Whitehouse Professor of Psychology Amy Bradfield Douglass was initially drawn to psychology through her early interest in the justice system, once she understood the role of social influence in legal decisions. Through courses like “Psychology and Law” she has focused on this connection at Bates. But last spring, her Short Term course, “Communicating Psychological Science to Incarcerated Students,” left Douglass inspired with a big new idea to take take that work further.

The outcome is that this fall, in addition to 552 first-year students and 13 transfer students, Bates welcomed five previously incarcerated women who enrolled in First-Year Seminars through the Reentry Sisters Alumni Scholars Program. 

Reentry Sisters, a nonprofit founded in 2023 to guide women through their transition out of incarceration and into the working world, includes support for college education. This semester, Bates has become a partner for the program. 

Douglass and her Short Term students collaborated with the Maine Prisoner Advocacy Coalition (MPAC), visiting incarcerated students and talking with them about concepts in psychology. Through this work, Douglass met Linda Small, who works as a coordinator with MPAC. In their conversations, Douglass also learned that Small is the founder and executive director of the Reentry Sisters. One way that Reentry Sisters supports women transitioning out of incarceration is to help place them in college courses across the region. Douglass and Small realized that Bates might be a good fit, and Douglass honed in on First-Year Seminars as a “perfect structure” for this initial collaboration. 

Consulting research in the field as well as student-driven research at Bates, Douglass considered the best way to partner with Reentry Sisters. Sophia Cocchiarella ’26 had focused her community-based research thesis, “Life Beyond Bars: Assessing Student Perceptions of a Partnership between Bates College and the Reentry Sisters,” on this possibility, and drew positive conclusions which offered encouragement for the partnership to move forward.

Once the partnership was established, Douglass knew that she needed some partners in the initial semester. She reached out to Stephanie Kelley-Romano, professor of rhetoric, film, and screen studies, and Laura Balladur, associate professor of French and Francophone studies, who are both teaching First-Year Seminars this fall, and asked if they’d like to be a part of this initiative. Both immediately agreed. 

Kelley-Romano’s decision was easy. She is teaching “Public Narratives: Addiction, Recovery, and Redemption,” a topic which, she says, “frequently overlaps with incarceration. So the idea of having someone with some sort of lived experience even near the topic was a welcome one.”

Balladur had already been looking for a way to work with incarcerated students, and this opportunity to teach women transitioning out of the system was perfect. In these first two weeks of the semester, two of the Reentry Sisters students enrolled in her course, “Killer Thrillers,” which focuses on suspense in global cinema, have made important contributions. Balladur said that “their engagement and contributions have raised the discussion level in the classroom” and students in the course have told her that they are excited to team up with the Reentry Sisters students, and are already benefiting from their input. 

Douglass’ course, “The Psychology of Context,” offers an easy way for students to connect across differences. In her course, Douglass might offer the prompt, “Describe a social situation that happened to you this morning.” No matter a student’s circumstance, it’s an easy prompt, Douglass said, because everybody has a social situation each morning. She sees these early assignments as ways to remove barriers and otherness. 

With this introduction of five students from the Reentry Sisters program off to a strong start, Kelley-Romano imagines ways that the program could continue to grow. “I would hope that Bates would continue to open up classes for credit to all different types of community members, both to provide them the opportunity at an elite institution that arguably benefits so much from the community and because it makes the learning experience better for our students. Without a doubt.” 

Reentry Sisters Alumni Scholars will earn college credit , and even though many of these students have taken college courses before, what Bates has to offer them is the close support and advising experience of First-Year Seminars. 

As with any course, and especially a new course, Balladur, Douglass and Kelley-Romano will have a chance to reflect at the end of the semester. What does success look like in this case? For Douglass, it is that the scholars learn “that they can do college work, that they’re capable of engaging with other smart peers and a faculty member and managing the schedule.” And for Bates students, learning alongside these formerly incarcerated women, Douglass’ wish is that  “my Bates students would go forward into the world with a little more humility, compassion, and patience. I feel like that would be a huge success.” 

Faculty Featured

Amy Bradfield Douglass

Whitehouse Professor of Psychology

Laura C. Balladur

Associate Professor of French and Francophone Studies and European Studies

Stephanie Kelley-Romano

Professor of Rhetoric, Film, and Screen Studies