Scholarship supports O'Neill public safety students

Scholarship helps O’Neill Public Safety Majors prepare for future careers

Posted on January 11, 2021 by Leslie Wells

The annual Beyond the Badge 5K Walk/Run raises money for the Jason Baker Legacy Scholarship, which helps O’Neill public safety students. *(Photo from 2019)*

To register for the 2021 Beyond the Badge 5K Run/Walk on Sunday, September 19, 2021, visit this link.

Law enforcement and public safety are changing. Calls for an overhaul of law enforcement training, policies, and practices could reshape the future of these fields—and O’Neill students will be part of that change.

To help support those students in their future endeavors, the O’Neill School offers career-specific scholarships, including the Jason Baker Legacy Scholarship.

Jason Baker was killed in 2001 while on duty as a Marion County Sheriff’s deputy. After his death, his parents, Jerry and Sharon Baker, wanted to create a way to honor their son and support students working toward a career in public safety. They created the annual Beyond the Badge 5K Run/Walk event as a way to bring members of the law enforcement and civilian community together while also raising funds for student scholarships.

In 2020, the organization awarded scholarships to five O’Neill students: Olivia Hale, Chase Simpson, Ingrid Ortega, Reece Thompson, and Alexander Clausius. The money will help students cover the cost of their education.

“As one of five children I have always been considerate and very appreciative of anything I am given,” Hale says. “With this scholarship, I will be able to cover a majority of tuition, which will be even more helpful with finances since I plan to move to Indianapolis permanently.”

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Distance doesn’t stop alum from mentoring students

Posted on January 4, 2021 by Leslie Wells

Nick Connon stands on stairway smiling — O’Neill alumnus Nick Connon (BSPA’87) mentors students throughout the O’Neill community.

January is National Mentoring Month. To sign up to become a mentor for an O’Neill IUPUI student through Mentor Collective, visit this link. For students interested in being matched with a mentor, visit this link.

Nicholas Connon (BSPA’87) has traveled the world many times over, working in numerous locations around the globe and connecting with international leaders and executives in diverse fields. His law firm has offices in London and Los Angeles.

His days begin early and end late. To say Connon’s calendar is full would be an understatement. Yet no matter where his work takes him or what his schedule looks like, he makes time for O’Neill students.

“I have a passion for trying to help younger people understand the world in a more detailed way,” Connon says with a smile.

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Assessment tool to identify government agencies’ gaps in racial equity

Posted on December 21, 2020 by Leslie Wells

Breanca Merritt, Ph.D., heads up a project to help government agencies identify and improve racial gaps in their programs.

By: Kelsey Cook, Office of the Vice President for Research

In response to the increased fight for racial justice happening across the United States, many government agencies have been looking to reevaluate policies and determine how to address institutional sources of inequity.

With support from IU’s Racial Justice Research Fund, the O’Neill School’s Breanca Merritt is leading a team that is developing an assessment tool for local government agencies to help them take the first step to better understanding systemic racism in their initiatives. This tool will ultimately help them understand how to better facilitate equitable outcomes through policy design and implementation.

“We want to give agencies the necessary tools to be able to take the first steps in affecting change,” said Merritt, a clinical assistant professor at O’Neill and the founding director of the Center for Research on Inclusion and Social Policy at the IU Public Policy Institute. “A lot of people understand that racism is a problem, but they aren’t clear on what they are doing to contribute to those issues and what they can do to prevent those negative outcomes from happening.”

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The new generation of law enforcement

Posted on December 14, 2020 by Leslie Wells

Two students stand outside an IUPD vehicle — Linhsey Trinh (L) and Ingrid Ortega (R) serve with the IU Police Department at IUPUI.

“We’re peas and carrots,” Ingrid Ortega says, laughing. She’s talking about her fellow O’Neill Public Safety Management major Linhsey Trinh. Most who know the pair would certainly describe them as close friends—joined at the hip, even—and they don’t deny it. They try to schedule classes together and look for shifts to work together as cadets through the IU Police Department.

Together, they also plan to usher in a new generation of law enforcement officers. They admit they don’t fit the stereotype. Both women are somewhat soft-spoken. They’re also petite—Trinh is only 4 feet, 11 inches tall—though physically and mentally strong. Ortega is Mexican American; Trinh’s heritage is Vietnamese. But, for this duo, all of those reasons are exactly why they felt called to work in this field.

“The big reason why I want to go into law enforcement is to serve others and bridge the gap between law enforcement and minorities,” Trinh says. “I want to have a good relationship with my community, and I want them to see a full representation of the community within law enforcement.”

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O’Neill students play critical role in national COVID-19 research project

Posted on December 9, 2020 by Leslie Wells

student at laptop, sitting at kitchen table, working — Madison Byarley sits at her laptop, working on coding COVID-19 executive orders

In three separate corners of Indianapolis, Ciana Rose Sorrentino, Madison Byarley, and Amanda Studor Bond all intently read through documents on their laptops. Even though it was summer, and they were miles apart, these O’Neill IUPUI MPA students were working together on a project that would ultimately have a national and international impact.

The women are student researchers currently working with O’Neill Assistant Professor Peter Federman and former O’Neill faculty member Cali Curley to track executive orders in response to COVID-19. Now, the team is launching an online database that codes the orders so people can compare stringency.

Research opportunities like this are open to all O’Neill students by searching the O’Neill faculty directory by research area and reaching out to faculty directly or by becoming a student research assistant. Byarley joined this project because of her position as Federman’s graduate research assistant.

“I’ve always been interested in the policymaking process,” Byarley says. “This is a pretty unprecedented situation. I was really interested in how leaders would quickly handle things they’ve never seen before and how different states with different cultures would handle it differently.”

For Studor Bond and Sorrentino, an in-class connection with Curley opened the door. They say the project gave them a way to help get involved in a situation that left so many people feeling helpless.

“I couldn’t stop thinking about everything going on,” Studor Bond says. “Working on this project gave me somewhere to put my energy and a way to contribute when the most you can really do is wear a mask and stay home.”

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