https://sites.northwestern.edu/npep/

Northwestern Prison Education Program - NPEP, 1880 Campus Drive, Evanston, IL (2026)

10/10/2026

CHELSEA "IRIE" RAKER

I embarked on a path of lifelong learning early in life. Born in Tallahassee, Florida, I grew up in the low country and spent most of my kiddiedom running around Savannah, Georgia, with a sense of wonder that allowed me to learn something from every situation I found myself in.

Aside from my siblings, books were my first friends. They allowed me to hide in their pages and explore walks of life I’d never encountered. They put at my fingertips possibilities of what could be. They opened my mind to questions: Why does life look so different for different people? Why does knowledge seem so inaccessible?

NPEP gave me a formal education and at the same time taught me more about myself than I could have imagined. I have learned that I'm passionate about restorative/transformative justice. I’m an abolitionist with dreams of making knowledge, resources, and wonder accessible to at-risk youth. I would like to pursue a PhD in Humanitarian Studies. My ultimate goals are to stop the pushout of marginalized youth from public schools and to propose a plan that sets a federal standard of excellence for the foster system in the US and addresses the foster-to-prison pipeline that allows these institutions to fuel each other.

Being part of the first cohort of incarcerated women to graduate from a top-ten university is just the beginning for me.

📸: Heather Eidson Photography and Media LLC

10/10/2026

PATRICIA RUTH OUSKA

Daydreaming is my passion. I replay over and over in my mind the decades I have been incarcerated and my endless fight to be free. Northwestern University has saved me from a life of despair, decay, and waste. Early on I was impacted by the carceral system. I also became a teenage mother, and my dreams of education were shattered. Having earned my bachelor’s degree has given me immense joy. I have defied all odds and broken through barriers. The irony is that, had I not been incarcerated, I would not have been afforded this elite education, for which I am so grateful.

Through NPEP I have grown spiritually and intellectually. As a clan member of the Tlingit Nation, it is in my bloodline to be a storyteller. My indigeneity has made me mount up with wings like an eagle. I have shared my truth, trials, and tribulations in my speaking, my writing, and my art. These creative outlets have given me healing beyond measure.

My next steps beyond graduation have been fruitful and meaningful. I have been a Writing Fellow for our magazine, the Northwestern Insider, and I continue to be a contributing writer. I am currently an NPEP Teaching Fellow, a student in the Prison Journalism Project’s Student Learning Cohort, a student in the Adler University psychology program, and a contributor to the Prison Neighborhood Art and Education Project.

Although I value all these accomplishments, my greatest accomplishments are my children and grandchildren.

📸: Heather Eidson Photography and Media LLC

10/09/2026

JOYCE McGEE

Earning a degree from Northwestern University is epic! It means unlimited possibilities—and that I can achieve greatness. It means I am a success as a woman, and my family can be proud of my accomplishments. It means there is more to come.

I did not always feel this sense of accomplishment and confidence. When I began NPEP, I was a shy, quiet student. My professors intimidated me—especially Professor Bey because he is amazingly intelligent. I didn’t even think that he noticed me until I asked him to write me a letter for court. The things he said about me shocked and surprised me. He remembered all the things I said in class, and he said how impressed he was when I came to him asking what I could do better next time to get a better grade. He made me feel seen and understood. He gave me the confidence to trust myself.

Northwestern is just the beginning of my educational journey, not the end. My next step is attaining a master’s degree, and then I plan to use my education to work with wayward youth. I am obsessed with growth and have the confidence to evolve daily. Very soon I will become a force.

📸: Heather Eidson Photography and Media LLC

10/09/2026

SHAWNETTE GREEN

Some moments can only be understood in retrospect, when what once felt like an agonizing disappointment reveals itself to have been a profound catalyst.

In 2020, I learned that I had been granted clemency. The relief came in the form of a commutation rather than the immediate release I had deeply hoped for. I was devastated.

Shortly after, I was admitted to NPEP. And in 2021, NPEP's inaugural cohort of women began a transformative journey through scholarship.

Five years later, as I reflect on earning my degree from Northwestern University, the proximity of those two events feels almost providential. The additional time I so desperately did not want became the narrow window through which I was given an opportunity I might otherwise never have encountered.

