O'Neill's Lauren Magee focused on survivors, family of nonfatal shootings

O’Neill assistant professor studies impact of nonfatal gun violence on survivors and families

Posted on August 29, 2022 by Leslie Wells

Woman puts her hand on a man's arm to console him.

When O’Neill Assistant Professor Lauren Magee meets with survivors of nonfatal shootings and their family members, she’s focused on their health and well-being.

“We don’t fully understand the ripple effects of the consequences of nonfatal shootings,” she explains.

Magee says that’s because there’s a lack of data and research on the topic—nearly 30 years of missing research, in fact, thanks to a 1996 amendment that stopped most federal research on gun violence and injuries.

She’s working to change that. In 2021, she was named an Indiana Clinical and Translational Sciences Institute (CTSI) KL2 Early Career Investigator awardee. She partnered with several colleagues from the IU School of Medicine to study nonfatal gun violence. They’ve found that survivors and their family members—particularly young family members—suffer both direct and indirect trauma after shootings.

Lauren Magee presents research at a city-county council meeting.
Photo via Councillor La Keisha Jackson (Twitter)

But getting help isn’t always easy. Magee says survivors and their families may not know about or may not be able to access necessary services that would help them heal physically, mentally, and emotionally.

“If we understand the mental health needs of survivors and family members, leaders can work to address the lingering trauma caused by nonfatal shootings,” Magee says. “We talk about health equity and wanting to build healthy communities, but that is not possible if gun violence is part of everyday life for any community.”

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O’Neill students work to expand composting program at IUPUI

Posted on August 22, 2022 by Leslie Wells

Woman in red IUPUI Sustainability shirts holds a composting bin as she helps another students put bananas in the bin. — Aspen Grieshaber helped launch a composting program on campus.

More students living on campus can now think twice about their environmental impact at home. And it’s thanks to a highly motivated team of faculty, staff, and O’Neill students at IUPUI’s Office of Sustainability who working in the present to make IUPUI more sustainable in the future.

They’re expanding the existing composting program from Riverwalk Apartments to the remaining residence halls of Ball Hall, North Hall, and University Tower. Students living in those buildings can sign up now to receive a free composting kit. The kit includes a small countertop container, waste bags, and information about composting.

The process is simple. Students collect organic waste—things like food scraps, plants, and even some forms of paper products—in the container, then place their compostable waste into a designated compost bin where it is picked up and composted off-site. From there, it returns to campus as compost soil that is reused in IUPUI’s Urban Gardens.

Aspen Grieshaber, an O’Neill Sustainability major, is one of them. As the Sustainable Waste Management Intern for IUPUI Sustainability, she worked on securing a grant that allowed for the expansion. When she took on the position, she also took over a program already under development from her predecessors-turned-alumni, Miranda Frausto and Amber Rose Greaney.

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Bridge Week helps incoming freshmen adjust to O’Neill, college life

Posted on August 8, 2022 by Leslie Wells

Group of students stand in front of the Indianapolis skyline smiling. — Bridge Week allows incoming freshmen to prepare for their college careers. (August 2021)

Starting college is often filled with a mixture of anxiety and excitement about new freedoms, new academic expectations, and a new social setting. To help students adjust before their first day of class, incoming freshmen attend Bridge Week at IUPUI.

“Bridge Week helps calm those nerves that make the start of school so hard,” says O’Neill IUPUI’s Assistant Dean of Student Services and Bridge Week coordinator Suzann Lupton. “College is not just about showing up and sitting in a classroom—it’s about engaging in your classes and on campus.”

Bridge Week is just one part of the university’s First-Year Experience—the official start of college for freshmen and an essential experience that sets students up for success throughout their college careers. First-Year Experience includes orientation, Bridge Week, Weeks of Welcome, and every student’s First-Year Seminar course.

“It’s essentially their early-entry pass to campus and everything it offers,” Lupton adds.

For the 2022–23 academic year, Bridge Week runs from August 15–19. During that time, O’Neill students get to know each other and participate in activities organized by the school and the university. They’ll meet faculty and staff, learn their way around campus and Indianapolis, and will hear about on-campus resources and organizations.

