Prison education program from Hope, Western Theological Seminary get official approval – HollandSentinel.com
HOLLAND — The Hope-Western Prison Education Program has received official accreditor approval for an expansion to offer a Bachelor of Arts degree to incarcerated students at Muskegon Correctional Facility.
Hope College and Western Theological Seminary announced plans to pursue accreditation over the summer and officially got approval from the Higher Learning Commission earlier this month.
The approval allows Muskegon Correctional Facility to serve as a satellite campus of Hope College and for the selected inmates to be part of Hope’s student body. The students are limited to pursuing a major in “Faith, Leadership and Service.”
“Hope College now exists in Muskegon as it has in Holland since 1866,” stated R. Richard Ray, a professor of kinesiology at Hope who is co-directing the program with David Stubbs, professor of theology and ethics at Western Theological Seminary. “The students in Muskegon are limited to a single major — in Faith, Leadership and Service — but will be engaging in an education as intellectually rigorous and oriented to the liberal arts as their peers on the main campus.”
More:Hope College, Western Theological Seminary look to expand prison education program
The first cohort for HWPEP began coursework for credit this fall. Starting next fall, 20 students will be added each year until the program is fully operational with 80 students in the fall of 2024.
Prospective students in the Michigan Department of Corrections can apply to the college and, if accepted, will be transferred to Muskegon Correctional Facility.
HWPEP’s first cohort could complete their degrees as soon as May 2025, Ray said.
The program began in March 2019 as a pilot program. Seven professors from Hope and Western taught non-credit courses to 20 students enrolled in HWPEP, with 10 seminary and college students serving as assistants.
Costs associated with the program are being funded through donations, according to Hope and WTS. A donor has committed to match gifts to WTS in support of the HWPEP program up to $100,000 per year for four years.
To learn more about the Hope-Western Prison Education Program, visit hope.edu/hwpep.
