O’Neill’s Christian Buerger receives award for research on charter schools

Posted on October 1, 2021 by Leslie Wells

man holding award plaque — O’Neill Assistant Professor Christian Buerger won the 2021 Jesse Burkhead Award for the best article in Volume 40 of Public Budgeting & Finance.

O’Neill IUPUI Assistant Professor Christian Buerger received the 2021 Jesse Burkhead Award for his article, “The Influence of Finance Policies on Charter School Supply Decisions in Five States” from the Association for Budgeting and Financial Management.

Buerger received the award at the ABFM’s 2021 annual conference in Washington, D.C. ABFM is the budget and finance sector of the American Society of Public Administration (ASPA).

“To receive this award in the name of such a noted researcher as Jesse Burkhead is truly an honor,” said Buerger. “I’m both proud and humbled to carry on the legacy in public affairs at the O’Neill School.”

The honor is named for Jesse Burkhead, who had a distinguished career as a professor of economics and public administration at the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University.

“Jesse Burkhead’s legacy as an insightful budget scholar and a friend to those in the field is memorialized in this award,” said Mark Robbins, chair of the Burkhead Award committee. “The committee found Christian Buerger’s work to exemplify these qualities. It’s both carefully executed and clearly explained with policy-relevant implications.”

In his award-winning article, Buerger examined charter school data from five states: New York, North Carolina, Florida, Michigan, and Ohio. He wanted to see whether charter school finance policies influenced where charter school operators choose to set up shop. (more…)

New report evaluates IPS police on racial equity for students

Posted on September 27, 2021 by Leslie Wells

image of police officer at high school football game

As debates nationwide focus on police reform and issues of equity, a new report from the Center for Research on Inclusion and Social Policy at the IU Public Policy Institute examines equity in school policing within Indiana’s largest school district.

The latest report is a follow-up from a study in 2015. That’s when Indianapolis Public Schools asked PPI to assess the IPS Police Department and identify opportunities to collaborate with staff and administrators.

Five years later, IPS returned to PPI to have a team evaluate IPS PD’s practices and recommend changes that could provide a safe environment, and help students succeed.

“As in-school policing becomes increasingly commonplace, it is critical to understand how these practices affect academic and social outcomes, specifically for students of color,” said Roxy Lawrence, CRISP’s director of evaluation. “We hope this research sheds light on how IPS PD polices impact students while also providing a roadmap for the district on how to address these disparities in meaningful and equitable ways.”

CRISP researchers surveyed and interviewed members of IPS PD, school administrators, staff, teachers, students, and parents/caregivers. They also reviewed IPS PD’s operating procedures and case record data before presenting their findings to the IPS school board meeting on September 21, 2021.

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O’Neill student receives public safety scholarship

Posted on September 20, 2021 by Leslie Wells

A woman and man stand in white tshirts holding large scholarship check — Jerry Baker presents O’Neill Public Safety Management major Candace Smallwood a scholarship from the Jason Baker Legacy Scholarship, funded by the Beyond the Badge 5K/Walk.

Candace Smallwood is the first in her family to attend college. Her mother is a preschool teacher—her father, an aviation mechanic.

“Even though they hadn’t attended college, my parents were incredibly encouraging and gave me the critical emotional support I needed to know that I belonged here,” she says. “IUPUI and O’Neill picked up the baton from them providing guidance about what college would be like and helping me navigate campus life and my major.”

This first-generation student can boast another family first, as well. She’s the first to pursue a career in law enforcement.

“My whole life has centered around public service,” she says. “I’ve always been drawn to helping people. When I was evaluating careers, I thought law enforcement could be a great way to live out my life in service.”

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Jamie Levine Daniel honored for work on antisemitism

Posted on September 13, 2021 by Leslie Wells

Woman wearing black sweater and glasses standing in hallway — O’Neill Associate Professor Jamie Levine Daniel was honored for her work on addressing antisemitism in the classroom.

On September 2, 2021, O’Neill Associate Professor Jamie Levine Daniel was sitting in her office meeting with a student. She doesn’t usually have her phone out, but that day she had left it on her desk.

She saw an alert pop up—an unexpected text message from a friend.

“He said, ‘Congrats on best article,’” she says. “I had no idea what he was talking about.”

Then came a screenshot of a tweet from the Network of Schools of Public Policy, Affairs, and Administration’s (NASPAA) Journal of Public Affairs Education.

In the midst of the Jewish High Holy Days season, she—along with fellow Jewish colleagues Rachel Fyall and Jodi Benenson—had received the 2021 NASPAA JPAE Outstanding Article award for their article, “Talking about antisemitism in MPA classrooms and beyond.”

“It was completely unexpected,” Levine Daniel says. “We wrote the resource we wished had existed for us. We made the case for caring about antisemitism more broadly and within this frame of ‘othering’ and public service delivery.”

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Study sustainability and cross-cultural understanding

Posted on August 30, 2021 by Leslie Wells

Graphic that says Sustainable Development Goals

While COVID-19 put study abroad programs on hold in 2020, three O’Neill students were forming a transatlantic connection with students in Rwanda.

“I’m a pretty big traveler—especially internationally—but as a sustainability student, it can be a bit conflicting,” admits Aspen Grieshaber, a Sustainable Management and Policy major. “A lot of that travel just isn’t sustainable.”

Especially during a pandemic. That’s why an IUPUI Honors College course in the fall 2020 semester caught her attention.

In 2020, the Rwanda Virtual Exchange Program let IUPUI students virtually connect with students at the University of Rwanda to learn about each other’s cultures while also examining how each country addressed Sustainable Development Goals created by the United Nations. The 17 SDGs were adopted by UN-member nations in 2015 to advance sustainability efforts worldwide.

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