Experience new cultures, locations, and lessons with O’Neill International study abroad

Posted on December 5, 2023 by Leslie Wells

Image of multiple hands in a circle with paint on them in various patterns. — On Olivia Ellenwood’s last night in Njawara, Gambia, the women of the village painted students’ hands with henna to celebrate their time together.

Studying abroad isn’t just about traveling. It’s about growth—in knowledge, in world view, and in how students view themselves.

O’Neill International offers students multiple program options for both Spring Break and Summer Break, alternating some locations from year to year. The destinations and programs are all unique, focusing on a different area of study, from cultural management to conservation, homeland security, healthcare management, and more.

Olivia Ellenwood considered many of those options. She’s a double major in Civic Leadership and Global and International Studies, with a special focus on African Studies. When she heard about the program in Senegal and Gambia, she jumped at the opportunity to pack her bags and fly to Western Africa.

“I think this program in particular is just really special,” she says. “It was once in a lifetime opportunity for many of us.”

Oftentimes, students assume they can’t afford a study abroad program. There’s tuition, travel expenses, and spending money to think about. But Ellenwood took advantage of scholarships from O’Neill and the university that are available to all students to help offset those costs.

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Dena Carson: Working to reduce youth gang violence

Posted on November 20, 2023 by Leslie Wells

A woman wearing white stands in a brightly lit hallway with windows. — Dena Carson, O’Neill Associate Professor and Director of Criminal Justice and Public Safety programs

Stories about gangs and gang violence are often fodder for movie and TV scripts. O’Neill Associate Professor Dena Carson says she watched those shows growing up in a small town in southeast Kansas. True crime television is what sparked her interest in criminal justice.

Now, she’s using her research skills to look beyond the portrayals that plague movie plots and news headlines. She wants to learn more about the young people involved in gang life.

“A large portion of my work really focuses on understanding the impact of these individuals on their communities and in schools,” she explains. “Some of my work with interviewing young people who’ve been in school with students involved in gangs generally finds the kids who are in gangs just don’t have that much impact on the day-to-day life of other students.”

She adds that while gang members do behave differently than other students, they also have many similarities.

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Internship keeps students on forefront of digital forensics

Posted on November 13, 2023 by Leslie Wells

A woman wearing a pink sweater sits in a low-light room at desk looking at a computer screen. — O’Neill’s Nichole Reatherford is a digital forensics intern with IUPD and IMPD.

As O’Neill Criminal Justice major Nichole Reatherford walks into the crime lab, she starts checking bags filled with electronics—things like phones, computers, smart watches, and more. The devices are evidence—and she’s looking for someone’s digital fingerprints.

“Everyone’s physical fingerprints are important, but our digital fingerprints are just as important,” she explains.

She reads the case warrant carefully, making sure she knows exactly what she can—and cannot—look for or through on each device.

“You always have to make sure you have a detailed warrant for each device,” she says. “Not following the warrant can literally set a guilty person free.”

She opens the evidence envelope, pulls out the devices, and arranges them neatly on her desk, taking meticulous notes as she goes. Organization and documentation, she says, are critical to what she does.

Then she gets to work. She plugs in the devices to the department’s forensic tools and uses software to scour apps, text messages, and call records—anything that might be of use to detectives.

“I like to think I’m like an undercover agent,” she chuckles. “That’s always been the joke in my family—that I could track down almost any information, digitally.”

Reatherford is one of two interns currently working with the Digital Forensics Unit, a partnership between the IU Police Department and the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department. IUPD Detective Sarah McKalips leads the internship and helps introduce students to the world of digital forensics.

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Magee’s work highlights impact of mental health stigma and other issues on shooting survivors

Posted on November 6, 2023 by Leslie Wells

Man sits in foreground taking notes and counseling a woman who is talking in the background.

A new study finds that shooting survivors may not seek the mental health services they need after experiencing gun violence due to stigma, fear and a lack of trusted resources. The study, led by assistant professor Lauren Magee with the Indiana University O’Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs in Indianapolis, is featured in the Journal of the American Medical Association Network Open.

Magee and her partners with Stop the Violence Indianapolis interviewed survivors of gun violence in the Indianapolis area, all of whom were between the ages of 13 and 34 at the time they were shot. The study did not include survivors of shootings that involved fatalities.

“Despite describing symptoms associated with post-traumatic stress and anxiety disorders, half of participants we spoke with believed they were adequately coping without formal services,” Magee explains.

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Peterson Fellowship offers O’Neill students pipeline to opportunity

Posted on October 16, 2023 by Leslie Wells

A man with blonde hair stands against a white wall. He's wearing a pink button-up shirt and smiling.

Written by: Colin Kulpa

One of the O’Neill School’s defining characteristics is providing high-quality, hands-on learning experiences to its students. From research opportunities to community-based projects to its many internship opportunities, one fellowship stands out for its ability to connect students with experiences and even careers after they earn their degrees.

The Peterson Fellowship is a three-semester fellowship providing financial support for talented O’Neill graduate students to gain experience with the Indianapolis Mayor’s Office, IndyGo, and Indianapolis International Airport.

Three people stand under a tent in a field at the Indianapolis International Airport. — Ted Field (L) during his time with the Indianapolis International Airport as a McKinney Fellow.

Ted Field received the Peterson Fellowship while completing his MPA at the O’Neill School in Indianapolis. He started his journey as a Peterson Fellow with the Indianapolis Airport Authority, the body overseeing the airport, then moved to the mayor’s office. In the summer of 2023, he finished his time at IndyGo, the public transportation authority in Indianapolis.

“It has been really phenomenal for me to try my hand at a bunch of different things,” said Field. “Right now, I’m spearheading a customer perception survey IndyGo hopes to roll out sometime next year. So far, I’ve been responsible for creating the scope of work and developing a pilot program so that we can test it and make sure that it’s going to work.”

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