In this talk,  Professor Deborah Appleman will chronicle her work teaching college-level classes at a high- security prison for men, most of whom are serving life sentences. Through narrative, poetry, memoir, and fiction, the students in Appleman’s classes attempt to write themselves back into a society that has erased their lived histories. Appleman will argue for the importance of educating the incarcerated and explore ways to interrupt the increasingly common journey from urban schools to our nation’s prisons. From the sobering endpoint of what scholars have called the “school to prison pipeline,” she will raise questions from the narratives and experiences of those who have traveled it.

Deborah Appleman is the Hollis L. Caswell Professor of Educational Studies, and director of the Summer Writing Program at Carleton College. Professor Appleman's recent research has focused on teaching college-level language and literature courses at the Minnesota Correctional Facility-Stillwater for incarcerated men who are interested in pursuing post-secondary education. She is the award-winner author of seven books, including Critical Encounters in Secondary English: Teaching Literary Theory to Adolescents, Third Edition (winner of the Richard A. Meade Award)