The Department of Sociology is pleased to announce that Ben Brockie is the recipient of the 2026 Albert W. Black Award. The Albert W. Black Award honors a student who demonstrates commitment to community service and civic organizations that support disadvantaged communities.
Albert W. Black was a long-time faculty member in the Department of Sociology and retired as an Emeritus Principal Lecturer, the highest instructional rank at the University of Washington. Al was also a recipient of two of the university’s highest awards: the Distinguished Teaching Award, and the Outstanding Public Service Award and received an Outstanding Community Service Award from the Seattle Central Area Chamber of Commerce.
Ben came to his studies at the UW through a markedly different path than most students. He was incarcerated at just 16 years old and spent 22 years in prison. During his incarceration he pursued educational opportunities where he could find them and ultimately earned an AA degree. He eventually received clemency through the Washington State Parole process and enrolled at the UW – our superb fortune.
He graduates with a double major in Sociology and American Indian Studies, with a 3.99 GPA. Ben also served as a Gonfalonier at the main Commencement, carrying the banner for the College of Arts & Sciences. He has done an enormous amount of community support while a student, working with Native American Reentry Services, enacting statewide outreach to improve access to legal information and rights education for indigenous communities, and as an intern with the Urban Indian Health Institute, designing the first Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Peoples awareness program for carceral settings.
Since Ben’s release he has also worked tirelessly to support students returning from incarceration, helping them to navigate higher education, assisting with the concrete details but perhaps most importantly - in his own words - working through the stigma and self doubt that can haunt those in these situations. As he puts it, he tries to “help people enter rooms they cannot yet see for themselves.” As part of these efforts within the UW, he founded an ROS (Registered Student Organization), Formerly Incarcerated Scholars at UW.
Speaking to what he has gained from the field of sociology, he notes that studying concepts like structural inequality, social stigma, racial disparities in the carceral system, helped him name things he has already lived.
“Sociology has given me contextual credibility to articulate what I have witnessed; my experiences have kept that framework grounded in real people, rather than just theory.” says Brockie.
One of the members of the Washington State Clemency and Pardons Board, voting in support of Ben’s clemency petition, told him “Go to law school. We need you.” He has taken this suggestion to heart and is planning to apply to law schools after graduation.
“I understand that freedom comes with responsibility,” says Brockie.”This is not charity or community service. It is an obligation to advocate for people who are still unheard, still unseen, and still searching for ways into spaces that were never designed for them.
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