Master of Professional Studies

Since 1982 New York Theological Seminary has been one of the most unusual programs in theological education in the nation.  Each year up to fifteen students who are currently incarcerated in New York State enroll in the Seminary’s accredited Master of Professional Studies (MPS) degree offered inside the Sing Sing Correctional Facility in Ossining, New York.

Candidates for the program must apply to NYTS through a regular application process.  Those who are accepted are transferred to Sing Sing ( if they are not already housed there), where they enroll in a one-year, 36-credit graduate degree course of study.  Candidates must demonstrate promise for leadership and an active faith commitment, hold an accredited undergraduate degree, and meet all of the Seminary’s other standards for admission.  Many elect to move from medium- or even minimum-security prisons to the maximum-security environment of Sing Sing in order to attend the program.

Once enrolled, candidates attend classes five days a week.  The MPS curriculum provides foundational study in the various disciplines of theological education:  Old and New Testament, foundations of ministry, church history, theology, ethics, pastoral care and counseling, religious education, and program design and administration.  Candidates for the program are expected to be a part of a community of learning that is committed to the intellectual, moral, and spiritual dimensions of ministry and service.  They must forego regular weekday visits during the year they are in the program in order to meet the attendance requirements for classes.  Instruction in classes is provided by members of the Seminary’s core and adjunct faculty.  Courses are designed to be relevant to the prison environment, with a strong emphasis on spiritual integration, community accountability, and service to others.  Candidates for the degree are also required to work in field education within Sing Sing under the supervision of the NYTS Program Director, Dr. Edward L. Hunt.  They serve as peer counselors, chaplain’s assistants, or tutors in one of the educational programs offered within the facility.  Candidates must have a 3.0 GPA to be in good standing and graduate.  A special graduation service is held inside Sing Sing each year on the second Wednesday of June at 6 in the evening, with members of the NYTS board of trustees, faculty and administration, and candidates’ family members and other guests in attendance.

The MPS degree program at Sing Sing is a transforming experience.  Graduates serve in facilities throughout the State as chaplain assistants, peer counselors, or teachers.  A number have developed inmate-initiated service programs and several are teaching college-level courses offered through Hudson Link, a non-profit educational program that grew out of the network of the Seminary’s MPS alumni and offers an accredited college degree in a number of prisons in southeastern New York.

Other graduates, who have been released, have continued to carry that transformative work forward in society outside the walls of the correctional system.  A significant number are currently working in ministry or social services.  Several are leaders in the national re-entry movement, including Julio Medina, Executive Director of Exodus Transitional Community; Eddie Ellis, Executive Director of the Center for NuLeadership on Urban Solutions; William Eric Waters, Program Coordinator for the Osborne Association; and the late Dr. Lonnie McLeod, Jr., consultant on re-entry programs to the Annie E. Casey Foundation.  Others continue to serve within the correctional system, including Sean Pica, Executive Director of Hudson Link; and Imam Salahuddin Muhammad, a chaplain at Fishkill Correctional Facility in Beacon, New York.  Still others are serving as pastors and leaders of other religious congregations.  The recidivism rate for graduates from the NYTS M.P.S. program is well under 10% over the life of the program and close to zero for those who have been released over the past five years, compared to a 49% recidivism rate generally in New York State.

More than 400 candidates have now completed the program and earned their MPS degree inside Sing Sing.  The Seminary receives no government funding to support the program apart from the provision of classroom space by the Department of Corrections.  Yet the social benefits of the program, of services within the prison system, to churches and other community organizations, and to the wider society, are obvious.  Students in the program pay no tuition or fees.  NYTS provides 100% scholarship support, including paying for all textbooks that students use (and keep following graduation).  NYTS must raise this support for the program each year through donations.  We invite you to consider helping us to sustain this program with a gift.