O’Neill students receive career support from alumni

Posted on January 31, 2022 by Leslie Wells

January is National Mentoring Month. Students interested in being matched with a mentor can visit this link. To become a mentor for an O’Neill IUPUI student, alumni can visit this link.

When students enter higher education, they often find a vastly different world than what they left behind.

A new school. A new environment. A new focus.

All that newness can leave students feeling overwhelmed and unsure of themselves, their decisions, and their direction.

To offer more support to its students, the O’Neill School partners with Mentor Collective to provide mentoring from O’Neill alumni. When undergraduates enroll in the program, they’re matched with alums based on their interests, backgrounds, academic interests, and career goals. It’s a direct line into the powerful O’Neill alumni network.

Students and their mentors can talk in person, online, or by phone. Their conversations typically focus on:

How majors will impact professional options
How to balance the demands of school
How students can set themselves up for academic, social, and career success

Richard Gilyeat (BSPA’87) serves as a mentor to O’Neill students.

“This is just part of what we do at O’Neill,” he explains. “We’re family here and we help each other out.”

(more…)

O’Neill students dive deeper into diversity through DEI certificate course

Posted on January 18, 2022 by Leslie Wells

Woman sits at computer and attends meeting.

The O’Neill Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion is bringing back its five-part DEI certificate course for the spring 2022 semester. Registration is now open for the course’s undergraduate sessions which begin on January 21 and a second session for graduate students set to begin on March 25.

The Diversity Seminar Series first launched in fall 2021. Each week, students dive into diversity-related discussions around cultural intelligence, seen and unseen disabilities, gender and sexual orientation, socioeconomics, and allyship.

close up of woman wearing yellow shirt, smiling at the camera — Ellise Smith, O’Neill Assistant Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

“We created this series to give students a better understanding of how diversity impacts everything from their mental and physical wellbeing to their future workplaces,” explains course facilitator Ellise Smith, O’Neill’s assistant DEI director. “Having resources to help expand their DEI learning can enhance students’ cultural intelligence and their professional development, better preparing them for their careers and the world around them.”

(more…)

O’Neill Student Council provides chance to connect, collaborate, and build skills

Posted on January 10, 2022 by Leslie Wells

photo grid of students with the O'Neill Student Council — The O’Neill Student Council 2021-22 Executive Team. Top row (L-R): Andrew Lawson, Elizabeth Cornejo, Zainab Adam, Bri Youn. Bottom row (L-R): Devon Taylor, Cassie Barnhill, and Mariam Elassal.

For more than two years, the O’Neill Student Council has served as the voice of O’Neill students. This semester, they’re looking for new members to take the reins for the 2022–23 academic year and beyond.

“We are truly trying to reflect what the O’Neill School looks like and what its students want,” says Cassie Barnhill, OSC’s vice president and marketing and social media coordinator.

Barnhill will earn a Media and Public Affairs degree in May. In fact, the entire OSC leadership team will all graduate this semester, leaving all 10 executive positions vacant. OSC is O’Neill IUPUI’s only undergraduate student organization.

“We know that not everyone has the time to advocate for themselves, so we try to represent them in the best way that we can,” Barnhill emphasizes.

The group advocates for O’Neill students and provides opportunities for social networking, community service and engagement, and professional development.

(more…)

Student research work opens door to help improve equity in education

Posted on January 3, 2022 by Leslie Wells

Graphic with photo of a woman with a blue tanktop on and a computer behind her. Text says O'Neill student research assistants

Written by: Nidhi Arun, PPI CRISP Research Assistant, O’Neill MPA Student

As a student research assistant for the Center for Research on Inclusion and Social Policy, I have had the opportunity to work directly with community organizations trying to address interconnected issues that lead to societal disparities.

I wanted to take the research skills from my MPA courses and put them to work. The CRISP staff has provided me with mentoring and new opportunities as I develop my skills, build a network, and make an impact before I earn my degree in May 2022.

In 2021, my work predominately focused on projects involving inclusive growth, homelessness, and crime. However, CRISP has expanded its work in the past year to include issues such as equitable education. Working in this new space allows the CRISP team to help leaders better understand the challenges educators, schools, and students face in order to develop solutions.

After all, education is one of the greatest equalizers in society. It opens economic doors and can change a family’s social trajectory for generations. In fact, Americans who have a college degree earn higher salaries, are less likely to live in poverty, and are more civically engaged.

(more…)

Ivy Tech transfer program streamlines path to O’Neill criminal justice degree

Posted on December 13, 2021 by Leslie Wells

Woman with green spring background wearing a blue shirt. — O’Neill Criminal Justice major Amy Pierce is earning her bachelor’s degree as part of the Ivy Tech-IUPUI Transfer as Junior Program.

O’Neill Criminal Justice major Amy Pierce wants to become a lawyer.

“I’m going to law school—it’s going to happen,” she says proudly.

Just a few years ago, she wasn’t sure how she would reach that goal. She had her GED and wanted to attend IUPUI.

“I needed to get an education for me—not for anyone else—just for me,” Pierce says. “I knew if I got to IUPUI, I could connect with people who could help make things happen for me.”

But Pierce knew she wasn’t where she needed to be academically—at least not yet—so she enrolled at Ivy Tech Community College and began work on her associate degree in political science. Pierce’s plans wouldn’t stop there.

“I knew I didn’t want to wait to pursue my bachelor’s degree or retake any classes,” she says. “I wanted to go right from earning my associate degree at Ivy Tech to getting my bachelor’s degree.”

(more…)