Keynote Speakers
Dr. Sara Wakefield, Associate Professor at the School of Criminal Justice of Rutgers University. Her research interests focus on the consequences of mass imprisonment for the family, with an emphasis on childhood wellbeing and racial inequality, culminating in a series of articles and the book, Children of the Prison Boom: Mass Incarceration and the Future of American Inequality (Oxford University Press, with Chris Wildeman). More recently, she is working on several original data collection projects funded by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute of Justice. The Prison Inmate Networks Studies leverage a variety of methods and data sources (surveys, intensive interviews, administrative data, and social network analysis) to more fully understand how social ties influence the conditions of confinement, community reintegration, and social inequality.
Andrea McChristian is the Law & Policy Director at the New Jersey Institute for Social Justice (“NJISJ”). In this capacity, she leads the implementation of the strategic vision and the direction of the law and policy program. Andrea oversees the programmatic function of the Institute’s three pillars of social justice: civic engagement, economic mobility, and criminal justice reform. Prior to becoming Law & Policy Director, Andrea served as the Director of the Criminal Justice Reform initiative and was the primary author of Bring Our Children Home: Ain’t I A Child, which forms the basis of the 150 Years is Enough campaign. Andrea’s writing on juvenile justice and racial justice has been published in the Star Ledger, the Juvenile Justice Information Exchange, and NJ Spotlight.
Before joining the Institute, Andrea served as a Litigation Associate at the New York office of Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson (“Fried Frank”). During her time at Fried Frank, Andrea worked on complex commercial litigation and pro bono cases.
Andrea is a 2008 graduate of Yale University, graduating with distinction in the major of Political Science. At Yale, Andrea served as co-President of the Yale NAACP, co-reactivating the chapter after a years-long absence from campus. After graduation, Andrea joined Teach for America, teaching Head Start for two years in the Las Vegas Valley. Andrea then attended Columbia Law School where she participated in the Challenging the Consequences of Mass Incarceration Clinic, interned in Auckland, New Zealand as part of the law school’s Human Rights Internship Program, and interned at the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund. After graduating from Columbia Law School in 2013 as a Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar, Andrea clerked for Chief Judge Petrese B. Tucker of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.
Tia Ryans is a political advocate for social justice and criminal justice reform. Her experience includes work with the Faces of Women Imprisoned speakers bureau, Beyond the Bars Fellowship, and Congressman Payne, Jr. She is a direct witness to the insidious and detrimental impact of the criminal justice system and uses her platform to elevate stories of people impacted by sexual abuse including her experiences both as a child and while serving a decade long prison sentence.
Tia is creating and advocating for an evidence-based tool of best practices to enhance communities that have been disenfranchised due to collateral consequences of race, displacement, and/or economic status. Currently, her nonprofit, F.O.R.T.E. House (Forcing Out Recidivism Through Education), focuses on providing a healthy and stable living environment while promoting autonomy for justice-involved students transitioning from incarceration to post-secondary education. She holds a B.A. from Rutgers University in Political Science and African American & African Studies. She is also on the advisory board of the Princeton University Prison Teaching Initiative and NJ Scholarship and Transformative Education in Prisons.