As nearly 100 people gathered in a local community room to discuss gentrification, seven graduate students from SPEA’s Public Policy Process course eagerly waited to begin the meeting. The group spent the past semester developing the topic and format of the meeting, collaborating with local organizations, and reaching out to community members impacted by or… Read more »
Entries by Leslie Wells
Reducing recidivism through the hiring process
This story was written by Jody Sundt, Sara Johnson, and Leslie Wells and was originally published in Perspectives, the Journal of the American Probation and Parole Association. A movement is gaining momentum to shift the culture of corrections, including how probation officers manage offenders in the community (Taxman & Belenko, 2012). Rather than solely focusing… Read more »
SPEA’s Evan Lowder effects community change through her research
Sitting in her office on the fourth floor of SPEA, Evan Lowder spends much of her time scanning through spreadsheets and poring over research literature. She’s working to combine the two into analysis she hopes will be used to inform policies and practices throughout Indiana and beyond. “I think there’s an obligation for researchers to… Read more »
African Americans at increasing risk of lethal fentanyl-related overdose
As stricter prescribing rules make prescription opioids less accessible, those with opioid use disorder are turning to synthetic substances instead. This shift has led to a recent rise in overdose deaths linked to synthetic opioids, like fentanyl. New research from the Center for Health and Justice Research (CHJR) at the Indiana University Public… Read more »
Going beyond a business degree
SPEA alumna Tasha Phelps spent more than two decades building her information technology company from the ground up. A business degree helped lay the foundation for Phelco Technologies but as its focus shifted from the private sector to contracts with law enforcement and state government agencies, Phelps knew her business degree alone would not be… Read more »