CLASSES
Each year PNAP offers 13-15 non-credit college-level courses in subjects ranging from printmaking and criminology to poetry and women’s studies. Faculty are independent artists and Chicago university professors. A committee identifies new faculty and courses based on student interest and a desire to offer classes in a wide range of subjects taught by faculty that are representative of our student population. Our commitment to non-credit classes has been supported and articulated by our students in prison, as access to general education and art has been a critical gateway to higher education. Along with classes, PNAP hosts guest lectures where speakers discuss their work as writers, artists, and activists together with a group of incarcerated men in the Stateville auditorium.
Current Courses
Mixed Enrollment: Research, Writing, and Mass Incarceration
Faculty: Cathy Cohen and Alice Kim
TAs: Michael Bell
In this mixed enrollment course, outside students from UChicago and inside PNAP/UWW students will come together each week at Stateville Prison for a quarter of learning, dialogue and knowledge building across the prison wall.
We will explore the possibilities, challenges and ethical considerations researchers should contemplate when pursuing research and writing within and about carceral constraints. We will also interrogate the different methods such as ethnography, interviews and even surveys used to amplify the voices of those inside. Finally, we will look to theories such as Black feminism and queer theory to think together about the construction of (subjugated) knowledge.
Through weekly assignments and exercises including developing and conducting interviews and surveys, students will develop strategies and methods for the practice of research and writing about mass incarceration. Throughout the course, guest scholars, researchers and writers will be invited to share their relevant work with us. By the end of the quarter all students will be expected to produce a research proposal for a project on mass incarceration as well as contribute to a group research project.
The course begins with a writing workshop series for inside students facilitated by Bill Ayers.
This course is a partnership between PNAP and the Center for the Study of Race, Politics and Culture’s Beyond Prisons Initiative and the Department of Race, Indigeneity and Diaspora at the University of Chicago.
Art and Experiment
Faculty: Sarah Ross
TAs: Joseph Dole and Darrell Fair
Art has the ability to expose audiences to ideas via new forms. Visual art – like journalism, prose or music — is another vocabulary to unpack and examine pressing issues of our time. In this way, artists have the ability to use our work to educate, to question and to propose a new way of being in this world. This year-long course already started, with a discussion with artists over the spring and summer semesters of 2023. Artists thought about a series of topics and decided to focus on the topic of guns and gun violence. Over the course of a year, we will conduct research on this topic and develop a series of works to ‘unpack and examine’ this very pressing issue of our time. This class will be conducted by using ‘responsive teaching,’ meaning, as the class conducts research and develops ideas, we will decide the appropriate materials and forms to use to best articulate those ideas such as drawing, printmaking, animation, installation and more. Students can expect this course to involve weekly assignments such as reading, writing, drawing as well as other art forms.
PNAP Art #2: Politics of Collage
Faculty: Ruth Poor
TAs: Joseph Dole and Darrell Fair
This course will use the art of collage to analyze/critique principles relating to power and status in society. Topics will range from race, gender, identity politics, class/economics, consequences of colonialism and capitalism, et. al. We will introduce readings that address the role of politics of collage, the theory of making, and modern/contemporary history of the medium. This is a studio class where the week-to-week time will be spent making individual art projects and holding class conversations about our work. Technically speaking, the course will cover different collage methods (chiasmage, confrontage, crumblage, femmage, froissage, ventillage, parsemage, etc.). We will also discuss modern/contemporary artists that participate in the art form and who use it for social change, advocacy, and resistance.
PNAP Restorative and Transformative Justice
Faculty: Phyllis West, PhD, MSW/MPH
TAs: Michael Bell
This is a two-part course on Restorative and Transformative Justice. Part one of the course provides a comprehensive overview of the historical contributions of traditional and Indigenous groups, fundamental principles, foundations, philosophical arguments, research, and utilization of restorative and transformative justice in various settings with an emphasis in familial, judicial, correctional and community settings to resolve conflict and to address harm. The course will also analyze the benefits and limitations of these practices. Part two of the course is practical application. Students will be responsible for planning and co-facilitate peace circles and applying the principles of RJ/TJ in diverse settings based on the principles and foundation learned in the class. Students will also be responsible for interviewing and hosting Restorative Justice practitioners in person and by Zoom to discuss RJ experiences and current trends/practices throughout the country and internationally.
