‘New opportunity in life’ – graduates complete SDSU program for incarcerated students

The inaugural group of students has graduated from San Diego State University after taking part in the Valuing Incarcerated Scholars through Academia program.

SDSU’s Bachelor of Arts program at the all-male Centinela State Prison in Imperial currently offers two-year completion degrees to incarcerated individuals who have earned their associate degree and meet transfer requirements for admission to SDSU.

Founded by Annie Buckley, a professor and director of SDSU’s Institute for the Arts, Humanities and Social Justice, VISTA, as the program is known, includes three areas of study. It began two years ago.

“Students share that this degree impacts not only their own lives and trajectories, but their families and communities as well. SDSU is not only fostering academic achievement but also contributing to rehabilitation and personal transformation,” Buckley said.

San Diego State hosted a graduation at the prison Thursday for 27 students who studied communication, journalism and media studies or art and design. University leadership and students spoke, including SDSU President Adela de la Torre.

“What we can achieve in the future should not be defined by our worst moments,” de la Torre said in her address to the graduates. “Completing your degree is evidence of your tenacity and hard work, your care and hope for the future, and your potential – and those are the qualities that truly define you.”

Graduate Ruben Vargas said earning a degree renewed his “confidence, my sense of self and transformed my outlook on life.

“Obtaining my bachelor’s degree means that I will have a new opportunity in life once I earn my freedom. It also allows me to set forth an example to my children, that in spite of any circumstances that life finds you in, if you put in the hard work and change your perspective you will persevere,” he said.

California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation data points to significantly lower recidivism rates for those who successfully complete college programming.

“Partnerships like this recognize the immense potential that incarcerated students have, changing lives and providing opportunities that transform the students, their communities, and the state,” said CDCR Secretary Jeff Macomber.

Last year, SDSU ​received a $1 million grant from the Mellon Foundation to expand its VISTA program at Centinela. As a result, SDSU faculty and fellows are working on assessments of student learning, developing specialized workshops, the possibility of introducing a humanities degree and the creation of a toolkit to help other institutions implement similar prison programs.

The third student cohort begins this fall.