Co-Founder
Sarah Brayne, PhD
Dr. Brayne is an Assistant Professor of Sociology in the College of Liberal Arts at the University of Texas at Austin who specializes in the study of the criminal justice system. She also previously taught college courses in New Jersey state prisons through the Prison Teaching Initiative at Princeton. Her expertise in the subject area, as well as her hands-on experience as an educator, inform her directorship of the program.
As Director, she is responsible for managing the overall organization, overseeing the budget and expenditures, liaising with administrators and staff of University of Austin, Lockhart Correctional Facility, and Texas Department of Criminal Justice, as well as building relationships with community organizations serving our target population.
Assistant Director
Lindsay Bing, MSc.
Lindsay is a PhD student in Sociology at the University of Texas at Austin. While employed at Cornell, Lindsay taught at multiple state prisons with the Cornell Prison Education Program. Additionally, she has considerable experience in budget management, program administration, and fundraising in both university and non-profit settings.
As Assistant Director, Lindsay is responsible for coordinating programming at Lockhart CF which includes recruiting graduate student and faculty volunteer instructors, maintaining student records, planning course schedules, coordinating course offerings with degree requirements, and managing active volunteers.
Director of Pedagogy and Instruction
Abena Subira Mackall, Ed.D
Dr. Mackall is an Assistant Professor of Social Work at the Steve Hicks School
of Social Work at the University of Texas at Austin. She has been both a researcher and practitioner of prison education, publishing work on the social and civic benefits of prison-based education programs as well as teaching in jails and prisons herself.
As Director of Pedagogy and Instruction, Dr. Mackall provides ongoing training and support for graduate student, faculty, and staff volunteer instructors as they refine their teaching, and process their experience of serving students behind bars.