PNAP Public Speaking
Faculty: Jennifer Kouba
TAs: Raul Dorado and Eric Watkins
Words are powerful. The spoken word can arouse different emotions, influence the listener, and help the speaker share expertise, feelings, experiences, ideas, and more. This course will help you build confidence as a public speaker by learning the foundations and best practices of public speaking, how to pivot when things don’t go according to plan, participate in self- assessments and peer assessments, and prepare and practice different types of speeches. Students will gain an understanding of their personal styles and how to maintain them in different settings and for various types of speeches. By the end of the class, we will create our own agreed upon public speaking best practices to share with the PNAP community.
History of Photography
Faculty: David Jones
TAs: Antonio Kendrick and Daniel Perkins
This course will introduce students to the history and theory of photography from the origins of the medium in 1839 to the present day. As a selective survey, this course will thematically explore photography’s material and symbolic registers within diverse contexts. Over the course of seven weeks, we will examine the medium’s entanglement with representation, space, knowledge, power dynamics, value systems, and archives. Within an inclusive group setting, students will have the opportunity to collectively engage in close-looking, critical discussion and, when possible, hands-on learning. Students should expect a weekly writing assignment that will accompany assigned readings. As the course draws to a conclusion, students will develop a creative project for the final assignment, culminating in a publication opportunity. By the end of the course, students will be equipped with foundational historical, critical, and theoretical tools that they can apply to future explorations.
Winter/Spring Lecture Series
Curated by: Eliza Gonring
Guests: Joseph Mapp, Michael Harrell, Curtis Ferdinand, LaTanya Sublett and Demond Westen
August Lecture: This month’s lecture is a conversation with Renaldo and Ronald who will share lessons in struggle and justice from their time on Illinois’ death row. Both men had their death sentences commuted to life in prison without the possibility of parole (ILWOP) in 2003 when former Illinois Governor George Ryan issues historic blanket commutations. Renaldo survive 37 years of incarceration, including 13 years on death row and 17 years serving an LWOP sentence. Renaldo is the education director at the Illinois Prison Project. Ronald survived 21 years of incarceration, including more than a decade on death row. Ronald is the author of “My Midnight Years: Surviving John Burge’s Police Torture Ring and Death Row. Renaldo and Ronald will be in conversation with Eliza Gonring and Alice Kim.
UWW Study Halls
Faculty: Jason LaFountain, Tim Barnett, Gabrielle Christiansen, Brockelley Grenn, Katherine Shah
UWW Study Halls provide a space for current degree students and alumni to get together once a week outside of class, for support from the PNAP Program Manager for Academic Inquiry, the NEIU liaison, and other higher education staff and interns. There is time for community building, discussion of courses, workshopping writing, tutoring, completing of degree paperwork, planning for future semesters, etc. Study Hall is also a space for UWW graduates to mentor the current students, and for the alumni to discuss their TA work and community-based internships.
Think Tank: The Aesthetics of Justice and Exhibition
Faculty: Alice Kim
TAs: Benny Rios Donjuan
The Think Tank is a hub of strategic knowledge and cultural production around issues of long-term incarceration, sentencing policies, and transformative justice. Through in-depth examination of policy and advocacy efforts alongside creative cultural projects, we will consider the transformative potential of the material and ideological conditions created by carceral logis. This spring the Think Tank will continue its trifold focus on policy, the meaning of justice, and cultural work through the Humans of Life Row project. Particular focus will be brought to considering and creating an aesthetic of justice to be actualized in an exhibition project.
