'Orange is the New Black' Inspires Award-Winning Paper

UC Blue Ash College student Liz Maher wasn’t very familiar with the hit TV series "Orange is the New Black," but the unusual plot for the show fascinated her. She turned that interest into an award-winning research paper.

Maher is a criminal justice student who was recently honored by the North Central Sociological Association (NCSA) with the award for Outstanding Research Paper–Undergraduate Division. The sophomore beat out nearly 20 other competitors, mostly college seniors representing universities from across the Midwest.

“No one in the organization could ever remember anyone as young as Liz winning this award. It typically goes to a senior who has spent several months on their thesis,” said Todd Callais, a criminal justice and sociology professor at UC Blue Ash and Maher’s faculty sponsor. “The judges commented about her theories and raved about the paper.”

"Orange is the New Black" is a popular series on Netflix that is based on the true story of a woman from the suburbs who was sentenced to 15 months in prison after being convicted for a decade-old crime of transporting money for a drug dealer. It focuses almost exclusively on life behind bars in a female prison.

Maher was working on a research paper that looked at femininity, anti-hero and system-delegitimizing themes. “I had not yet watched the show, but I thought the idea of a series about female prisoners was really interesting and it fit what I wanted to discuss in my paper. I watched every episode to develop a coding method as part of my research.”

In her paper, Maher discusses the obstacles of trying to develop a successful series out of the controversial frames the show attempts to portray – a protagonist who is female and a criminal. “This sets up the idea of the lead character as an anti-hero and it addresses system-delegitimizing by portraying the prison system as corrupt."

For Maher, the first-place award was a complete surprise. She knew she was a finalist since she was invited to attend the NCSA conference in Cleveland and present her research, but she didn’t know she won first place until the winners were announced.

The award is also another key step on a path that Maher never envisioned. She planned to pursue a degree in business so she could find a better job and support her young son, but she took an Intro to Criminal Justice class on a whim and found that she loved the subject. This spring she was named Outstanding Student in Criminal Justice at UC Blue Ash and this fall she plans to transition to the University of Cincinnati in Clifton to pursue a double major in Criminal Justice and Sociology.

Now her dream is to one day become a professor. “I have loved my classes because of my amazing professors at UC Blue Ash, and I want to provide the same experience some day to students of my own.”

UC Blue Ash College is a regional college within the University of Cincinnati. It offers one of the best values in higher education with access to a nationally recognized UC education in nearly 50 degrees and certificates, as well as tuition that is about half of most colleges and universities. The college is located on a scenic 135-acre wooded campus in the heart of Blue Ash, Ohio. To learn more, call 513-745-5600, visit us online at www.ucblueash.edu, like us on Facebook, or follow us on Twitter.