HAYS, Kan. – Two Fort Hays State University departments are collaborating this semester on a unique undergraduate research project.

Under the direction of assistant professors Dr. April Terry (criminal justice) and Dr. Sarah Broman Miller (teacher education), 31 students are working with 10 incarcerated mothers and two grandmothers on a literacy project to help the inmates connect with their loved ones through reading.

Terry and Miller, along with an FHSU graduate and correctional facility staff, created the pilot program at the only women’s prison in Kansas, the Topeka Correctional Facility.

The two classes of students met with women at the facility in mid-February and conducted reading-interest surveys. The goal is to get the inmates involved in reading through a read-aloud program. It is designed to improve inmates’ basic reading skills, and the students gave inmates books to keep and read.

Teacher education students will facilitate virtual read-alouds and tutoring sessions in March and April. The student participants from both departments will return to Topeka in late April to help the inmates record themselves reading a Hallmark recordable book, which will be delivered to their children or grandchildren.