Past Courses
2023 – 2024 Academic Year
Spanish 101
Faculty: Annais Diaz
TA: Juan Luna, Marshall Stewart
Poetry: Wading in the Poetic Waters
Faculty: Chasity Gunn
TA: Reginald BoClair
Sports and Feminism
Faculty: Ash Stephens
TA: Antonio Kendrick, Daniel Perkins
Art and Experiment
Faculty: Sarah Ross
TA: Joseph Dole, Darrel Fair
Legal Writing 101
Faculty: Megan Porter
Justice – Involved Women
Faculty: Phyllis West
Art: Art, Activism, and Experiment
Faculty: Sarah Ross
Poetry: Wading in the Poetic Waters
Faculty: Chasity Gunn
Social Work and Social Justice in a Multicultural Society
Faculty: Xochitl Guerrero
Fall Lecture Series
Curated by: Eliza Gonring and Shireen Hamza
2022-23 Academic Year
ART: The Artist Constitution
Faculty: Damon Locks
Violence Prevention and Trauma Healing
Faculty: India Hilty
Legal Writing 101
Faculty: Megan Porter and Steve Weil
TA: Joseph Dole
Introduction to Observational Astronomy
Faculty: Amanda Farah
TA: Daniel Perkins
The Personal is Political: A Poetry Workshop
Faculty: Meredith Nnoka
TA: Reginald BoClair
Latinx Art, Latinx History
Faculty: Christina Gómez, Jason LaFountain, Helen Sanchez-Cortes
TA: Juan Luna
Writing Our Lives: The Art of Memoir and Personal Essay
Faculty: William Ayers and Rachel DeWoskin
TA: Darnell Lane
Drawing Family Portraits, Community History, and Freedom Dreams
Faculty: Aaron Hughes
TA: Darrell Fair
Poetry for Our Times
Faculty: Meredith Nnoka
Comics for Now
Faculty: Damon Locks
Narrating Social Change
Faculty: Cathy Cohen and Alice Kim
Sciences Through the Ages
Faculty: Shireen Hamza
Black Lives in Historic Context
Faculty: Johari Jabir
English: Advanced Composition
Faculty: Tim Barnett
UWW Study Hall
Faculty: Jason LaFountain, Tim Barnett, Gabrielle Christiansen, and Alan Giuliani
Justice, Politics, and Culture Think Tank
Faculty: Melissa Lorraine, Alice Kim, and Timmy Châu
2021-22 Academic Year
Art Workshop
Faculty: William Estrada
Abondans: Worldbuilding and Afrofuturism
Faculty: Indigo Wright and Timmy Châu
Reading and Writing Short Poems
Faculty: Meredith Nnoka
Alternative Justice Systems: A Comparative Exploration for Liberation
Faculty: Marina Bell and Clinton Nichols
Practicing Public Health: Healing Communities, Healing Selves
Faculty: Evan Lyon and Sam Chen
The Evolution of Hip-Hop
Faculty: LaTasha DeHaan
Portrait as Mosaic: A Reading and Writing Intensive Seminar
Faculty: Audrey Petty, Jill Petty, and Ben Austen
Printmaking: Portraits of Change
Faculty: William Estrada and Hanna Gibson
Youth and Social Movements
Faculty: David Stovall and Emily Pierce
Shaped by Spaces: Human Relationships with Built and Natural Environments
Faculty: Tess Landon
Modern Mathematics
Faculty: Alan Giuliani
Correspondence on Current Biology Topics
Faculty: Beth Reinke and Aaron Schirmer
Tracing the History of Japanese-American Incarceration During World War II
Faculty: Fred Sasaki and Cean Gamalinda
Contemporary Feminists Engagements
Faculty: Beth Richie, Erica Meiners, and Anna Martine-Whitehead
Two Centuries of Black Poetry: A Generative and Analytical Poetry Course
Faculty: Tara Betts
Drawing: Observation and Invention
Faculty: Claire Pentecost
UWW Study Hall
Faculty: Jason LaFountain
Math Tutorial
Faculty: Nick Moreno
Justice, Politics, and Culture Think Tank
Faculty: Alice Kim, Durrell Washington, Timmy Châu and Noelle Petrowski
2020-21 Academic Year
Justice, Politics, and Culture Think Tank
Faculty: Alice Kim, Durrell Washington, and Noelle Petrowski
Math Tutorial
