The O'Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs (SPEA), the nation’s largest school of its kind, is a professional school dedicated to applied, interdisciplinary learning combining the study of public affairs and environmental sciences. The interests of the faculty and professional staff typically fall into one or more of the following areas:

• arts administration
• criminal justice
• environmental science and policy
• finance and economics
• healthcare management
• homeland security
• law
• nonprofit management
• policy and administration
• public management
• public safety
• urban affairs

The school’s faculty, staff, and students work individually and jointly to solve problems that require O'Neill unique combination of in-depth knowledge in the natural, behavioral, social, and administrative sciences.

O'Neill, because of its broad program base, offers scientific and technical assistance to Indiana communities from all eight Indiana University campuses. The school maintains a wide network of relations with a large number of public agencies at all levels of government.

The degree programs offered by the O'Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs range from the associate degree, offered primarily on some of the regional campuses, to the Ph.D. The school offers eight professional master’s degrees for individuals interested in achieving leadership positions in public, private, and nonprofit organizations:

• Master of Arts in Arts Administration (M.A.A.A.)
• Master of Environmental Sustainability (M.E.S.)
• Master of Science in Healthcare Management (M.S.H.M.)
• Master of International Affairs (M.I.A.)
• Master of Public Affairs (M.P.A.)
• Master of Public Management (M.P.M.)
• Master of Science in Criminal Justice and Public Safety (M.S.C.J.P.S.)
• Master of Science in Environmental Science (M.S.E.S.)

The M.P.A. is a professional degree structured around concepts and skills essential to public management, policy, and planning activities in the government, nonprofit, and private sectors. The M.E.S. produces trained professionals ready to start confronting environmental issues from the moment they graduate. The M.S.E.S. provides students with a strong background in environmental sciences while emphasizing the applied aspects of environmental research and management. The M.S.H.M. is aimed at recent college graduates who are seeking the skills and credentials that will enable them to obtain entry level positions in the healthcare management field. The M.A.A.A. prepares students for careers in arts management and cultural policy. The M.I.A. provides students the skills necessary to work effectively in global institutions across the public, private, and nonprofit sectors. The M.S.C.J.P.S. combines coursework in criminal justice, public safety and management to address increasing demand for advanced education in criminal justice and public safety. The M.P.M. program is an interdisciplinary professional program structured around concepts and skills essential to management, policy, planning activities within governmental, quasi-governmental, and nonprofit organizations. Additionally, O'Neill's M.P.A., M.S.E.S. and M.P.M. may be pursued in combination with degrees in law, library science, biology, information science, journalism, geography, geological sciences, and degrees offered by a number of area studies centers and institutes.

At the doctoral level, O'Neill offers:

• Ph.D. in Environmental Science
• Ph.D. in Public Affairs
• Ph.D. in Public Policy

The Ph.D. in public policy is jointly delivered with the Department of Political Science. The Ph.D. in environmental science is delivered by O'Neill with the cooperation of the Departments of Biology, Chemistry, Geography, Geological Sciences, and others.