Portland State celebrates first graduating class from Coffee Creek

Dressed in her cap and gown at the podium, Sarah Martin held up her first reading assignment from her first Portland State class: "'Only Connect…' - The Goals of a Liberal Education." It was so impactful that she's held onto it for seven years.

"In this, William Cronon describes a liberal education as the aspiration to nurture the growth of human talent in the service of freedoms," she said.

That word - freedom - holds a profound meaning for Martin and her fellow graduates Melody Arreguin, Sofia De Ferrari, Cynthia Rowe, Ashley Wildfire and Sasha Zay. They represent the inaugural class of PSU's bachelor's degree program at Coffee Creek Correctional Facility, a women's prison and intake center in Wilsonville.

"When we felt incarceration took our voice away, or that we were unteachable or undeserving, PSU empowered us to connect with ourselves, our communities and our world," Martin said. "When I look out today, I see future teachers, advocates, philosophers, poets, songwriters, some legislators even, and lots of business owners, master's degrees and PhDs. So Doc Martin, here I come now."

Cheering on the graduates was a packed room of fellow students, family, friends, and more than a dozen faculty and staff who support the program at PSU.

PSU's Higher Education in Prison program began in 2019 with a single class, Metamorphosis, which both Martin and Rowe were in, and has grown to offer about five courses a term. The program celebrated a major milestone in December 2024 with its first graduate.

Students work towards a degree in Liberal Studies, an interdisciplinary major that allows students to engage with a variety of topics. Courses have spanned Black Studies, urban studies, Spanish, biology, conflict resolution, film, philosophy, women's studies, psychology, writing, math and political science.

An optional business minor is also offered, which Martin and Rowe both earned. And in a nationwide first for a prison education program, three graduates - Martin, De Ferrari and Zay - participated in the McNair Scholars program, completing an undergraduate research project under the supervision of a faculty mentor. Martin explored the impacts of incarceration on mothers and children, while De Ferrari examined media narratives of the Black Lives Matter movement through an epistemic injustice lens. Both of their papers were featured in the latest issue of the peer-reviewed PSU McNair Scholars Online Journal.

Building and sustaining the program has taken a village of people and it's been worth every challenge, says Nicolle DuPont, associate vice provost and university registrar who served as the ceremony's keynote speaker. From creating student records manually and registering students individually to navigating technology restrictions to be able to offer online courses, the program - led by director Nahlee Suvanvej - has required PSU to rethink policies and processes that presuppose conveniences like email, internet and cellphones.

"This program personifies Portland State's commitment to interdisciplinary academic inquiry, delivered through a community of care," DuPont said. "A program that can change both individual lives and their communities. I've learned a lot from you throughout this experience. I'm a better educator, and frankly, a better person because of it."

Mindi Ferguson, Coffee Creek's education program analyst, told the graduates their accomplishment wasn't any less impressive than on-campus students - if anything, it was all the more so.

"This achievement was not easier because of where you reside, but achieved despite the challenges residence here entails," she said. "You are held to a higher standard of behavior than outside peers. You are facing challenges that many outside students will never experience."

De Ferrari, whose interests include advanced mathematics and philosophy, says she's come to see the need and importance of education.

"Without an education, you can easily become blind to the wrongs of the world," she said. "College has heightened my sense of understanding, taught me better how to understand. I believe I have become a more potent agent of change because of my education - and it is our duty to change the world."

Wildfire invited her fellow graduates to be like phoenixes rising from the ashes.

"No matter what life brings, we can be transformed again and again," she said. "When you feel defeated and without hope behind these locked doors, just remember they can cage our bodies, but they cannot cage our minds."