Johanna Foster, Ph.D., associate professor and Helen Bennett McMurray Endowed Chair of Social Ethics in the Department of Political Science and Sociology, was recently appointed to the Board of Trustees of the Edna Mahan Correctional Facility for Women by New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy. Foster and her fellow appointees will make up a “diverse, highly-engaged, and forward-thinking” group dedicated to supervising the operations of New Jersey’s only women’s correctional facility.
“My thanks to Governor Murphy and Commissioner Kuhn for this terrific opportunity to work toward our shared vision of positive change for justice-involved women and their families in New Jersey,” said Foster. “I am excited to join the great group of Trustees, and look forward to the promising collaborations ahead with NJDOC, the Edna Mahan leadership team, as well as EMCF residents and staff, in this important new chapter of the work.”
Foster’s academic areas of expertise include intersectional feminist theories of inequality; identity and social movements; and the ethics and politics of mass incarceration with an emphasis on women in confinement. She currently co-coordinates the Monmouth University Academic Exchange Program, where Monmouth students and college students living in New Jersey state prisons study together in combined classes inside the facilities.
“These appointments, combined with the many other reforms and efforts made under our Administration, will effectuate improvement in oversight of the Edna Mahan Correctional Facility,” said Murphy in a statement. “These women are all extraordinary individuals in their own fields, and combined, their expertise will benefit women under the care of the State.”
Learn more about the Edna Mahan Correctional Facility for Women Board of Trustees.