School of Public and Environmental Affairs renamed for alumnus Paul H. O'Neill

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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CHJR to begin new evaluation on co-response teams in Indianapolis

Posted on February 20, 2019 by Leslie Wells

The Center for Health and Justice Research at the IU Public Policy Institute is working with the City of Indianapolis to take an in-depth look at the impact of the city’s Mobile Crisis Assistance Teams and Behavioral Health Unit through a new randomized control trial.

The MCAT-BHU program pairs a police officer with a mental health professional to create a co-response team for calls involving individuals with suspected mental health or substance use disorders. The co-response model aims to improve outcomes for those individuals and divert them away from the criminal justice system.

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Returning student earns degree, certificate after six-year hiatus

Posted on February 18, 2019 by Leslie Wells

SPEA alum Joseph Dant serves as the director of industry and governmental affairs for the Indiana Housing and Community Development Authority.

It had been six years since Joseph Dant was in a classroom. Six years since he dealt with the pressures of coursework. Six years since he since he left college after realizing he wasn’t ready.

“I knew I wanted to go back eventually, but I didn’t know what I wanted to do or where I wanted to go,” Dant says.

After taking a career aptitude test, Dant became interested in a career in government. It was the test administrator who first introduced him to SPEA and its connection to work in the public sector. Dant reached out, met with a SPEA advisor, and enrolled in SPEA’s civic leadership program, focusing on nonprofit management.

While Dant’s six years away had provided career clarity, the hurdles he and other nontraditional students face can be daunting. Since he worked during the day, he could only take courses part time in the evenings. He was 25 years old and recently married, yet motivated to get his degree.

So he made another life-altering decision. He quit his job and took a position as a third-shift custodian with IUPUI. He worked at night so he could attend classes full time during the day.

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Nonprofit Expo connects employers and students

Posted on February 11, 2019 by Leslie Wells

A student speaks with an organization about volunteer, employment, and internship opportunities at IUPUI's Nonprofit Expo. — A student speaks with an organization about volunteer, employment, and internship opportunities at the IU Indianapolis Nonprofit Expo.

Behind closed doors, 80 employers set up tables, laid out materials, and reviewed the openings they wanted to fill within their organizations. Meanwhile, in the Campus Center lobby, students and alumni waited—resumes in hand—for their chance to learn more about the organizations and what internship, employment, and volunteer opportunities each had to offer.

This isn’t a standard career fair. It specifically targets those interested in the nonprofit sector. Each year, the IU Indianapolis Nonprofit Expo serves as a connection point for students and nonprofit, government, and community organizations. It’s at this event that the two sides find common ground and fill openings across the state.

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