be taught through Ithaca and other area colleges," Shapiro says. "A steering committee will soon be convened at the College, and hopefully a consortium of higher education institutions can be formed to maximize educational opportunities at nearby penal institutions."