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Susan Wiener, B��Ԫ instructor of psychology, recently won the 2023 Elizabeth Hurlock Beckman Award — one of only eight recipients nationwide this year. The award recognizes higher education faculty members who have inspired their former students to establish an organization, concept, procedure or movement that benefits the community. Wiener was nominated for the award by Jon-Adrian “J.J.” Velazquez ’14, one of her former students from Mercy's program in partnership with Hudson Link for Higher Education in Prison at Sing Sing Correctional Facility who now serves as the national program director for the Frederick Douglass Project for Justice.

“I'm still a bit overwhelmed by this award,” said Wiener, who has taught at Mercy since 1976 and in prisons since 1981. “I'm humbled by it. It was really unexpected.”

In partnership with Hudson Link for Higher Education in Prison, Mercy provides college education, life skills and re-entry support to currently and formerly incarcerated people. Mercy’s partnership with Hudson Link began in 2001. Through this program, men incarcerated at Sing Sing can earn associate degrees in liberal arts and sciences and bachelor’s degrees in behavioral science from Mercy.

“The students in Mercy’s Hudson Link program really make a commitment,” Wiener explained. “It can be very difficult for them to concentrate on their studies while incarcerated, but they so want to learn. I’m very impressed with their attendance and how well they do the reading before each class. Many of them have told me that they never would have had the opportunity to go to college if they hadn’t gone to prison. So, there's a downside to prison, and there's a life-changing part.”

Velazquez took several of Wiener’s courses as part of the  program at Sing Sing. In her criminology course, Wiener teaches Rational Choice Theory, which explains how people make choices. Upon his release, Velazquez started a program called C.H.O.I.C.E.S. (Choosing Healthier Options In Confronting Every Situation) about creating healthy communities through healthy decision-making — a program that he says is based on what he learned from Wiener. While incarcerated, he also curated the first TEDx event held inside a New York State prison and formed a multimedia educational initiative called “Voices From Within” that uses the voices of incarcerated individuals to address the epidemic of crime and incarceration.

“Teaching in this program is the best work that I will ever have the opportunity to do,” Wiener said. “People think about inmates as part of a throwaway society where they’ve done the crime so they must do the time. But I am a firm believer that no one should be judged by the worst decision they made. Everyone deserves a second chance. I can't imagine anything more rewarding than watching the successes that happen in people's lives due to education and watching them do remarkable work out in the world. I am very lucky.”