“They also have the chance to start building the social and support network that is so important to their success,” Lupton explains.

For many students, that support network was a critical takeaway from Bridge Week. O’Neill IUPUI students who attended Bridge Week in the past said that making friends from across campus was one of the highlights of the experience for them. They also said the connections they made during Bridge Week lasted well beyond their freshman year.

Make no mistake: Bridge Week is a high-energy experience, filled with activities designed to help O’Neill students transition into college life. The week includes community-building activities, student Q&A panels, faculty Q&A panels, a walking tour of City Market in Indianapolis, a mock class lecture, and sessions throughout each day on topics including:

Academic advising
Learning study skills and time management
Student health and wellness
Technology basics
Learning empathy
Student advocacy, traditions, rights, and opportunities to get involved on campus

To learn more about Bridge Week, visit the First-Year Experience website.

O’Neill student helps change communities through research

Posted on July 25, 2022 by Leslie Wells

Woman wearing a purple blouse and glasses sits in a chair with her chin resting on her hand. A shelf of books is in the background. — Brianna Dines gained experience by participating in research opportunities at O’Neill and the Center for Research on Inclusion and Social Policy.

Students at O’Neill strive to change the world by creating safe and sustainable communities through careers in government, law enforcement, and nonprofits. While some write and enact policies or work on the frontlines protecting their communities, others provide data to make sound decisions.

That’s the lane in which Brianna Dines sits.

“I want to do research and evaluation in social policy,” Dines says. “I want to be part of policy and decision making that’s done with more in-depth lived experience informing decisions.”

Dines already had research experience before she began her Policy Analysis certificate program at O’Neill. While earning her bachelor’s in political science and master’s degree in anthropology, Dines had focused on qualitative research—the side of research that incorporates people’s first-hand experiences. Dines says that part of the equation is critical because numbers never tell the whole story.

“When policies impact someone’s experience of oppression or liberation, it’s important to get a grounded perspective in their experience,” Dines explains. “You don’t get that through crunching numbers. You get that through doing in-depth interviews, focus groups, and participant observation.”

Dines says she chose the O’Neill School because she wanted a place where she could use her research skills to address real-world problems and get hands-on experience making an impact.

“Being an O’Neill student opens up experiences outside the classroom where you get direct, applied experience,” she says. “It’s one of the biggest reasons why I sought out the Policy Analysis program and I was not disappointed in what that has opened up to me.”

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O’Neill courses carry alumni from classroom to career

Posted on July 11, 2022 by Leslie Wells

Woman stands against wall, smiling, while wearing a gray blazer and blue shirt. — Tenecia Waddell-Pyle (BSCJ’16) says she learned tangible skills at O’Neill that have carried her through three phases of her career: law enforcement, nonprofit leadership, and now diversity leadership.

Tenecia Waddell-Pyle (BSCJ’16) was still a police officer when her classes began at O’Neill IUPUI. Her mission to earn a college degree, set an example for her children, and prepare for a new phase in her career led her to O’Neill.

“I’m always teaching my kids about follow-through,” she says. “In order for me to grow and do better in life—and to show my sons that you finish what you start—I knew I had to do this.”

She had worked as a corrections officer before joining a police department. Now, pursuing her Criminal Justice degree would lay the groundwork for her next step and beyond. After earning her associate’s degree from Ivy Tech in 2012, she compared several universities and decided to come to O’Neill to take that degree to the next level.

“O’Neill’s programs focus on practical skills that both genuinely prepare students to enter the criminal justice field and enhance the wisdom of seasoned veterans like myself,” Waddell-Pyle explains.

She also found she wasn’t alone. Some of her faculty members also had real-world experience under their belts.

“Having former officers, veterans, and public policy workers among my professors really spoke to me,” she says. “They were reflective of what I was dealing with on the job. It was invaluable to come into a classroom and feel like the instructor could relate to me and communicate better with me because we have shared experiences.”

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