Prison to Professor

He did it and so can I!

"Wiley College professor's journey from prison to Ph.D

By Tracy Clemons – bio|e-mail

MARSHALL, TX (KSLA)- A professor at Wiley College, in east Texas, is living out what some would think they'd only see in a movie. Dr. Tracy Andrus has gone from prison, to a Ph.D, to heading up the Criminal Justice department at the small college. 

"My business got in trouble. I went over to some banks. I got money out of the account that I did not have. They call that check kiting. I was arrested and eventually I was sentenced to 57 years in prison," Andrus says. 

He only served three of those years. Part of that time was in a halfway house in Alexandria. He settled down in the city, and took classes at Louisiana College. Andrus completed his bachelors degree in 2000. 

"I was very excited about it, and God had really blessed me a whole lot, so I said I wanna get my masters degree," he says.

He finished his masters in Criminal Justice at the University of Louisiana-Monroe in one year. Andrus tells KSLA News 12 that he'll never forget the day he was accepted into the Ph.D program at Prairie View A&M. 

"You'll never know how that really made me feel, knowing that now I have an opportunity to earn a PhD, when only a few years prior to that, I was actually doing time in prison." 

Dr. Andrus says he was the first African American to earn a doctorate in Juvenile Justice.

We spoke with a few students in his department, and they all say his story is nothing short of amazing.

"His story is just profound, how we can overcome adversity and still make it," says sophomore Jazmine Jackson.

Wiley senior Nathan Evans says it's inspirational: "By me looking at a man like that, he really inspired me to show me that I can be somebody. No matter where you come from, no matter what background, you can be somebody." 

Andrus attributes his change completely to God-"I know that God was working in my stead from the day I went into the penitentiary."

He tells us he got closer to God while he was in prison. Today he speaks from the experience he believes God allowed him to endure. 

"You may have been to jail. You may be in jail right now, but I just want folks to know that if you have the will, and you put God in front of you, there's nothing that you cannot do if you have the passion to do it." "