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\u201cFSU became the place where my story could grow into something larger than myself.\u201d
\nCommunity Speaker: Presented at FSU\u2019s Community Leadership Speaker SeriesTied the Knot: Got married this past summerCampus Memento: His wife has a brick at the Westcott FountainFavorite FSU Sport: BaseballPersonal Motto: \u201cJustice-impacted, not justice-defeated.\u201d<\/p>\n
Eddie Fordham is a public policy\u00a0student\u00a0at Florida State University\u00a0who symbolizes what it means to make a comeback. Fordham,\u00a0a formerly incarcerated student,\u00a0continues to push the boundaries of academic success and research to fuel\u00a0himself and his passions\u00a0through academic excellence and community leadership.<\/p>\n
Fordham\u00a0is\u00a0enrolled in the\u00a0Honors in the Major<\/a>\u00a0program\u00a0to\u00a0pursue his undergraduate thesis\u00a0\u201cDegrees of Opportunity: Understanding Degree Completion Among Justice-Impacted College Students.\u201d\u00a0His research was awarded an\u00a0IDEA Grant<\/a>. He completes his research while being\u00a0mentored by public policy associate teaching professor Alexandra Cockerham.<\/p>\n Fordham was also selected as an FSU PURPOSE Fellow<\/a>, conducting research pathways oriented to social justice in education under the mentorship of assistant professor Annie Wofford, in the\u00a0Higher Education program.<\/a><\/p>\n Fordham will\u00a0be continuing\u00a0his education with\u00a0FSU\u2019s Combined Pathways Program<\/a>\u00a0for his\u00a0master\u2019s\u00a0degree\u00a0in public administration.\u00a0One day, he hopes to become a professor and apply his research to support returning citizens and other justice-impacted\u00a0students\u2019\u00a0success.<\/p>\n Outside of academics, Fordham\u00a0is\u00a0a founding member of the Justice-Impacted Student Organization (JISO), on the board of directors for Big Bend AFTER Reentry Coalition (A Fight to End Recidivism), a member of the Florida Foundation for Correctional Excellence Lived-Experience Council, and\u00a0a\u00a0member of the\u00a0Omicron Delta Kappa<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Phi Kappa Phi<\/a>\u00a0honor societies.<\/p>\n In\u00a02025 through Phi Kappa Phi, Fordham became one of three\u00a0Pioneer Award<\/a>\u00a0winners at FSU.<\/p>\n Why\u00a0did you choose Florida State University?<\/p>\n Criminal\u00a0conviction should not be a barrier to higher education. As a formerly incarcerated student, I arrived at Florida State University with lived experience and a deep desire to turn hardship into purpose.\u00a0In many ways, through its commitment to service,\u00a0research\u00a0and social impact,\u00a0I believe it\u00a0was\u00a0actually FSU\u00a0that chose me.<\/p>\n FSU not only welcomed my background,\u00a0it\u00a0empowered me and gave me the tools and support to transform my personal journey into leadership and academic inquiry. Here, I found not just a campus, but a community that shares my mission to expand educational access for justice-impacted individuals. FSU became the place where my story could grow into something larger than\u00a0myself.<\/p>\n What academic achievements have you\u00a0accomplished\u00a0at FSU?<\/p>\n One of my proudest academic accomplishments was being awarded the Jack Kent Cooke Undergraduate Transfer Scholarship. As a Cooke Scholar at FSU, I am committed to leadership and\u00a0contribution,\u00a0and\u00a0FSU has furthered my love for research, selecting me as an Honors in the Major student to complete my undergraduate thesis and research project.<\/p>\n This work explores the barriers and real-life challenges that students like me face when returning to college after\u00a0justice\u00a0system involvement and offers evidence-based pathways to support their success. I will be gathering stories, surveying\u00a0peers\u00a0and studying the systems that either help or hinder our success\u00a0\u2014\u00a0the data matters, but so do the people behind it\u00a0and the IDEA grant\u00a0and PURPOSE Fellowship\u00a0I was awarded from FSU will help me build further on this project.