Dr. Haw Wins Award for Community Service
Christopher Haw, Ph.D., associate professor of theology and religious studies at The University of Scranton, was recently honored with the State Correctional Institution at Waymart's Volunteer of the Year award for his work educating incarcerated individuals. Pictured, from left: Mark Wahl, SCI Waymart superintendent; Dr. Haw; Dr. Haw's wife, Cassie; and Daniel Marenda, Ph.D., associate dean of the University's College of Arts and Sciences.By Marcus Smith '27, Student Correspondent
The University of Scranton works extensively with the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections prison system, and one of the University’s professors received an award for his service at the State Correctional Institution at Waymart.
Christopher Haw, Ph.D., director of the University’s Prison Education Program, was recently named SCI Waymart’s 2025 Volunteer of the Year for his work educating incarcerated individuals. While the Prison Education Program teaches many college-level courses at SCI Dallas, Haw has also arranged, over the last few years, for many faculty members from The University of Scranton to give lectures at SCI Waymart on their various topics of specialty.
Some of these professors have included Carolyn Barry, Ph.D., the dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, who lectured on child development and psychology, and Brian Conniff, Ph.D., a professor of English, who taught about literature and poetry.
All of the professors who took part in the program did so voluntarily to help serve undereducated populations.
Dr. Haw will join other volunteers of the year from SCIs for a statewide award ceremony later this fall at the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections headquarters.
During his remarks at Waymart’s award ceremony, he said that he was pleased to proliferate a quote from Saint John of the Cross: “Where you see no love, put love, and you will draw out love.”
Dr. Haw’s work brilliantly reflects the Jesuit ideals of The University of Scranton, being a person for and with others by spreading education widely.
Marcus Smith '27, Schuylkill Haven, is an English and theatre double major at Scranton.
