Washington Leadership Program provides academic, personal, and professional experience to O’Neill students

Posted on January 30, 2023 by Leslie Wells

Image of the White House Press briefing room with a man in a suit jacket standing in front of the podium, smiling. — O’Neill Public Safety Management major Grant Colestock stands in the White House Press Briefing room during a tour for his Washington Leadership Program experience.

To learn more about the Washington Leadership Program, visit the O’Neill IUPUI website at this link. Applications are open for the fall 2023 and spring 2024 cohorts, with the next application deadline of February 24, 2023.

Written by: Grant Colestock, O’Neill IUPUI Public Safety Management major and Washington Leadership Program alumnus

In fall 2022, I had the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to participate in the O’Neill School’s Washington Leadership Program, an experience I highly recommend to anyone and one you will not regret. The experience is best broken down into its three primary areas: the internship, your classes, and life in Washington, D.C.

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O’Neill IUPUI offers more than 30 scholarships for students

Posted on January 23, 2023 by Leslie Wells

Graduating student in their cap and gown hold a piggy bank in one hand, and their graduation cap in the other.

Covering the cost of college can feel overwhelming for many students. The O’Neill School has dozens of scholarships available for its undergraduate and graduate students to help ease that burden. Yet every year, thousands of dollars in O’Neill scholarships go unclaimed.

Assistant Dean of Student Services Suzann Lupton and Director of Student Services Debbie Koliba are working hard to change that.

“We often find that students sometimes assume they won’t qualify for scholarships, or they don’t understand the process,” Koliba says. “We want to clear up any confusion so students can apply.”

The scholarship application process

Applications for the next academic year open in September and often don’t close until March 1.

Students must be admitted to O’Neill IUPUI to apply for a scholarship and enrolled in O’Neill courses to receive funding. That means an incoming student can—and should—fill out their application as soon as possible.

To apply, students sign in to IUPUI’s Scholarship Portal at one.IU.edu. They fill out one application each year that matches them to scholarships from both O’Neill and IUPUI.

Lupton says 60%–70% of O’Neill’s scholarships automatically match to applicants. The remaining scholarships may require one extra step.

“For some of our larger scholarships, we might require someone to upload a resume, a letter, or additional materials, but it’s a very simple process,” Lupton insists.

High-profile graduate opportunities go unfilled

Koliba says their biggest challenge comes with some of O’Neill’s biggest opportunities for graduate students.

“It’s not that we don’t have the funding available to help these students,” she explains. “The problem is that we don’t have students applying for some of our more unique opportunities. So that money just sits unused.”

Lupton admits those fellowships require a more extensive commitment than most other scholarships, but they also come with a big payoff—not only financially, but also in terms of students’ futures.

“These opportunities really serve as pipelines into good jobs,” Lupton says. “These are the positions in which our students make the connections that launch their careers. Many are actually offered jobs after their internships end.”

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New destinations offered for O’Neill International summer study abroad

Posted on January 9, 2023 by Leslie Wells

A group of women stand in front of a building in Israel during their study abroad trip. — O’Neill alumna Kari Parmeter (R) studied arts management in Israel in 2018 with O’Neill International.

O’Neill IUPUI students have three additional destination and course options for summer study abroad adventures in 2023.

Applications close on January 27, 2023. O’Neill IUPUI students can choose from 12 programs for their summer study abroad courses, including destinations in the Caribbean, Latin America, Europe, Africa, the Middle East, and Asia.

The newest courses added to the list are based in Vietnam and Costa Rica. A third destination, Israel, is making a return to the list for the first time since 2018.

Kari Parmeter, an O’Neill alumna who earned her degree in Public Safety Management, spent her study abroad in Israel that summer learning about the impact the arts have on everything from culture to the economy to individual lives, and how the government helps managed the arts within Israel. She chronicled her journey on O’Neill IUPUI’s Instagram channel for O’Neill during her trip.

“Something important to remember when considering study abroad is that you’re doing just that: studying abroad,” she emphasized. “Along with so many exciting adventures, we still have learning and course work to be done.

But she highlights the many cultural and sightseeing learning adventures the trip included.

“Once we reached Israel, we really hit the ground running,” she recalled. “We were able to see sacred sites and explore the Jewish Holocaust Museum, Yad Vashem.”

Parmeter acknowledged the trips carry what can be a hefty price tag. She received a scholarship to help offset some of the costs of the trip.

“I love traveling but it’s expensive, especially as a student,” she said. “These scholarships allow students to travel to incredible places, gain new knowledge, and earn college credit at the same time.”

Students can learn about scholarships and apply for assistance at this link. To learn more about the available programs, visit https://oneill.iupui.edu/student-life/study-abroad/index.html. A full list of locations, descriptions, and dates is below.

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Douglas Noonan: Understanding and influencing policies that impact quality of life

Posted on December 12, 2022 by Leslie Wells

Doug Noonan wearing a suit and tie in a breezeway — Paul H. O’Neill Professor Douglas Noonan

How do the decisions leaders make—and the choices you make based on those decisions—affect the quality of life where you live? Paul H. O’Neill Professor Douglas Noonan is working to answer those questions.

“I’m an economist who studies how people make decisions in a world full of constraints,” he says.

Noonan analyzes environmental, urban, and cultural policies and the impact they have on people, whether it’s how clean places are, where parks are located, how cities approach infrastructure, or even what influences an area’s cultural scene.

“A lot of my research looks at the environment we construct—not just what nature gives us,” Noonan explains. “How do we maintain or improve the environment we’ve built for ourselves? How does it adapt? What does it support for arts and culture and other parts of urban life?”

His wide-ranging work has focused on how the COVID-19 pandemic impacted the arts, how the green building movement has been spurred on by private businesses, and—most recently—how communities are trying to manage and adapt to increasing flood risk amid climate change.

His focus on urban policy was a natural fit for the O’Neill School. The Indianapolis campus’ urban location—combined with the school’s standing in the public affairs field—is what made it the ideal place for him to both research and teach.

“O’Neill has an incredible reputation and is such a fantastic place,” he says. “Its scale and skill are unparalleled in my world.”

Noonan says that reputation is just one of many reasons students should come to O’Neill.

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Jerome Dumortier: Teaching and researching the economic future of climate change

Posted on December 5, 2022 by Leslie Wells

Man standing in a hallway wearing a button-up shirt. — O’Neill Professor and Director of Research Jerome Dumortier

O’Neill Professor Jerome Dumortier is looking into the future. Not through a crystal ball, but through practices rooted in science and data.

Dumortier says he wants to help society overcome sustainability challenges ranging from food production and environmental degradation to climate change and energy use. Using simulation models, he can look at those topics through the lens of future economic impact.

His most recent research examined the effects of the war in Ukraine on climate change, crop prices, and food shortages. The findings can help leaders create policies now that could help offset those future consequences, especially for vulnerable groups. He’s now working on a new project to see how increased electric vehicle use in the United States will impact farmers who produce corn for ethanol and the ripple effects that will have for American consumers.

Having that kind of far-reaching impact is what attracted Dumortier to O’Neill in the first place. He says O’Neill gives him the chance to educate the next generation of leaders while also doing applied policy research in an interdisciplinary environment.

“My professor once said that research should be to the benefit of society,” he explains. “Here at O’Neill, that’s exactly what we are doing.”

Dumortier shares his take on why sustainability matters, how O’Neill helps prepare students to take on those challenges, and why he enjoys the combination of research and teaching at O’Neill.

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