Marc M. Howard (L’11), J.D., Ph.D.
Professor, Department of Government
Director, Prisons and Justice Initiative
Georgetown University College of Arts & Sciences
Marc M. Howard is one of the country’s leading voices and advocates for restoring humanity to the American criminal punishment system. He is the founder of a network of interlocking organizations, which together tackle injustice, humanize incarcerated people, and foster a narrative based on compassion and true justice. He serves as Professor in the Department of Government and holds a courtesy joint appointment at Georgetown University Law Center. He also serves as Director of the Georgetown University Prisons and Justice Initiative and Co-Founder of the Georgetown Pivot Program.
Since going to Georgetown in 2003, Professor Howard has authored three books with major university presses and countless articles and other prominent publications. His early award-winning scholarship focused on democracy and authoritarianism, primarily in Europe. His more recent work has analyzed incarceration and the United States prison system, for which he has received national recognition for his scholarship and activism.
His latest book is Unusually Cruel: Prisons, Punishment, and the Real American Exceptionalism (Oxford University Press, 2017). In addition to his popular “Prisons and Punishment” class, Professor Howard co-teaches “Making an Exoneree,” an extraordinary course in which undergraduate students reinvestigate likely wrongful conviction cases and advocate for exonerations. The course has resulted in five prison releases to date. Professor Howard’s students have noted that his mentorship has transformed their future professional lives.
Beyond the Hilltop, Professor Howard established Georgetown’s credit-bearing program at the DC Jail and degree-earning program at the Patuxent Institution, a maximum-security Maryland prison, as well as two Georgetown reentry programs for formerly incarcerated people. He also serves as Founder and President of the Frederick Douglass Project for Justice and as Co-Founder of the Reckoning Project.
Marc is also a member of the American Political Science Association and award recipient of the 2020 APSA Distinguished Award for Civic and Community Engagement.
About the GU President’s Awards for Distinguished Scholar-Teachers
The President’s Awards for Distinguished Scholar-Teachers at Georgetown University recognize and celebrate the integration of outstanding research and excellence in teaching at our University. The Awards not only honor the individual recipients but also emphasize standards of excellence at Georgetown.
Each year, the President names outstanding full-time faculty members to receive the awards and be recognized as Distinguished Scholar-Teachers. Award recipients receive an annual grant of $10,000 for three academic years to support their scholarship. This year’s recipients of the President’s Awards will be recognized on Tuesday, March 21, 2023 at Spring Faculty Convocation in Gaston Hall.