<\/p>\n I also served in the\u00a0University Research Opportunity Program (UROP)<\/a>\u00a0as a research assistant to Professor\u00a0Alexandra Cockerham<\/a>\u00a0and her study on North Carolina\u2019s Teen Court system. I was\u00a0recently\u00a0accepted into\u00a0FSU\u2019s\u00a0Combined Pathways<\/a>\u00a0Program\u00a0to begin earning credit toward my\u00a0master\u2019s\u00a0degree in public administration\u00a0while finishing my undergraduate degree.<\/p>\n Every step of this\u00a0unconquered\u00a0journey reflects my commitment to scholarship that serves people and drives\u00a0system-level change.<\/p>\n How do you serve the FSU community?<\/p>\n As a founding member of the Justice-Impacted Student Organization (JISO)\u00a0\u2014\u00a0the first of its kind at FSU\u00a0\u2014\u00a0I am passionate about creating a space of belonging,\u00a0empowerment and advocacy for students\u00a0impacted\u00a0by the justice system. Through JISO, we are planning to build peer support networks, host campus events, and connect with national reform leaders to help shape student-led solutions for educational success.<\/p>\n Beyond campus, I serve on the\u00a0board of\u00a0directors for Big Bend AFTER Reentry Coalition (A Fight to End Recidivism), where we support justice-impacted individuals across the Tallahassee region through education,\u00a0advocacy\u00a0and reentry support. I am also a passionate advocate before the\u00a0Florida\u00a0Legislature\u00a0on reforms that unlock higher education in prison for others.\u00a0Being named an FSU PURPOSE Fellow\u00a0and\u00a0inducted\u00a0to\u00a0Omicron Delta Kappa and Phi Kappa Phi honor societies reflects\u00a0the broader impact of my work both in and out of the classroom.<\/p>\n How do you\u00a0impact\u00a0the\u00a0community?<\/p>\n My work has helped ensure that justice-impacted students are seen,\u00a0supported\u00a0and valued at FSU. Through JISO, we\u00a0have\u00a0created a space where students who have experienced incarceration, directly or through family, can find belonging and community.\u00a0That visibility alone can be life-changing, which is why the recognition from FSU\u2019s Student Government is so meaningful.\u00a0Last\u00a0fall,\u00a0the\u00a077th\u00a0Student Senate passed\u00a0\u201cThe\u00a0Eddie Fordham\u00a0Act,\u201d\u00a0which\u00a0removed\u00a0a longstanding\u00a0felony-conviction barrier\u00a0and\u00a0gives\u00a0justice-impacted students a\u00a0represented\u00a0voice in SGA.<\/p>\n In the broader community, my work with the Big Bend AFTER Reentry Coalition and the Florida Foundation for Correctional Excellence has helped build reentry pathways grounded in education,\u00a0dignity\u00a0and long-term success. I\u00a0have advocated before the Legislature, connected community partners, and shared my story to help shift public\u00a0perception.<\/p>\n Everything I do, whether it\u00a0is\u00a0mentoring, research or\u00a0serving others,\u00a0aims to\u00a0turn personal resilience into public impact. I want people in Tallahassee and beyond to see FSU as a place where transformation is not only possible, but powerfully real.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Name: Eddie FordhamMajor: Public PolicyGraduation: Spring 2026Hometown: Pensacola, Fla.College: College of Social Sciences & Public Policy \u201cFSU became…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":196179,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[56745,66254,91013,232,234,233,91014],"class_list":["post-196178","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tallahassee","tag-college-of-social-sciences-and-public-policy","tag-honors-in-the-major","tag-idea-grant","tag-tallahassee","tag-tallahassee-headlines","tag-tallahassee-news","tag-urop"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/196178","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=196178"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/196178\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/196179"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=196178"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=196178"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=196178"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}