Portraits of Resilience: Research project showcases risk and resiliency through art

Posted on June 16, 2025 by Leslie Wells

An art exhibit with four veils of sheer fabric in the foreground, and a display of photos on plywood in the background. — The Portraits of Resilience exhibit was part of a research and art collaboration, led by O’Neill Assistant Professor Courtney Page-Tan. *Photo credit: Cierra Johnson*

As Andre Parnell strolled the streets of Indianapolis’ east side, camera in hand. He was searching for a moment—one that would capture the realities, risks, and resilience within his community.

“The Far Eastside is more than where we’re from—it’s where we shape who we are,” Parnell explains. “Every street tells a story; every neighbor holds a legacy. It’s on us to carry that forward.”

Parnell is doing that through art. He was one of four artists selected to be part of a unique research project, led by O’Neill Assistant Professor Courtney Page-Tan. She worked with the Indy Arts Council to select Parnell, along with Corey Ewing, Cierra Johnson, and LaNiah Ray as the artists.

Four people stand around an an art installation on plywood. — Andre Parnell, LaNiah Ray-Reed, Cierra Johnson, and Corey Ewing (L-R) were the four local artists helped capture images for the research project.
Photo credit: Cierra Johnson

“The artists’ stories are so incredibly powerful,” Page-Tan explains. “It’s one thing to hear about problems, but to see them through a collection of photographs really creates a powerful visual.”

Their goal was to identify sources of both pain and progress in four Indianapolis communities: the Far Eastside, Martindale-Brightwood, Arlington Woods, and the Near Eastside.

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Environmental policy expert Janet McCabe joins O’Neill School

Posted on May 28, 2025 by Leslie Wells

A woman with short gray hair is wearing a suit. She stands with her elbow leaning on a stair railing. — Former EPA Deputy Director Janet McCabe will lead a course at O’Neill Indianapolis during the 2025–26 academic year. *(Photo by Liz Kaye, Indiana University)*

Written by: Leslie Wells, Rebecca Trimpe, and Nikki Livingston

Janet McCabe, former deputy administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, is joining the O’Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs to help prepare the next generation of leaders for service. That includes leading a course through O’Neill Indianapolis during the 2025–26 academic year.

McCabe has a long and distinguished career as an environmental policy expert working in public service, law, and academia. She also served on the O’Neill School’s Dean’s Council as an advisor and ambassador for the school.

“Janet McCabe’s work throughout her career has been a testament to the power of public service, and her passion for protecting both people and the planet is truly inspiring,” said Siân Mooney, dean of the O’Neill School. “We’re thrilled she is returning to IU to join O’Neill and share her invaluable experience with our students.”

At O’Neill, she will serve as a visiting professor and an executive in residence at the Paul H. O’Neill Center for Leadership in Public Service, leading guest lectures and seminars, offering professional coaching to students, and helping build relationships with key stakeholders.

During her yearlong appointment with IU, McCabe also will serve as a distinguished scholar at IU’s Robert H. McKinney School of Law and as a senior policy advisor at the Environmental Resilience Institute. She previously worked with both McKinney and ERI from 2017 to 2021 as a professor of practice and ERI director.

“I am so pleased to be returning to Indiana University,” McCabe said. “The opportunity to work with students, faculty and researchers in the law and public policy schools, and with the amazing staff at the IU Environmental Resilience Institute, brings together so many issues and ideas that I have spent my career working on. It takes both law and public policy to effect change for the benefit of society, especially in the challenging area of climate change, and IU is training the best of the best to make a difference.”

In October 2024, McCabe was the keynote speaker for O’Neill’s two-day Roads to Removal Indiana conference. The event focused on how Indiana and the Midwest could help the United States become a net-zero carbon emissions nation by 2050. She retired from the EPA just prior to that event, having played a key role in shaping the nation’s environmental policies and overseeing all management aspects of the EPA and its workforce since 2021.

To read more about McCabe’s upcoming work across Indiana University, visit this link.

O’Neill Indianapolis selects Rep. Cherrish Pryor for Distinguished Alumni Award

Posted on May 19, 2025 by Leslie Wells

Rep. Cherrish Pryor (MPA’05) received the 2025 Distinguished Alumni Award from the O’Neill School.

Listen to Rep. Pryor on the O’Neill Speaks podcast.

As a little girl in Holly Springs, Mississippi, Cherrish Pryor remembers watching her grandmother work as she looked on from the window of her grandparents’ pickup truck. Her grandmother would walk to a house with a voter registration form in hand, talk to whoever opened the door, then walk back to the truck.

Another Black voter registered. Then, it was on to another house and another door knock.

Pryor says she knew what her grandmother was doing was different than what most other women were doing at the time, but she didn’t fully grasp the importance as a child.

“I was just there for fun, just to get out the house—it was exciting to me,” Pryor admits. “But now, seeing and hearing her stories, what she did is just amazing to me.”

Her grandmother campaigned for candidates, helped secure wins for the first African American sheriff and first African American school superintendent in their area.

Even before Cherrish was born, her grandmother was part of the Civil Rights Movement and fought to integrate schools and secure transportation for Black students in Holly Springs.

Two women wearing pink and black sit next two each other, smiling. There is a wooden piano in the background. — Cherrish Pryor and her grandmother, who influenced her current career in policy and politics.

“The buses would pick up the white kids but drove right past the Black homes and children,” she says. “So, my grandfather would take all the Black kids to school and my grandmother wrote to the state of Mississippi. The state wrote back and told the superintendent the buses had to also pick up the Black children.”

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First student completes O’Neill’s new Community and Organizational Leadership Studies degree

Posted on May 12, 2025 by Leslie Wells

Naila Teliz is the first student to graduate with a Community and Organizational Leadership Studies degree from the O’Neill School.

As Naila Teliz sat with her advisors, she filled out a questionnaire to help her better understand her interests. Until that moment, she had struggled to decide what she wanted to do as a future career.

“I was really trapped and had no idea where I was going,” she admits. “I just knew that I wanted to work with people.”

As they reviewed her survey answers, themes began to emerge. Leadership and management were at the top of the list.

Her advisor talked to her about programs designed to help students learn to lead, regardless of where their careers take them.

In O’Neill’s Community and Organizational Leadership Studies program, Teliz dove into learning about the theories and types of leadership and how to be a resource for others. As she made her way through the program, she found a home in the human resource management field.

“I have found that I really do enjoy working with people, and that’s what I want to do—I’ve loved it so far,” she says. “This program really challenged what I already knew as a leader. Rather than having an expectation of people, I now have an open mind so I can dig into what makes each employee different.”

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O’Neill names Outstanding Student Award recipients in each degree program

Posted on May 6, 2025 by Leslie Wells

O’Neill Indianapolis has named its Outstanding Students for its five degree programs for the Class of 2025. Each year, the O’Neill School faculty votes on one student from each of its degree-granting programs to receive the award.

The students are recognized for their academic achievements and merit during their time with the O’Neill School. One student is selected to represent the Master of Public Affairs program, the Master of Science in Criminal Justice and Public Safety program, the Bachelor of Community and Organizational Leadership Studies, the Bachelor of Science in Public Affairs, and the Bachelor of Science in Criminal Justice.

At the graduate level, the 2025 recipients are Faith Odiete (MPA: Specialized Study) and Sydney Powers (MSCJPS). On the undergraduate side, Christina Bruce (BSCOLS), Lance Varnell (BSPA), and Bridget Janney (BSCJ) all earned the award.

Each student will receive their award at the O’Neill Graduate Recognition event on May 12, 2025.