I don't make that observation lightly. Nor does hindsight require me to recast incarceration as benevolent. There are losses that remain losses. But maturity has taught me that an experience does not have to be good for something meaningful to emerge from it.

I occasionally entertain a parallel universe in which incarceration never interrupted my life. Perhaps Northwestern exists there too. But I know enough about the world—and about the trajectory of my own life before prison—to resist such convenient revision. Ability and access have never been synonymous. The social and institutional forces that had already complicated my path did not suddenly disappear simply because I possessed intelligence or ambition.

And therein lies one of the great contradictions of my journey: an institution of confinement became the unlikely point of access to an institution of extraordinary intellectual privilege.

I find that tension far more meaningful than any tidy story about redemption.

Northwestern did not rescue me, and incarceration did not create me. What NPEP offered was access—rigorous scholarship, extraordinary faculty, intellectual community, research, relationships, and an opportunity to sharpen capacities I was already learning to recognize within myself. What followed depended upon what I chose to do with that access.

I chose to capitalize on it.

📸: Heather Eidson Photography and Media LLC

10/08/2026

MARIA GARZA

Determination. I understand now that knowing the definition is far different from actually having to live it. When I look back at the experiences that make up my history, I realize that it is our lived experiences that ultimately give determination its meaning.

I was the first woman in my cohort to return home, but returning home came with its own challenges. I had to adjust to reentry, reintegrate into a world that had changed, reunify with a family that had learned to communicate through distance, and somehow continue my education through it all. It left me returning to a question I had asked myself many times throughout my life: “How did I get here?”

One of my first NPEP courses challenged me to think about that question differently. In Art History, Professor Risa Puleo assigned William Morris’s “Useful Work Versus Useless Toil,” which distinguishes meaningful work from toil. As I read it, I began to wonder whether that idea could extend beyond how we work to how we live. Morris challenged me to ask whether I was living with intention and purpose or simply toiling through life. I realized I had been toiling. The reading didn’t give me all the answers, but it changed the question. Instead of asking only, “How did I get here?” I began asking, “Where am I trying to go?”

My education helped me answer that question. It gave me knowledge, and it also helped me find my voice and a stronger sense of who I am. Today, I am the co-founder of Challenge II Change, an organization built from a purpose I once struggled to define. Looking ahead, I want to use my education to strengthen the work I am already doing and continue advocating for meaningful change. I now have a clearer answer to the question, “Where am I trying to go?” I want to build a life where what I do is useful and intentional, and where the impact of my work reaches beyond my own life.

📸: Heather Eidson Photography and Media LLC

10/08/2026

AMANDA FREDRICKSON

I am a life-long learner, and even without college I would continue to learn. But earning this degree from Northwestern—being a member of this exceptional cohort of women—means being part of something that can never be taken away. It means achieving a goal I had come to believe was unattainable after being incarcerated. It means being an example to my daughter that it is never too late to achieve a goal.

This education also taught me not to underestimate what I can learn. In the past, I believed that I would never be able to understand any math beyond basic math. Even the teachers in middle school told me I was hopeless. NPEP showed me that not only was I capable, but I could even excel at math. I am now looking forward to being a math teaching assistant for the next cohort of NPEP women.

I plan to continue to use my NPEP and Reflective and Effective Teaching training as a teaching assistant and tutor. When I am released, I’d like to explore making films about little-known, forgotten women in history.

📸: Heather Eidson Photography and Media LLC

10/07/2026

TIFFANY FASSLER

Besides the birth of my two sons, earning a degree from Northwestern is the biggest achievement of my life. Earning this degree has meant the difference between debilitating depression and having a purpose to exist every day. It has given me the opportunity to prove to myself that I can accomplish challenging goals, even if I don’t feel ready for them. It has given me the opportunity to show my sons that even in the worst situations, you can find meaning.

Although I appreciate what I learned in all my NPEP classes, I found the restorative justice class with Professor Annie Buth to be particularly meaningful. This class provided a space for us all to come together and share with one another without restraint. Through the restorative justice circles, I gained an understanding of acceptance, diversity, and belonging. It is difficult to find safe and meaningful interactions in a prison environment, and Annie’s class fostered those interactions.

