Romarilyn Ralston is the senior director of the Justice Education Center (JEC) of The Claremont Colleges, where she works to advance the transformative mission of the Inside-Out Pathway-to-BA program. That program helps currently incarcerated individuals (“inside” students) to obtain bachelor’s degrees as they learn alongside on-campus Claremont Colleges (“outside”) students. Her own powerful journey shaped Ralston’s leadership in this space. After spending 23 years incarcerated, she was released in 2011 and enrolled at Pitzer as a New Resources student, earning a Bachelor’s degree in Gender & Feminist Studies. She is now pursuing a PhD in Executive Management at Claremont Graduate University’s Drucker School of Business.

Ralston’s path is a testament to the life-changing power of education and the profound impact of second chances. “I chose education as my transformative practice and have not stopped learning since,” she says. In her role at JEC, she advocates for the idea that incarcerated students deserve opportunities, and communities can benefit from the value they bring. Her work not only opens doors for others but also challenges societal assumptions about justice, access, and who belongs in higher education. Ralston’s career exemplifies how determination, empathy, and a liberal arts foundation can help rebuild lives and institutions alike.