Certificate helps students build skills in diversity

Students can build employable skills with an intergroup dialogue certificate

Posted on September 10, 2018 by Leslie Wells

The hardest conversations to have are often the most important. Yet it’s vital to face conflict, communicate across differences, and work through difficult situations. To help students learn how to do that, and make them more employable in the process, O’Neill’s Tamra Wright and her Intergroup Dialogue colleagues have developed the intergroup dialogue certificate, IUPUI’s first undergraduate interdisciplinary certificate on campus.

What is intergroup dialogue?

As part of the university’s Welcoming Campus Initiative, representatives from four schools—O’Neill, the School of Engineering and Technology, the School of Liberal Arts, and the School of Social Work—teamed up with the Division of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, and the Office of Academic Affairs to create the Intergroup Dialogue (IGD). Its new certificate helps guide conversations between people of different backgrounds, including gender, race, socioeconomic status, cultural background, or any other characteristic that would differentiate one group from another.

Those skills are critical for O’Neill students, given the diverse fields many will enter after graduation. Wright, O’Neill’s director of diversity, equity, and inclusion, says the lessons learned throughout the program are invaluable to students’ professional success.

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Community Corps: A mission of community development

Posted on August 20, 2018 by Leslie Wells

Jasmine Tylor was paired with Groundwork Indy during her Community Corps semester.

If Community Corps is SPEA’s division of community development specialists, then Marshawn Wolley is its general. And the general is on a mission.

Marshawn Wolley, SPEA's Director of Community Engagement and Strategic Initiatives and leader of SPEA's Community Corps project — Marshawn Wolley, SPEA’s Director of Community Engagement and Strategic Initiatives and leader of SPEA’s Community Corps project

His mission began after several community development stakeholders approached SPEA, worried about the number of people pursuing community development jobs, the quality of that talent, and the field’s diversity.

So Wolley got to work. He developed a course to teach students about community development techniques, careers, and challenges while finding funders to cover the costs of internships. All he needed was a group of students committed to serving their community.

Jasmine Tylor answered that call. She’s pursuing her management degree and knew this was an opportunity she couldn’t ignore.

“It sounded exactly like what I wanted to do and could give me a jumpstart on my career,” she says. “It helped bring me out of my shell by forcing me to dive into the program, head first.

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SPEA’s Dean John Graham to step down, return to faculty

Posted on August 8, 2018 by O'Neill at IUPUI

John D. Graham, dean of the Indiana University School of Public and Environmental Affairs, has announced his plans to end his administrative service and return to the faculty, effective at the end of the 2018-19 academic year.

Graham said he hopes to focus on teaching undergraduate courses while working on a book about the automotive industry and serving on several boards, including the Environmental Protection Agency’s Science Advisory Board.

“I have been honored to serve as SPEA’s fourth dean and am extremely grateful for the tremendous support I have received from university leadership, faculty, professional staff, advisors, alumni, donors and students,” Graham said.

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State Fair interns see plans in action

Posted on August 6, 2018 by Leslie Wells

More than 900,000 people are expected to visit the Indiana State Fair during the next two weeks, with many lining up to watch this year’s center stage spectacle: the Big Top Circus.

Much like what happens under that big top, most visitors will only see the magic of the fair and not the hard work behind the scenes. For the Indiana State Fairground & Event Center’s safety and security manager, Jennifer Esterline, that’s exactly how it should be. And she has more than a dozen interns—many from O’Neill Indianapolis—to help make that happen.

“We hire 17–18 interns—including freshmen and sophomores—to fill positions in hazard assessment, traffic, incident report writing, security operations, and the emergency operations center,” Esterline says.

The variety of options allow students, like O’Neill public safety management major Logan Kinnett, to explore the field before narrowing down a career path.

“I knew I wanted to work in law enforcement, but I wasn’t sure which area,” he says. “This is a good opportunity to see how federal, state, and local agencies work together while networking with professionals in multiple fields.”

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Bridging the Gaps

Posted on July 23, 2018 by Leslie Wells

Deirdre Kelley standing outside — Deirdre Kelley

The campus of IUPUI may only be 20 miles from the Zionsville farm where Deirdre Kelley grew up, but it’s a world away from what she knew.

Kelley lived out her childhood on a property with goats and chickens, homeschooled by her mother until textbooks became her teachers.

“I thought it’d be really hard to come to college,” she admits. “However, the self-sufficiency I learned throughout my homeschool education set me up to succeed.”

That experience helped her bridge the gap from homeschool to higher education.

“You think of professors and classes as an opportunity to make learning easier,” she says. “You know you could learn from the textbook alone, but it’s much easier to have a person there to help you explore the concepts.”

For Kelley, one of the people who has helped her explore the world of public affairs is SPEA assistant professor Cullen Merritt. Kelley, a civic leadership major, took her first public affairs class with Merritt before she was even in college.

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