Michelle Alexander wins award, takes job at Union seminary

Michelle Alexander, author of The New Jim Crow, won a prestigious award and became a visiting professor at Union Theological Seminary in New York City as she focuses more on partnership with religious groups.

She received the 2016 Heinz Award for Public Policy, one of five awards honoring the late Senator John Heinz of Pennsyl­vania. The prize includes $250,000 in “unrestricted cash,” according to the mid-September awards announcement.

The awards jurors recognized Alexan­der “for drawing national attention to the issue of mass incarceration of Afri­can American youth and men in the United States, and for propelling a movement to take constructive action on criminal justice reform.”