Monday, November 18, 2024
About

Our Team

Hilary Binda

Founder & Executive Director

Hilary Binda

Hilary Binda is the Founder and Executive Director of the Tufts University Prison Initiative (TUPIT) and its MyTERN College and Reentry program at Tufts. With a PhD in English Literature and as a member of the Civic Studies Department at Tufts University, she teaches Literature and theory, Gender Studies, and Carceral Studies at Tufts and in the degree program inside at 3 facilities. Hilary directs the MyTERN reentry program on the Tufts University campus, The Literatures of Justice and Storytelling for Social Change. Binda is a co-producer of theMyTERN Conversations podcast and a founder and co-editor of the national journal ReSentencing, that includes art and writing by people directly impacted by the legal system across the country. Her program directorships, teaching, as well as her current research, aims to support the development of educational access, racial and economic equity, decarceration, and decriminalization.

Education and Reentry Director

David Delvalle

Originally from Lowell, MA, David Delvalle has become a fierce advocate for criminal justice reform and a skilled public speaker and organizer. Impressively, he has been able to accomplish these all while being an integral college student within TUPIT during his incarceration and after his return in MyTERN. He is currently in the one-year certificate program for Civic-Studies. David’s activities outside the classroom have focused on youth impact.  He presently works in student outreach at his alma mater, Lowell Middlesex Academy Charter School. David is currently the Program Manager at Haley House.

Academic Support Director

Katie Swimm

Katie Swimm is the Senior Associate Director of Academic Support at the StAAR Center.  She oversees the Academic Success Coaching and Subject Tutoring Programs and works closely with her colleagues at StAAR to make sure all students at Tufts know about our resources.  Her favorite part of her role is seeing students meet their goals and redefine success on their own terms.  Katie has a B.F.A in Theatre Performance from Niagara University, an M.A. in Literature from Northwestern University, and a Ph.D. in Theater and Performance Studies from Tufts.  At the StAAR Center, Katie first started as a Graduate Writing Consultant, and was then Assistant Director, Subject Tutoring, before she began her current role.  Katie has presented at regional and national conferences on various topics concerning student support and academic support center program development including NASPA’s Student Success in Higher Education and the University of Pennsylvania’s Weingarten Center Disability Symposium. Outside of Tufts, Katie is a theatre director around Boston and has a private studio where she gives lessons in acting and scene study.

Faculty Research Director

Jill Weinberg

Faculty Admissions Coordinator

Heather Curtis

Faculty Advisory Committee

  • Hilary Binda
  • Heather Nathans
  • Heather Curtis
  • Kim Ruane
  • Jill Weinberg
  • John Lurz
  • Erin Kelly
  • Stephen Gabriel Barber
  • Kirby Johnson
  • Chantal Zakari
  • Susan Ernst
  • Kimberly Dong
  • Bridget Conley
  • Daanika Gordon
  • Dana Grossman-Leeman
  • Joanna Gray
  • Stephan Pennington
  • Gregory Crane
  • Jennifer Eyl
  • Susan Russinoff
  • Maria-Concepcion Lagunas Davis
  • Amy Millay
  • Katherine Swimm

TUPIT Faculty and Courses

School of Arts and Sciences
Tisch College of Civic Life
School of Engineering
Tufts University School of Medicine
School of the Museum of Fine Arts at Tufts University
The Fletcher School

Restorative Justice Fellows

Cohort One Fellows:
  • Shakir Abdullah
  • Rahim Gray
  • Joseph Irizarry
  • Devon McNeil
Cohort Two Fellows:
  • Steven Johnson
  • Bobby Iacoviello
  • Aaron Smith
  • Hector Bannister
  • Marie Lafontant
  • Eugene Ivey
Cohort Three Fellows:
  • Nurudeen Alabi
  • Rahmel Askari
  • Christina Bernbaum
  • Willie Cabrera
  • David Delvalle
  • Dararong Jimmy Heang
  • Jeff Raphael

Undergraduate/Graduate Medford Student Coordinators

2024-2025
  • Isabel Garzon
  • Toluwani Oso
  • Louise Bond
  • Kaylee Lopez
2023-2024
  • Lizzie Friedman
  • Isabel Garzon
  • Arlyss Herzig
  • Toluwani Oso
  • Helena Colbert
2022-2023
  • Lizzie Friedman
  • Emile Naccasha 
  • Meira Downie 
  • BR rose
2021-2022
  • Claudia Guetta
  • Thomas Levy
  • Celia Strumph
2020-2021
  • Claudia Guetta
  • Thomas Levy
  • Celia Strumph

Graduated Staff

Claudia Guetta

I am in my third year of medical school now. I’m so enjoying applying my knowledge in a practical setting, working in teams, and building connections with patients. I’m fortunate enough to work with the TUSM administration to help bring more restorative justice to the medical curriculum and the Tufts community. And mostly, I’m just learning and observing and trying to bring all that TUPIT taught me into the world!

Quinn Williamson

Quinn Williamson was the Assistant Director for TUPIT from spring 2022 to the fall of 2024. As a member of the TUPIT team, Williamson supported the success of the programming inside prison through curriculum planning, faculty and TA coordination, and academic advising, as well as the support of the MyTERN reentry students adjusting to life out of prison. Quinn is now pursuing their PhD in Africana Studies at Brown University.