Faculty: Desmond Taylor
Making Space: Emancipatory Design
Faculty: Anna Martine Whitehead, Andres Hernandez, and Amanda Williams
Art: Justice Murals
Faculty: Anna Martine Whitehead, Sarah Ross, Damon Locks, and Aaron Hughes
Towards a People’s Bill of Rights: Rethinking Criminal Justice
Faculty: Clinton Nichols
Introduction to Latinx Studies
Faculty: Christina Gómez
A Beloved Community: Healing, Justice, and the Urgency of Mindfulness
Faculty: Johari Jabir
James Baldwin and Black Political Thought
Faculty: Martha Biondi
Race, Class, and Gender Dimensions of Criminalization and Justice
Faculty: Julian Thompson
Research for Justice
Faculty: Lisa Yun Lee and Adam Bush
Poetry: The Lyric Essay
Faculty: Audrey Petty
Writing Our Lives: The Art of Memoir and Personal Essay
Faculty: William Ayers
Violence in Society
Faculty: Beth Richie
Introduction to Visual Criminology
Faculty: Luke Fidler and Jason LaFountain
Economy, Society, and Public Policy
Faculty: Damon Jones
2019-20 Academic Year
African Americans and the Civil War
Faculty: Johari Jabir
Envisioning Criminal Justice Reforms
Faculty: Clinton Nichols
Art: Anthems
Faculty: Sarah Ross, Anna Martine Whitehead, Aaron Hughes, and Damon Locks
Writing Poetry
Faculty: Tara Betts
Writing the Brief Biography and Short Learning Statements
Faculty: Tara Betts
Critical Ethnic Studies and Contemporary Art Practice
Faculty: Patricia Nguyen
At Home in the World: Telling Our Stories of Public Housing
Faculty: Lisa Yun Lee and Ben Auste
Critical Writing and Research
Faculty: Tim Barnett, Martha Biondi, Erica Meiners, and Beth Richie
Draw What You See/Draw What You Dream
Faculty: Aaron Hughes
Our Dances, Our Freedom
Faculty: Anna Martine Whitehead
2018-19 Academic Year
Introduction to Writing
Faculty: Simone Waller
Digging Deeper: Poetry Informed by Contingent Citizenship and Being Human
Faculty: Tara Betts
Emancipation and Abolition in Historical Perspective
Faculty: Kai Parker
Afrofuturism: Science Fiction as Social Commentary and Alternative Visions of Tomorrow
Faculty: Clinton Nichols
UWW Capstone Experience Course
Faculty: Timothy Barnett and Erica Meiners
Race and Politics
Faculty: Cathy Cohen
Make Your Mark & Fly Your Flag
Faculty: Aaron Hughes
From Civil Rights to #Black Lives Matter: Politics, Society and Protest Since the 1960s
Faculty: Martha Biondi
Movement / Movement: Dance and Liberation
Faculty: Anna Martine Whitehead
Poetry About My Rights: Writing Poems Informed by Contingent Citizenship
Faculty: Tara Betts
Art and Empire in the Ancient World
Faculty: Luke Fidler
The Social Value of Latinas/os/xs
Faculty: Michael De Anda Muñiz
Manifesta for the Future
Faculty: Claire Pentecost
2017-18 Academic Year
Introduction to Environmental Justice
Faculty: Antonio Reyes López
Writing Workshop: Creating Character
Faculty: Tess Landon
Printmaking: Developing a Collaborative Portfolio
Faculty: William Estrada
Art and Animation
Faculty: Damon Locks and Sarah Ross
Mapping the Self in Community
Faculty: Jill Petty, Audrey Petty, and Miriam Petty
American Public Schools
Faculty: Eve Ewing and David Stovall
Justice and Politics in Shakespeare’s Plays
Faculty: Wendy Wall
Black Women in History, Politics, and The Law
Faculty: Beth Richie, Barbara Ransby, and Cathy Cohen
Critical Education: Power, Knowledge, and Change
Faculty: Tim Barnett and Erica Meiners
Introduction to Criminology
Faculty: Clinton Nichols
A Survey of Black Writers
Faculty: Tara Betts
Writing: Education from the Public to the Personal
