10-29-2026 4:17am

Goucher Program

Barbara Roswell, Founding Director of Goucher’s Prison Education Partnership, Remembered for Transforming Live

Barbara Roswell

Barbara Roswell, a longtime Goucher College writing professor who helped bring college education to people incarcerated in Maryland, has died at 66, according to a tribute from former student and Lightning Electric founder Sekwan R. Merritt.Merritt wrote that

Roswell died one day before her 67th birthday, crediting her with creating the educational opportunity that helped shape his future as a business owner and advocate.

A Bronx native who attended Yale and New York University, Roswell joined Goucher in 1983 and spent 35 years at the college. Her work connected writing, education and a belief in the potential of students whose voices were too often overlooked.

According to Merritt’s tribute, a special issue on prison writing that Roswell published in 2004 helped start a book club at the women’s prison in Jessup. The effort grew into a writing workshop and then a broader offering of college courses.

In 2012, Roswell led efforts to secure the grant that established the Goucher Prison Education Partnership (GPEP) and became its first director. After retiring in 2018, she continued teaching in prison.

Merritt spent two years as a GPEP student and earned a 3.8 GPA. He described the experience as evidence, for the first time, that his intellectual abilities deserved investment.

His path later included opportunities at Arnold & Porter, founding Lightning Electric, and speaking before the Maryland General Assembly and Congress. In his tribute, he traced those experiences back to Roswell’s work.

“Every one of those rooms traces back to a classroom Barbara fought to put inside a prison,” Merritt wrote.

Merritt said GPEP now serves approximately 130 students annually across two Maryland prisons, offering a pathway to a Goucher bachelor’s degree. He noted that more than 40% of its graduates earn honors.

To honor Roswell’s legacy, Merritt encouraged contributions to the Goucher Prison Education Partnership, helping extend the opportunity she created to future students.