Fishers Mayor Scott Fadness is joining the Paul H. O’Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs at IU Indianapolis as an associate faculty member for the fall 2024 semester, leading a course designed to help future leaders better understand what it means to be a public servant.
Fadness—who earned his MPA with O’Neill in 2007—will be the first sitting mayor to serve on the O’Neill School’s faculty in Indianapolis.
“We are thrilled and honored to add Mayor Fadness to our elite faculty roster at the O’Neill School,” says O’Neill Associate Dean of Student Services and Enrollment Management Suzann Lupton. “Mayor Fadness will provide critical real-world insight and experience to O’Neill students, helping to guide up-and-coming leaders on the importance of public service and how they can go on to make a difference in their communities.”
The course, “The Call of Public Service,” focuses on the history, philosophy, values, and outcomes for careers in public service. Fadness will examine what drives people to those careers and the impact it has on communities.
“I am excited and honored to engage with the next generation of public servants,” says Fadness. “The problems and opportunities facing our world today are as complex as they have ever been, and we need to equip the next generation with the tools to tackle them. I am grateful to do my small part.”
Fadness served as Fishers’ town manager from 2011 until 2015. That’s when the town became a city and Fadness was elected to continue his leadership as mayor. Before becoming mayor, Fadness previously taught other courses with O’Neill, most recently in 2013.
“The Call of Public Service” course is part of O’Neill Indianapolis’ newly launched Community and Organizational Leadership Studies program, which offers a bachelor’s degree, minor, and certificate option. The IU Board of Trustees approved the degree path in spring of 2024 and the Indiana Commission for Higher Education gave it the green light in July 2024, creating the first new degree program at IU Indianapolis.
