ReCYCLE Ride helps clean up Indy’s streets

Posted on March 18, 2019 by Leslie Wells

On Friday, April 26, a fleet of yellow bicycles will depart from IUPUI at 9 a.m. and spread out across downtown Indianapolis. These teams of students have a collective goal of gathering as much trash as possible from Indy’s streets and parks, and recycling anything they can.

In 2015, the O’Neill School’s student council wanted to create an event that would focus on the principles of sustainability. They developed the concept for the Indy ReCYCLE Ride and collaborated with the IUPUI Sustainability Council, Pacers Bike Share, and the Indianapolis Cultural Trail to bring the event to life. The first ReCYCLE Ride came to fruition in April 2016, timed to coincide with Earth Day as a reminder to students to be mindful of recycling and choosing a more sustainable lifestyle.

“I saw some trash laying around campus and on the walking trails downtown,” recalls Sawyer Knuteson, a founder of the event and current alumni engagement program assistant for the IU Alumni Association at IUPUI. “You don’t leave trash laying around your house, we shouldn’t leave it laying around our city. Our student council was looking for a way to contribute to the community in a sustainable and impactful way. Using the bikes to cover more ground provided that opportunity.”

On the morning of the event, teams of students and staff gather near the Pacers Bike Share across from the Campus Center. There are games and giveaways before the event begins. Then, the teams ride off, fanning out across the city to compete to bring back the most trash. At the 2018 ReCYCLE Ride, O’Neill Sustainable Management and Policy major Melissa Kidulas said the event was an easy way for everyone to give back to the community.

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O’Neill School at IUB ranked #1 public affairs graduate program in nation

Posted on March 12, 2019 by Michael L. Jackson

Paul H. O’Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs at IUPUI

MPA program at O’Neill IUPUI ranks 39th overall, Nonprofit Management concentration ranks 3rd

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – For the third time in a row, the Paul H. O’Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs at Indiana University Bloomington is ranked No. 1 for its Master of Public Affairs program in the U.S. News and World Report Best Graduate School rankings released today. This year, the O’Neill School shares the top ranking with the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University.

“With our school’s recent renaming in honor of Paul H. O’Neill’s legacy of leadership, this No. 1 ranking is a terrific way to start our new era,” said John D. Graham, dean of the school. “The O’Neill School remains as committed as ever to excellence and influence in public and environmental affairs education.”

The school announced a naming gift in honor of IU alumnus and former treasury secretary Paul O’Neill on March 4.

The O’Neill School at IUPUI also had a strong showing this year and saw a significant jump in its ranking, moving up to 39 from 52 in 2018. It was the largest rankings increase among all schools in the top 40. (more…)

O’Neill School launches Arts, Entrepreneurship, and Innovation Lab

Posted on March 11, 2019 by Leslie Wells

We are proud to announce and introduce you to an exciting new research partnership between the O’Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs and the National Endowment for the Arts: the Arts, Entrepreneurship, and Innovation (AEI) Lab.

Setting the Stage:

The AEI Lab’s mission centers on better understanding the role of arts and culture in innovation through empirical research. Our initial research agenda emphasizes the impact of the arts and artists in driving innovation in non-arts sectors, of the arts in driving regional economic growth, and of various community and institutional characteristics in supporting arts-driven innovation. Although we expect the AEI Lab’s research to be national in scope, it will also be applicable locally in nurturing artists, organizations, and communities. (more…)

IU School of Public and Environmental Affairs renamed for distinguished alumnus Paul H. O’Neill

Posted on March 4, 2019 by Leslie Wells

Alumnus Paul H. O’Neill at the dedication of the O’Neill Graduate Center in Bloomington in 2017.

Honoring former secretary of the U.S. Treasury and Indiana University alumnus Paul H. O’Neill, IU President Michael A. McRobbie has announced the renaming of the Indiana University School of Public and Environmental Affairs.

The school—which in 2018 was named the No. 1 public affairs graduate program by U.S. News and World Report—will be renamed the Paul H. O’Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs in recognition of O’Neill’s distinguished career in both the private and public sectors and his generous $30 million gift to support programming within the school.

The naming extends to both the IU Bloomington and IUPUI campus schools. In addition to maintaining the No. 1 overall Master of Public Affairs ranking, the Bloomington school’s graduate programs in nonprofit management, environmental policy and management, and public finance and budgeting are all considered the best in the nation.

“For more than four decades, Indiana University’s top-ranked School of Public and Environmental Affairs has produced groundbreaking interdisciplinary research that has contributed solutions to some of society’s most pressing needs, while also producing outstanding graduates who work around our state and the world to identify, define and help resolve many of our most challenging problems,” McRobbie said. “With this extraordinary gift from former Secretary O’Neill, and under its new name, the school is poised to further its enormous success in developing future generations of civic-minded leaders and providing them with the knowledge, skills and experience to build a better world.

“All of us at IU are profoundly grateful to Secretary O’Neill and his wife, Nancy, for their remarkably generous support and for all that they have done to ensure the success of our students, our faculty and staff, and a school that has become synonymous with excellence.”

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Breaking biases: Students host community forum on mass incarceration

Posted on February 25, 2019 by Leslie Wells

Phillip Roberts had been incarcerated twice, spending two years away from his family, friends, and society. While serving those sentences, he also put pen to paper as part of the Indiana Prison Writers Workshop. The program provides those serving time with a positive and creative outlet during one of the most challenging times of their lives.

The 29-year-old tattoo artist and father is now using his writing and experiences behind bars to help a group of strangers better understand mass incarceration. They had gathered as part of a community discussion planned by SPEA graduate students in the Public Policy Process course.

Roberts opened the event by reading a poem he wrote while incarcerated.

“It was really powerful and set the mood for the evening,” says Madison Alton, a SPEA graduate student pursing an MPA in Nonprofit Management.

She and other students spent the entire fall semester researching mass incarceration, planning this event, and searching for ways to help their audience connect with the issue.

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