Mellon Foundation to fund new SDSU program for post-carceral students

The Mellon Foundation has awarded South Dakota State University a grant to help SDSU provide a pathway to higher education for previously incarcerated individuals looking for a better future. 

SDSU’s Post-Carceral Educational Opportunity Program will be funded by Mellon’s Higher Education in Prison Program with a three-year, $150,000 grant and led by Victor Taylor, SDSU vice provost for graduate education and extended studies. 

The post-carceral program will be organized around humanities and social science courses that fulfill general education requirements. Academic offerings will be augmented with student success services specifically designed to support previously incarcerated students and their needs. The goal is to create a supportive space for student success leading to enrollment and, eventually, graduation. 

The Mellon Foundation is a prestigious art- and humanities-focused philanthropic organization. 

“Mellon is a very competitive grant-awarding foundation, and the fact that they selected this program speaks well to SDSU’s excellent reputation in higher education. It’s a significant and much appreciated acknowledgement of our great work and mission,” SDSU President Barry Dunn said. 

Taylor said this program provides students with a series of course options that assist in selecting an academic interest and field of study. SDSU’s Continuing and Distance Education will manage the program and collaborate with academic departments across campus. 

The Post-Carceral Educational Opportunity Program will have three primary goals: 

• Provide highly affordable, for-credit, foundational college-level courses for post-carceral students. 
• Provide student success support programming specifically designed to meet the overall “in-course” learning needs of post-carceral students. 
• Provide academic and student success resources for retention and progression toward degree and credential completion for post-carceral students. 

Taylor said access to higher education is the centerpiece of SDSU’s land-grant mission, and this has been prioritized in the university’s strategic plan, Pathway to Premiere 2030. Engaging communities with a “people-centered” approach allows the university to specifically connect with a wide range of prospective students. 

“The Post-Carceral Educational Opportunity Program fits with this overall strategy to open the university’s doors wider to prospective students. In this context, the program’s goals are consistent with our mission to be defined as an institution founded on the practice of inclusion rather than exclusion,” Taylor said. 

The Mellon Foundation is a privately funded, nonprofit philanthropic organization that was established in 1969 to strengthen, promote and defend the arts and humanities as essential to democratic societies. 

The new program is for post-carceral students meeting SDSU’s admissions standards, with a focus on first-time college students who have been released from incarceration or on probation within the past three to five years. Participants will be regularly enrolled and participate in courses on campus and online like any other student. 

As part of the student success services offered, students will complete a portfolio that allows them to reflect on their educational experience, writing about how it helped them and evaluating their coursework. 

“I want to express my appreciation to the Mellon Foundation for their support of this important program and for their confidence in South Dakota State University,” said Dennis Hedge, SDSU provost and vice president for academic affairs. “With Vice Provost Taylor’s leadership of this effort, SDSU is now positioned to further expand access to the benefits of higher education, and we are excited to witness the impact of that expansion.” 

Taylor explored a similar program with his previous institution, but the resources to move forward were not available. 

“With President Dunn and Provost Hedge’s support and the Mellon Foundation in the conversation, I thought we should revisit this idea. It fits with our access mission incredibly well. It’s what a land-grant university should be doing, and it will be transformative for people,” he said. 

For further details about the program or interest in supporting the initiative, contact Taylor. 

About The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation 

The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation is the nation’s largest supporter of the arts and humanities. Since 1969, the foundation has been guided by its core belief that the humanities and arts are essential to human understanding. The foundation believes that the arts and humanities are where we express our complex humanity, and that everyone deserves the beauty, transcendence and freedom that can be found there. Through its grants, the foundation seeks to build just communities enriched by meaning and empowered by critical thinking, where ideas and imagination can thrive.