Emily Guenther ’07 Awarded $60,000 Grant for the Liberal Arts in Prison Program

Emily Guenther ’07, director of Grinnell College’s Liberal Arts in Prison Program (LAPP), has been awarded a $60,000 grant from Bard College and the Open Society University Network (OSUN). The funds will support the hiring of a postbaccalaureate fellow who will provide academic support for the courses offered at the Newton Correctional Facility and the current pilot expansion at the Iowa Correctional Institution for Women. 

The grant will also provide funding to support the first lab science course that LAPP will offer, a General Physics course. Additionally, it will help plan for the development of further lab-related offerings in future years. 

This grant is part of the Bard Prison Initiative Consortium capacity-building grant from OSUN. The capacity-building grants are intended to be an infusion of funding for domestic and international college-in-prison programs, to be used to sustain and advance projects at any stage of development.  

“I am thrilled to receive this grant, which will support our program at a critical stage in its development,” says Guenther. “We are thrilled to hire a fellow to provide academic support to our terrific, incarcerated students, and to offer our first-ever science course with a lab. This grant will facilitate exciting opportunities for liberal arts teaching and learning for everyone who participates.”

About the Liberal Arts in Prison Program 

The Liberal Arts in Prison Program enrolls incarcerated students in a college program that offers the equivalent of two years of college coursework. Through rigorous college courses taught by Grinnell faculty and student volunteer program that supports and supplements our program, LAPP fosters reciprocal learning experiences that enrich the lives of all participants and affirms the power of a liberal arts education.