Mount Tamalpais College

Mount Tamalpais College has set the following strategic goals for the next three to five years:

Goal 1. Expand and improve the college at San Quentin

Goal 2. Provide technical assistance to expand in-prison higher education in California

Goal 3. Educate the public to build a movement and inform change

Goal 4. Conduct rigorous research and evaluation to generate data and support continuous improvement

Goal 5. Strengthen the organizational capacity of Mount Tamalpais College

Goal 1
> Build out course offerings, support services, and faculty training
> Build out alumni support services and leadership development programs
> Become a fully independent, accredited academic institution

Goal 2
> Create toolkits and training procedures for practitioners
> Offer several multi-day trainings per year to practitioners from California and beyond
> Provide intensive, customized, and hands-on support to select programs
> Establish statewide and regional networks of practitioners and other stakeholders

Goal 3
> Engage the field and public
> Share stories of impact
> Build communications capacity

Goal 4
Programs in prison are traditionally evaluated from a correctional perspective—in terms of fiscal impact, recidivism, and public safety—we seek to evaluate the impact of our programs on the well-being of students themselves.

Goal 5
We plan to grow sustainably in the following areas:
> Staff
> Board
> infrastructure
> Strategic ability

The College at San Quentin provides 20 college courses each semester in the humanities, social sciences, math, and science, as well as intensive college preparatory courses in math and writing, leading to an Associates of Arts degree and/or coursework necessary to transfer to any California State University or University of California campus. The sole requirement for participation is a high school diploma or GED. No student is excluded from the program based on age, length of sentence, commitment offense, of time left to serve.

The core values of Mount Tamalpais College are reflected in its commitment to providing high quality, liberal arts, face-to-face education. The time spent regularly engaging with instructors and classmates in the classroom is key to the psychologically and socially transformative nature of Mount Tamalpais College's programs, which allows students to build the social capital that will serve them powerfully both pre- and post-release.

Since its founding as the Prison University Project in 1996, the College at San Quentin has been the site of a unique and unprecedented educational enterprise, driven entirely by volunteer instructors, private funds, and a deep commitment to meeting students "where they are," both geographically and educationally. More than 4,000 students have participated in the program since its founding, and more than 200 students have received the Associate of Arts degree.

In September 2016, the Prison University Project was awarded the 2015 National Humanities Medal by President Obama. Our public profile is steadily increasing as the national movement for criminal justice reform is converging with political and philanthropic interest in the field of prison higher education.

In 2018, we learned that Patten University, under which we had operated as an extension site since our founding, was permanently closing. This news motivated us to pursue a long held dream of becoming an independent, accredited two-year college. After two years of planning and capacity building, we were awarded Candidacy for Accreditation with the Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges (ACCJC) in January 2020. We anticipate our review for Initial Accreditation in fall 2021.

In September 2020, we changed our name from the Prison University Project to Mount Tamalpais College. We are now presented with an extraordinary opportunity to broaden our reach and expand our impact at San Quentin, across California, and nationally.