Faculty: Tess Landon
Political Theory: The Meaning and Limits of Rights
Faculty: Lucy Cane
Philosophy: Freedom and Its Limits
Faculty: David Egan
Philosophy: Philosophy of Punishment
Faculty: Jessica Bird
2016-17 Academic Year
American Art: A People’s History
Faculty: Luke Fidler and Jason LaFountain
Introduction to Latina/o Studies
Faculty: Michael De Anda Muñiz
Staging Time: Real Stories, Real Theater
Faculty: David Feiner and Benjamin Serrano
African American Studies 101
Faculty: Kai Parker
Passing Time: (In)significant Moments
Faculty: Andres Hernandez
Literature: The Journey
Faculty: Audrey Petty
History: From Civil Rights to Black Lives Matter
Faculty: Martha Biondi
Art: From Drawing the Personal to Printing the Public
Faculty: Aaron Hughes
Writing: Writing Through a Wall
Faculty: Alice Kim
Performance: Dance and Movement-Building
Faculty: Anna Martine Whitehead
2015-16 Academic Year
Literature: Detective Fiction
Faculty: Tim Barnett
Abstracting Nature
Faculty: William Estrada
Political Science: The Meaning and Limits of Rights
Faculty: Anna Terweil and Lucy Cane
The Artistic Imagination
Faculty: Jason LaFountain
Art: Drawing on Community
Faculty: Marvin Tate
Religion and the Black Freedom Struggle
Faculty: Kai Parker
Black Women and the Justice System
Faculty: Beth Richie
Words Free: An Exploration of Poetry & Poetics
Faculty: Lasana Kazembe
African American History, 1619-1900
Faculty: Kai Parker
Freedom Dreams
Faculty: Alice Kim
Core Writing Skills
Faculty: Nancy Traver
Art and Science Fiction: Documenting the Future
Faculty: Damon Locks
2014-15 Academic Year
Reading and Writing Our Lives
Faculty: Tim Barnett
Political Theory: Theory and Event
Faculty: Lucy Cane
The Art and Craft of Memoir: Object Lessons
Faculty: Audrey Petty
Black Women and the Criminal Justice System
Faculty: Beth Richie
Introduction to Latino and Latin American Studies
Faculty: Christina Gómez
Portraiture and Installation
Faculty: Sarah Ross
Writing Workshop
Faculty: Amy Partridge and Erica Meiners
Poetry Series: Writing and a Healing
Faculty: Marvin Tate
Animals: Myth and Reality
Faculty: Claire Pentecost
The Artist in Representation
Faculty: Damon Locks
Introduction to Political Theory in the American Context
Faculty: Lucy Cane and Anna Terwiel
African American History, 1865-Present
Faculty: Darryl Heller
2013-14 Academic Year
Personal Narratives in History
Faculty: Amy Partridge
Art & Advocacy, History & Practice
Faculty: Tess Landon
Art: (Re)creation / Time
Faculty: Damon Locks, Sarah Ross, and Fereshteh Toosi
The Fiction and Prose of Richard Wright
Faculty: Natasha Barnes
Social Change Histories
Faculty: Erica Meiners and Jill Petty
Poetry: Dear Reader
Faculty: Fred Sasaki, Lindsay Garbutt, Ydalmi Noriega, Ashley Sheehan, James Sitar, Mairead Case, and Nuria Sheehan
Humanities: Social Change Histories
Faculty: Ben Almassi and Nick Smaligo
Drawing from Observation
Faculty: Ryan Griffis
Expository Writing Basics
Faculty: Jill Petty
Poor People’s Movements in the 2000s, 1960s & 1930s
Faculty: Amy Partridge
2012-13 Academic Year
Gendered Perspectives
Faculty: Erica Meiners
Unexpected Art, Unexpected Artists
Faculty: Tess Landon
Mural and Painting Workshop
Faculty: Gabriel Villa
The Letter
Faculty: Claire Pentecost
Creative Writing: Political Poetry
Faculty: Daniela Olszewska
Creative Writing: Coming of Age
Faculty: Jill Petty
Poetry
Faculty: Anthony Madrid, Nadya Pittendrigh, Fred Sasaki, and Tess Landon
Visual Stories
Faculty: Sarah Ross