Mon,
06/30/2025 – 09:56am | By: Christy Kayser
The Center for Community Engagement (CCE) at The University of Southern Mississippi
has announced recipients of the 2025-26 Conville Endowment Award for the support of
initiatives related to community engagement and service-learning.
Inside-Out Education: Empowering Students through Engagement with Incarcerated Communities
Hali Black, an associate professor, the first-year experience librarian and learning
design coordinator within University Libraries, received a Conville Endowment grant
to participate in the Inside-Out Prison Exchange Program training, a nationally recognized
faculty development program that equips educators to facilitate courses in correctional
settings using a dialogue-based, community-learning model. Upon completion of the
training, Black will design and implement a new undergraduate seminar course that
engages students in critically examining the ethical, educational, and social complexities
of the United States prison system, with a specific focus on Mississippi.
The course will be developed in collaboration with Big House Books, a nonprofit organization
that sends free books to incarcerated individuals in Mississippi, and the Mississippi
Consortium for Higher Education in Prison, a collective that supports equitable access
to higher education for incarcerated learners.
“I am deeply appreciative of this investment in my professional development and in
the advancement of community-engaged learning,” said Black. “This course will not
only promote civic engagement and social responsibility but also reflect the university’s
commitment to transformative, community-centered education.”
Mississippi Prison Arts and Education Project: Joseph Peterson
Joseph Peterson, associate professor of history in the School of Humanities, will
use funds provided by the Conville Endowment to develop an undergraduate service-learning
course on incarceration and to support research and interdisciplinary collaboration
among Southern Miss faculty towards establishing a hub for prison arts and education.
Peterson, who has facilitated a book club at the South Mississippi Correctional Institution
for the past three years, will develop new opportunities for Southern Miss faculty
and students to participate in music, art, or creative writing workshops with penitentiary
residents. Additionally, Peterson will conduct exploratory research on forming a prison
education hub to engage multidisciplinary faculty in collaborative prison education
efforts at the university.
“I am so grateful to the Conville Endowment and to the Center for Community Engagement
for their support in building bridges between the community at USM and the community
of Mississippians who are currently incarcerated,” said Peterson. “My hope is that
these funds will create more opportunities for USM students and faculty to learn alongside
our incarcerated neighbors.”
Earlier this year, Peterson was named the Mississippi Humanities Educator of the Year
by the Mississippi Humanities Council for his work with incarcerated readers.
The Conville Endowment for Community Engaged Teaching and Research Award was established to honor Richard L. Conville, professor emeritus of communication
studies and service-learning at The University of Southern Mississippi from 1978-2013.
The award is funded through the privately-funded Richard L. Conville and Mozella P.
Conville Center for Community Engagement Fund for Excellence and provides funding
for conducting or developing community-engaged or service-learning research; implementing
and planning a new, significant, and sustainable community engagement initiative;
advancing and promoting service-learning or community engagement at USM; integrating
service-learning or community engagement into a college or department degree plan;
developing or re-designing a service-learning class; or collaborating across disciplines
or institutions on community engagement initiatives.
The Center for Community Engagement supports campus-community partnerships and service-learning
at The University of Southern Mississippi. Click here to learn more about the CCE at Southern Miss, call 601.266.6467.
