Delphia Shanks

Delphia Shanks enjoys a multifaceted career as a professor, scholar, and advocate. After earning a B.A. in Sociology from Grinnell College and both an M.A. in Policy Analysis and Management and a Ph.D. in Government from Cornell University, she is now serving as an Associate Professor of Politics at Hendrix College. At Hendrix, Delphia teaches classes on civil society and nonprofits, race and class, the carceral state, public policy, inequality, and research methods. She is also a trained instructor through the Inside-Out Prison Exchange Program and teaches a yearly Inside-Out course at Wrightsville Correctional Facility. Previously, she taught public policy at Auburn State Prison, a maximum-security facility in upstate New York. 

Delphia is also the inaugural director of the Center for Civic Leadership in Arkansas, housed at Hendrix.

As a scholar and advocate, Delphia’s research focuses on the policy feedback effects of public policies and how philanthropic efforts shape policy reform, advocacy, and design. Within these areas, she has a special focus on the carceral state. She carries this research into her work on the board of decARcerate, a nonprofit organization that works to end mass incarceration through education, smart legislation, advocacy, and empowering the leadership of people directly impacted by the criminal injustice system. She also volunteers as a grant writer for various local nonprofits. Prior to her time in central Arkansas, she worked at a community action agency in Missouri, was a Teach For America corps member in Louisiana, and helped start a community youth center in Iowa. When she’s not teaching classes or writing grants, Delphia spends her time outdoors birdwatching, hiking, gardening, or camping, and is never far from her hammock.