Speaker Information

Christopher Beasley is an assistant professor at the University of Washington Tacoma, where he studies transitions from prison to college, leads the development of the Husky Post-Prison pathways initiative, and advises the Formerly Incarcerated Student Association. His scholarly work emphasizes the possibilities incarcerated and formerly incarcerated people imagine for themselves, influences on these possibilities, and how they alter life courses. Beasley has also spoken extensively about the role of people with lived expertise in the creation of social change and ways to realize this potential.  He’s invested in this scholarship because of his own transition from prisoner to social change agent and scholar. Beasley attended community college after leaving prison and “cut his social justice chops” fighting for queer liberation as an undergraduate student in the early 2000’s. He began organizing and supporting formerly incarcerated college students as a graduate student in the 2010’s and co-founded the Formerly Incarcerated College Graduates Network in 2014–an organization that now has over 1000 members across 44 states and 10 countries. In addition to his scholarship, Beasley currently focuses on investing in student leaders while creating systems and structures in which they can realize their potential. He also serves as Board Director for both the Formerly Incarcerated College Graduates Network and From Prison Cells to Ph.D.