New Faculty Highlight: Angela LaScala-Gruenewald
By Grace Chai
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A scholar in the field of crime and punishment, Angela LaScala-Gruenewald brings a nuanced perspective on the criminal legal system to the University of Massachusetts and Commonwealth Honors College. LaScala-Gruenewald earned a BA in Political Science and International Studies from the University of Chicago and a PhD in Sociology from the CUNY Graduate Center. Their journey has brought them from the hustle and bustle of New York City to Amherst, where they are now an assistant professor in legal studies at UMass and a joint faculty member at the Honors College.
“So many things drew me to UMass Amherst,” said LaScala-Gruenewald. “I think for me, probably the most important thing was that I was really excited to work for a large public institution with a public mandate to serve the state of Massachusetts. So I was excited to work with students who came from all over the state, all over the country, and all over the world who were drawn to this type of research and teaching institute.”
They were also drawn to UMass because they were excited to work with students on research that is driven by students’ own expertise, knowledge, and experience.
LaScala-Gruenewald also cited the legal studies department as being of interest to them due to its interdisciplinary nature.
Their own research examines political economy, punishment and organizations, focusing on how the carceral system operates under certain political and economic conditions, and how experiences of punishment and social control can differ across race, class, and gender lines.
Their journey to studying punishment partly stems from their experience working at the Mayor’s Office of Criminal Justice in New York City, where LaScala-Gruenewald became familiar with data and research related to the criminal legal system. It was also there where they developed an interest in political organizing.
“I think sitting in government, and then going to protests, and organizing around police brutality during those years really activated me. It related to a lot of things that I personally care about and feel affected by, but also really instilled within me a sense that there was some kind of political connection to how our carceral system operated,” LaScala-Gruenewald said.
During the fall 2025 semester, LaScala-Gruenewald brought their expertise to a seminar on punishment and society and will be teaching courses on mass incarceration in the spring, as well as an Honors seminar on law, power and inequality in the fall.
“We'll be talking about how political and economic structures influence how law is interpreted and then practiced on the ground, so thinking about our courts and our police and our prisons within the context of the communities that they serve,” LaScala-Gruenewald explained.
“I really hope that my students leave with some knowledge about law, power, and equality, and I hope that they can think about some of our carceral institutions within political and economic systems, but most importantly, rather than any one piece of knowledge, I hope that they leave with some ability to think critically about the spaces that they're in,” LaScala-Gruenewald concluded.
Aside from being a professor and scholar, LaScala-Gruenewald enjoys live music, working out, and watching sports, especially women’s soccer and the English Premier League. Students interested in learning more about LaScala-Gruenewald’s field of study can check out their class on Mass Incarceration (offered as an Honors and non-Honors course) offered this spring.