MiCHEP staff
Jeff Abernathy
President
Jeff served for 14 years as president of Alma College, where he helped strengthen its civic footprint through initiatives such as the Center for College and Community Engagement. Abernathy’s commitment to higher education in prison is grounded in his experience teaching Alma College literature classes at Carson City Correctional Facility.
Shawn England
Affinity Group Program Manager
Shawn is a graduate of the Calvin Prison Initiative. He served as a tutor for the Hope-Western Prison Education Program at Muskegon Correctional Facility. After being released from prison he enrolled as a graduate student at Calvin Theological Seminary.
Sara Zallar
Affinity Group Program Manager
Sara is a graduate of Coe College and Western Theological Seminary. During graduate school she served The Hope-Western Prison Education Program (HWPEP) as an assistant in the formation program, Hebrew instructor, and Administrative Assistant. She now serves as Assistant Director of Formation for HWPEP.
Dini Metro-Roland
Humanities Program Director
Dini is a Professor of Educational Foundations at Western Michigan University, teaches courses at Lakeland Correctional Facility, and serves as coordinator of graduate programs in WMU's Department of Teaching, Learning and Educational Studies. Dini is the former director of Humanities for Everybody, which offered humanities courses to the Kalamazoo community.
Steering committee
MiCHEP is governed by presidentially-appointed representatives of each member institution. Most are program directors. All are integrally involved with their college or university's degree program and are committed to the success of each of its students. The Steering Committee also includes two incarcerated students — one each from a women's prison and a men's prison. A formerly incarcerated college graduate also serves in this role. By having voting members with lived experience of college-in-prison, MiCHEP is elevating the voices and perspectives of people who have been shaped by this experience in this setting.
The Michigan Department of Corrections also has a non-voting seat on the MiCHEP Steering Committee.
Kary Bosma
Chair, Steering Committee
Director, Hope-Western Prison Education Program
Hope College
616-395-7215
Mary Cusack
Vice-Chair, Steering Committee
Second Chance Pell Program Coordinator
Mott Community College
616-902-4660
Dale Brown
Secretary, Steering Committee
Director, Higher Education for the Justice Involved
Western Michigan University
269-387-5253
Marc Boucher
Treasurer, Steering Committee
Director, StepUP
Lake Superior State University
906-635-2404
Renyatta Hamilton
Student Member
Eastern Michigan University College in Prison Program
Janelle Hemingway
Executive Director, Student Success and Articulation Partnerships
Ferris State University
810-762-0461
Michelle Jacobs
Associate Professor, Sociology
Wayne State University
313-577-2930
Meghan Lechner
Director, College in Prison & Returning Citizens Fellowship
Eastern Michigan University
734-487-6570
Richard Nelson
Executive Director
Formerly Incarcerated College Graduate
Project Restoration in Progress
616-843-3563
Efrèn Paredes Jr
Student Member
Western Michigan University Higher Education for the Justice-Involved
Sue Roche
Associate Dean, Business and Technology Division
Delta College
989-686-9254
Mary Sauger
Senior Director of Admissions
Rochester Christian University
248-218-2182
Joey Wright
Director, Public Safety Education
Kellogg Community College
269-565-7907
Aaron Yore-VanOosterhout
Acting Director, The Bellamy Creek Program
Grand Valley State University
616-331-7135
