Supporting women experiencing homelessness

Posted on March 29, 2021 by Leslie Wells

Photo of Kelsie Stringham Marquis with text that says Women's History Month, addressing the needs of homeless women

In honor of Women’s History Month, the O’Neill School is using our March blogs as a platform to highlight the women of O’Neill, including students, faculty, and alumni, and their work to make a difference in our communities.

Written by: Kelsie Stringham-Marquis, Research Coordinator
Center for Research on Inclusion and Social Policy at the IU Public Policy Institute

Each year, the IU Public Policy Institute teams up with the Coalition for Homelessness Intervention and Prevention and other community groups to survey people experiencing homelessness in Indianapolis. As a PPI research coordinator, I have had the honor of working on this project for the past few years.

Through this work and the time I spent working in homeless services, I’ve been given the gift of meeting some of the most creative, resourceful, and resilient women you could ever meet: Women who care passionately for each other, for the environment, for animal rights, and more. Women who are assertive self-advocates. Women who make me laugh. All of whom have experienced homelessness.

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Student researchers gain experience, encouragement through studying COVID-19’s impact on nonprofit workers

Posted on March 22, 2021 by Leslie Wells

Headshots of Emily Peterson, Ashabul Alam, and Abby Klippel — (L-R) O’Neill students Emily Peterson, Ashabul Alam, and Abby Klippel work with Dr. Marlene Walk to assess the impact COVID-19 has had on those working in the nonprofit sector.

Students interested in partnering with faculty members on research projects should reach out to faculty or visit our faculty research page to find an area of interest.

The COVID-19 pandemic ushered in a whirlwind of global challenges. Along with myriad critical health concerns, it wreaked havoc on livelihoods, costing people their incomes, jobs, businesses, and, in some cases, their passion for their work.

But how was it impacting those working in the nonprofit sector? O’Neill Assistant Professor Dr. Marlene Walk was already engaged in research looking at career paths for those who earn nonprofit degrees. But she and colleagues Dr. Kerry Kuenzi and Dr. Amanda J. Stewart wondered how the pandemic was affecting those working in the sector.

To find the answers, Walk opened a new portion of their project to students, inviting them to be involved in her research. Emily Peterson (Master of Public Affairs in Nonprofit Management), Abby Klippel (Management, Accelerated Master’s Program for MPA), and Ashabul Alam (Policy Studies) answered that call.

Peterson was Walk’s full-time graduate research assistant, while Klippel and Alam had connected with her in class. The trio took this new challenge knowing that it would have an impact on the community and their own careers.

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Sisterhood in the Academy?

Posted on March 15, 2021 by Leslie Wells

Carlyn Johnson (L), Sheila Kennedy (C), and Suzann Lupton (R) all formed a link of female attorneys who came to serve as faculty at the O’Neill School.

In honor of Women’s History Month, the O’Neill School is using our March blogs as a platform to highlight the women of O’Neill, including students, faculty, and alumni, and their work to make a difference in our communities.

By Sheila Kennedy, O’Neill Professor Emeritus of Law and Public Policy (retired)

The path that led me to the Paul O’Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs was also the path of progress for women in the workforce. That progress owes a great deal to the women who came before me and imposes an obligation to be there for those who follow.

I went to law school in 1971. There were fewer than 10 women in my class of more than 190 students—and I only knew three women lawyers. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission had been established only six years before, in 1965, and I think it’s fair to say that social attitudes about women in the profession remained fairly negative. I was the first woman hired by the law firm I joined upon graduation, and a number of male lawyers made it fairly clear they considered a female lawyer distinctly unfeminine, if not deranged.

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Become a holistic leader

Posted on March 10, 2021 by Sara M Johnson

Group of people sitting in a meeting while a woman speaks to the group.

In honor of Women’s History Month, the O’Neill School is using our March blogs as a platform to highlight the women of O’Neill, including students, faculty, and alumni, and their work to make a difference in our communities.

Written by: Sara M. Johnson, FACHE, Director, IU Executive Education

Leadership theories have been around for many years and are often based on societal norms and the evolution of how people prefer to work. We’ve had the Great Man Theory, Trait Theory, Contemporary Theories, Contingency Theories, and more.

The most recent theory being studied is Shock Leadership Theory. This latest theory is based on the leadership behaviors that are necessary to lead during the pandemic and other volatile, uncertain, chaotic, ambiguous situations—known as VUCA situations—we may face as leaders.

In 2007, Warren Bennis said he thought that two of the primary threats to world stability were leadership in the context of increased globalization and pandemics. As it turns out, he was correct. When he made that statement 13 years ago, he had no way of knowing that these two would intersect the way they have in 2020 nor that the Shock Leadership Theory would emerge.

While leadership theories continue to emerge, they tend to focus on the behaviors that leaders should exhibit. Our own leadership development pursuits lead us to programs that help us discover ways in which we can behave differently as leaders—how to be more empathetic, how to be more authentic, how to lead with courage.

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Inspiration through helping immigrant and refugee women

Posted on March 8, 2021 by Leslie Wells

Sara Hindi stands in front of a world map painted in watercolor — Sara Hindi, O’Neill alumna, current MPA student, and Exodus Refugee community engagement coordinator. (Photo courtesy: Tony Valainis at Indianapolis Monthly)

In honor of Women’s History Month, the O’Neill School is using our March blogs as a platform to highlight the women of O’Neill, including students, faculty, and alumni, and their work to make a difference in our communities.

Written by: Sara Hindi, BSPA’16 and current O’Neill MPA student

Women’s History Month is a time to recognize and celebrate the women who have broken barriers and inspired us. In my personal and professional life, that means honoring the strength and resilience of immigrant and refugee mothers and women, including my grandmother—a Palestinian refugee—and my mother who emigrated from Jordan to Indianapolis in 1997 with my father and their three young children.

My own family’s journey made me a passionate advocate for other immigrants. That passion turned into a career I love, thanks to O’Neill IUPUI and the Center for Service and Learning at IUPUI, and an internship with Exodus Refugee Immigration that opened the door to a full-time job.

Exodus Refugee is a local resettlement agency dedicated to welcoming and serving refugees and other forcibly displaced populations who now live in Indianapolis. In the last five years, we have welcomed 2,268 refugees from countries including Burma, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Sudan, and more. We greet them at the airport and help them with employment services, English classes, case management, and much more. We even have a program dedicated specifically to helping refugee women and mothers overcome additional barriers.

In my five years at Exodus, I’ve had the privilege of getting to know many refugee mothers and women. I’ve heard many stories of grief, loss, and trauma—but these stories are also rooted in strength and perseverance. It has given me deep admiration for mothers and women who leave everything behind in war-torn countries to find a safe place to call home. For many, this is a life-or-death decision—leaving their home is the only way to survive.

They leave behind family, friends, language, and culture to raise their children in a new and unfamiliar country, with the hope that their child can get an education and a safe place to call home. When I ask mothers what their hopes and dreams are in Indianapolis, they often respond with, “I just want my kids to go to school and get an education.” They have left everything they know behind, not for themselves, but for their children.

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