Looking to the future, I would like to use my education to improve the lives of others on an individual level and on a family level. I want to be there for the person or family in crisis and provide interventions to resolve issues. I also want to find an avenue to advocate for the incarcerated population because what I thought couldn’t happen to me could happen to anyone.

📸: Heather Eidson Photography and Media LLC

10/06/2026

REGINA DeFRANCISCO

The NPEP classroom has always been my safe place within this prison. Making it to this stage in life and education has been absolutely transformational. I used to worry about what would come of me when I am released. Now I am confident that my future will be stable, lucrative, and meaningful.

Being part of the first women’s cohort seems surreal. I am honored to be named among these women, and I am confident that we are merely the first cohort of many.

One of the most important lessons I learned in NPEP is the importance of community. For most of my time in NPEP, I didn’t fully understand why Professor Lackey wanted us to learn how to be a community. It was only after I graduated and was a teaching assistant for the second cohort that I finally got it. I heard Professor Lackey telling the second cohort “I know you are all intelligent. What I want for you all is to become a community.” At that moment I understood why community is so important in NPEP; community is the true foundation for higher learning.

Looking ahead, I will continue building community by being a fearless advocate for justice. I will continue to utilize my degree to challenge and overcome authoritative and legal obstacles meant to hinder progress; and I will do so by employing every soft skill I’ve learned.

📸: heathereidsonmedia

10/05/2026

MARGARET DeFRANCISCO

For me, collaboration is essential for a long-lasting community. I pride myself on being a true team player, someone who, when others appear to be struggling, is ready to lend a helping hand. I also pride myself on embracing the perspectives, insight, and opinions of others. Over the years I've learned how listening and observing has helped me appreciate new ideas and to grow.

I have witnessed how our NPEP professors are also team players, committed to creating a community and providing everyone with a quality education. As one example, Professor Tom Durkin taught a Sociology course in the summer of 2024, the last quarter we had with our dear friend and classmate Katrina Giles. She was diagnosed with an aggressive, terminal cancer just a few months prior. This diagnosis didn't deter Katrina from attending class or diminish her optimistic spirit. Nor did it deter Professor Durkin from showing up an hour early to give her the lessons she missed due to her chemo treatments. This is just one example of what makes our NPEP education so special.

Earning a degree from Northwestern University is an honor and a dream come true. In my wildest dreams, I never imagined that I would be able to be part of something so monumental. I've often heard the saying, “the world is your oyster,” but it wasn't until my acceptance that the words began to resonate. Education is worth more than currency; I am rich in knowledge and grateful to be an alumna of Northwestern.

Looking ahead, all I can see is a bright future. I will continue learning and soaking up knowledge. My education will show others how impactful this program is. Once released, I plan to work with at-risk youth and instill in them a belief in themselves and their abilities, just as NPEP has done for me.

📸: heathereidsonmedia

10/04/2026

VANECHA COOPER

The Northwestern Prison Education Program challenged and humbled me, frustrated and encouraged me, broke me and then rebuilt me into a strong, resilient, confident woman with a sense of purpose. My earning a bachelor's degree from Northwestern University is proof that unplanned interruptions can lead to valuable opportunities, providing clear insight and direction in accomplishing goals. I feel seen! I feel empowered!

During this educational journey, I received a wealth of learning from all my professors. Two of the most impactful were Professors Megan Geigner and Annie Buth. Professor Megan Geigner was one of the four professors for the two-quarter Design Thinking and Doing class. It is because of her that I no longer allow the word “can’t” to be in my vocabulary. That word has lost its power. I believe in myself and my abilities. Professor Annie Buth, who helped us develop a restorative justice practice, was a source of constant support, and discussions with her validated my sense of self-worth.

Going forward, I will use all that I have learned and gained as fuel to accomplish my new purpose: to be a voice for those who were like me at the beginning of this journey, those who are overlooked or an afterthought, those who lack confidence and a sense of worth, those who question their place in this world.

Northwestern Prison Education Program - NPEP

10/10/2026

10/10/2026

10/09/2026

10/09/2026

10/08/2026

10/08/2026

10/07/2026

10/06/2026

10/05/2026

10/04/2026

Address

Website

Alerts

Shortcuts

Share

Category

Listing takedown request