Over nearly three decades, Kaia has engaged thousands of students in transformative education.
She has taught and/or led workshops at Emory University, the University of California, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and across Harvard University as well as inside jails and prisons in multiple states. Kaia is committed to collaboration and creating the conditions for people to learn together. She had taught extensively on religion, ethics, and transformative education. She is currently faculty at the Harvard Graduate School of Education.
The Prison Studies Project
Photo by Saalik Khan, courtesy of the Mount Tamalpais College at San QuentinIn September 2008, Kaia Stern and Bruce Western launched the Prison Studies Project (PSP) at Harvard University to promote informed conversation about the challenges of mass incarceration.
Born out of Harvard Law School’s Charles Hamilton Houston Institute for Race & Justice, PSP’s mission is to awaken the broadest possible public to the ways we punish, and to reimagine justice in the United States. Since its inception, PSP has been committed to raising public awareness, teaching college courses inside prison, and injecting into the public conversation a discussion of policy alternatives. Its work has focused on research, education and policy change.
The Directory
PSP began compiling a list of higher education in prison programs throughout the United States in 2008. This was the first nationwide directory of higher education programs in U.S. prisons. For ten years, the National Directory of Higher Education Programs in Prison has been a central focus of the Prison Studies Project and an important resource for the higher education in prison community. PSP partnered with the Alliance for Higher Education in Prison to transfer the National Directory to its website and to expand its reach.
Selected Press
Rethinking Justice and Trauma
Vassar for Action by Max Cutner Walsh (2020)
Radical Commitments: The Life and Legacy of Angela Davis
Introduction by Kaia Stern
Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study (2019)
In Prisons, a Looming Coronavirus Crisis
Harvard Gazette by Colleen Walsh (2020)
Rethinking Prison Education in the Age of Mass Incarceration
Books Not Bars Open Source Radio with Christopher Lydon (2018)
Kaia Stern States Her Case
Radcliffe Magazine by Colleen Walsh (2019)
Questions Of Prestige And Promise As Harvard Blocks Manning
WBUR by Max Larkin (2017)
Reforming the Criminal Justice System: Atlanta Preacher Takes Aim At Nation’s Prisons
Harvard Gazette by Colleen Walsh (2019)
Selected Student Feedback
“Kaia is a phenomenal educator and really lives by her ethos. She is a community leader that really encourages deep self–reflection and personal growth.”
“It was an honor and a privilege to be in the presence of [Kaia’s] wisdom, light, and love. Her knowledge and experience created a strong foundation for the course, and her heart and her soul created the conditions for dialogue and reflection that were lively, vibrant, soulful, and healing, beautifully modeling and opening the door for future explorations of liberatory education in carceral spaces and beyond. I thank her from the bottom of my heart!
“Professor Kaia was extremely considerate and compassionate towards all students, creating an engaging and inclusive learning environment for everyone…Her expertise and lived experiences enhanced the learning and were invaluable… It was evident she deeply valued all students’ perspectives and valued them as equals.”
“So knowledgeable, deeply empathetic, lives what she teaches. Professor Stern brings who she is to the table each time, and her presence is as powerful as how and what she teaches.”
“Kaia is a phenomenal educator and really lives by her ethos. She is a community leader that really encourages deep self–reflection and personal growth.”