Ashland University has the longest continuously-running correctional higher education program in the USA. Ashland has been providing a transformative educational experience for incarcerated students since it began offering classes in 1964 at the Ohio State Reformatory (later the filming site of The Shawshank Redemption). Today, the program offers classes in both face-to-face and online platforms to students in several states.
Dr. Maura Grady, director of the Composition Program, recently initiated a fundraiser after instructors in the program discovered many students in our Correctional Education did not have access to dictionaries at their facilities. Dr. Grady explained, “incarcerated students are not allowed to use web-based internet platforms or conventional software, so they do not have any spell-checking programs or dictionaries to use when they are writing essays. Having access to a dictionary is really essential for these students. So, I did a ‘birthday fundraiser’ to try to get some funding to buy more dictionaries for the libraries at the facilities that were short on resources.”
Several campus members, friends, and others donated and were able to purchase 26 pocket dictionaries for 6 locations served by Ashland University's Correctional Education Program. Dr Grady thanked the Composition instructors who alerted us to the sites in need. And thanks go to Mary Deloe, Director of Faculty Services, for getting the dictionaries where they needed to go!
If you would like to donate or to learn more, please visit: https://www.gofundme.com/f/dictionaries-for-student-inmates&rcid=r01-156155920833-3e20fca84850452c&pc=ot_co_campmgmt_w
