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The Texas Prison Education Initiative
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Our Team

Miriam Schoenfield (Director)

Dr. Miriam Schoenfield is an Associate Professor of Philosophy at UT Austin. Dr. Schoenfield started teaching incarcerated students in 2016 through the Bard Prison Initiative and has also taught through the Boston University Prison Education Program and the Texas Prison Education Initiative. She earned her PhD from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2012.
 
Contact: mschoenfield@utexas.edu
 

Dorothy Rau (Program Coordinator)

Dorothy is the current Program Coordinator of TPEI and a PhD student in the Department of Sociology at UT Austin. They oversee course planning, volunteer coordination, and student support for TPEI’s college classes. Dorothy has taught college-level courses in sociology and writing and values the curiosity, connection, and critical engagement that students bring to learning in carceral settings. Their academic research interests focus on incarceration, gender, and relationships.

Contact: dorothyrau@utexas.edu


Max Lubell (Former Program Coordinator)

Max is the former coordinator of TPEI and a current PhD student in the Department of Sociology. Max works with faculty members and graduate students across UT Austin departmental units to identify, design, and implement TPEI’s course offerings. He works hands-on with incarcerated students, volunteers, and program site staff to adapt university course syllabi and materials to the prison context. His academic research interests focus on crime, communities, and education. Max holds a BA in Sociology from the University of Michigan.

Contact: mlubell@utexas.edu


Sarah Brayne, PhD (Co-Founder)

Dr. Sarah Brayne is an Associate Professor of Sociology at Stanford University. Previously, she was an Associate Professor of Sociology and Faculty Scholar at the Population Research Center at UT Austin. Dr. Brayne has been volunteer teaching in prisons since 2012. In 2017, she co-founded TPEI with Lindsay Bing.  Dr. Brayne is committed to reducing educational inequalities on campus and in prisons and reducing structural barriers to educational access. She received her PhD in Sociology and Social Policy from Princeton University.

Contact: sbrayne@utexas.edu


Lindsay Bing, PhD (Co-Founder)

Dr. Bing is a postdoctoral research scholar at the Justice Lab at Columbia University. Prior to joining the Justice Lab, Lindsay earned a PhD in Sociology with a specialty in Demography from the University of Texas at Austin, where they co-founded TPEI with Sarah Brayne. Prior to starting a PhD, Lindsay was involved in collegiate debating in New York prisons through the Cornell Prison Education Program and the Bard Prison Initiative.

Contact: lb3460@columbia.edu


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