Melissa Michaux builds pathways to restorative justice

Melis­sa Michaux’s work is life chang­ing.

The Asso­ciate Pro­fes­sor of Pol­i­tics at Willamette Uni­ver­si­ty start­ed the Restora­tive Jus­tice pro­gram at the school, which works with inmates at the Ore­gon State Pen­i­ten­tiary.  It pro­vides an insight­ful expe­ri­ence for stu­dents about the prison sys­tem and those with­in.

The pro­gram inspires com­pas­sion and gives mean­ing to the par­tic­i­pants through their involve­ment on both sides of the prison walls.

“I hope the Willamette stu­dents have an increased under­stand­ing of the stakes involved in pub­lic pol­i­cy, specif­i­cal­ly crim­i­nal jus­tice pol­i­cy, by meet­ing peo­ple who are affect­ed by the sys­tem we have in place ” she said.

The pro­gram also pro­vides a space for learn­ing and growth that allows inmates to devel­op their own ideas and under­stand­ing about why they are in prison and to devel­op a sense of effi­ca­cy for pos­i­tive­ly affect­ing the world around them, she said.

Michaux is the incom­ing Chair of the new Pol­i­tics, Pol­i­cy, Law and Ethics depart­ment at Willamette. She is a cham­pi­on of com­pas­sion­ate approach­es to pris­on­ers – both dur­ing their incar­cer­a­tion and on paths to rein­te­gra­tion into soci­ety.

“Restora­tive Jus­tice in prison is nec­es­sary,” she said, “to trans­form pris­on­ers for safer com­mu­ni­ties.”

Michaux received her PhD from Bran­deis Uni­ver­si­ty and her BA with Hon­ors from Boston Col­lege. She has exten­sive­ly dis­cussed health­care pol­i­cy and wel­fare reform and Amer­i­can Pol­i­tics, as well as the pol­i­tics of moth­er­hood. There is a com­mon thread through these sub­jects and that thread is mean­ing­ful lives, for all.

Hear more from Pro­fes­sor Michaux at TEDxSalem Jan­u­ary 5.

Home­town: Bal­ti­more
Fam­i­ly: hus­band Rick and three daugh­ters Sophie (25), Emma (16) and Clara (13)
Hob­bies: ten­nis and read­ing mem­oirs
Favorite Music: favorite band is Pink Mar­ti­ni
Favorite Author: Mar­garet Atwood
Favorite Food: blue crabs
Favorite TV Show of All Time: “Buffy the Vam­pire Slay­er” (Our dog is named after Buffy’s sec­ond boyfriend Riley Finn.)

TEDxSalem VI

TEDxSalem VI is an all-day event fea­tur­ing talks, per­for­mances, refresh­ments, lunch and a swag bag. It runs 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Sat­ur­day, Jan. 5 at the Salem Con­ven­tion Cen­ter. Tick­ets are on sale now for $55, $45 for stu­dents. Fol­low us on Face­book for the most up-to-date news from our com­mu­ni­ty, and check our web­site reg­u­lar­ly for new infor­ma­tion. You can also reach us at info@tedxsalem.com.