School of Public and Environmental AffairsAbout the School About the SchoolThe 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: 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.S.E.S. provides students with a strong background in environmental sciences while emphasizing the applied aspects of environmental research and management. The M.H.A. provides a broad, balanced foundation of theoretical and practical knowledge and technical skills needed to succeed in health administration and health policy and planning. 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, SPEA’s master’s degrees 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, SPEA offers: The Ph.D. in public policy is jointly delivered with the Department of Political Science. The Ph.D. in environmental science is delivered by SPEA with the cooperation of the Departments of Biology, Chemistry, Geography, Geological Sciences, and others. Associations and ClubsSPEA Alumni Association Alpha Phi Sigma Master of Health Administration Student Association Pi Alpha Alpha SPEA graduate students can qualify for membership by being in the top 20 percent of their M.H.A., M.P.A., or M.S.E.S. class, with a minimum overall grade point average of 3.5, a 3.7 in at least 50 percent of all required courses, and by having completed 50 percent of the required course work (i.e., 24 to 30 credit hours). Any doctoral student who has successfully passed the qualifying examination is eligible. Alumni are eligible if they meet all the requirements of student membership but graduate before induction by the Indiana chapter. Any full-time faculty member of a NASPAA-member institution that offers course work in a public affairs or administration degree program and at which a Pi Alpha Alpha chapter is located is eligible for membership. Honorary membership is available to any person who has achieved distinction in public administration and who has the qualities that Pi Alpha Alpha fosters. SPEA Centers, Institutes, Programs, and ServicesThe School of Public and Environmental Affairs encompasses public service activities that complement innovative academic programs. The school provides a wide variety of services to an equally broad range of federal, state, and local agencies. The Business–SPEA Library is a Bloomington branch of the Indiana University Libraries system. It fulfills the research and study needs of the School of Business and the School of Public and Environmental Affairs. The library has extensive electronic and traditional resources. Detailed information about the Business–SPEA Library can be found at its Web site at www.indiana.edu/~bslib/index.html . The Center for Health Policy (CHP) is a nonpartisan applied research organization in the School of Public and Environmental Affairs and is collocated with the Center for Urban Policy and the Environment. CHP works on critical health policy issues that affect the quality of health care delivery and access to health care. Although CHP is new to SPEA and IUPUI, its leaders have established working partnerships through projects with government and foundation support. CHP faculty and staff have major leadership roles with the Workgroup on Healthcare Reform, a project to evaluate options to improve the health care delivery system in Indiana. The Center also works to establish and implement the Early Intervention Planning Council for children at risk who have been referred to the Marion County Department of Child Services. CHP also has a partnership with the state of Indiana to provide support in executing the Strategic Prevention Framework State Incentive Grant during 2006 – 2010. This partnership is through the Governor’s Office and the Indiana Division of Mental Health and Addiction. Students who work at CHP typically join project teams with faculty and staff. The teams work in partnership with local government agencies, nonprofit organizations, and private businesses. For more information about CHP, visit its Web site at http://www.urbancenter.iupui.edu/HealthPolicy/. Center for Health Policy Contact: Eric Wright, Director The Community Research Institute (CRI) is one of the commitments of the Indiana University–Purdue University Fort Wayne (IPFW) campus to the growth and development of northeast Indiana. The CRI provides support services to several regional economic development organizations, responds to requests from community, business, not-for-profit and public sector organizations for assembly and analysis of economic, demographic, and social data; and provides state and local public finance issue analysis related to northeast Indiana. Additional information about CRI can be found at www.ipfw.edu/cri. The goals of the Environmental Science Research Center are to promote excellence in environmental science research and to foster increased interdisciplinary collaboration among environmental science faculty on the Indiana University Bloomington campus. The center director is Distinguished Professor Ronald A. Hites. SPEA’s Executive Education Program The Great Lakes Center for Public Affairs and Administration is a unit of the Division of Public and Environmental Affairs on the IU Northwest campus. The center conducts research and provides technical services to units of government and other institutions in northwest Indiana. The center also focuses on issues in public affairs and administration in the Great Lakes region. The Institute for Development Strategies, The Institute for Family and Social Responsibility (FASR) is a joint effort of the School of Public and Environmental Affairs and the School of Social Work, with its focus on social policy research and outreach activities. The institute’s mission is to bring together the resources of citizens, governments, communities, and Indiana University to better the lives of children and families. Ongoing projects include serving as the editorial home of the Journal of Policy Analysis and Management and a US Agency for International Development project to enhance policy analysis capacity at the State University–Higher School of Economics in Moscow. Recently completed projects have examined the effectiveness of two new e-government methods of distributing child support funded by the US Office of Child Support Enforcement; an evaluation of EduTech, a series of high-tech innovations in education in Barbados, funded by the Inter American Development Bank; and the roles of faith-based organizations in the delivery of social services funded by the Joyce Foundation. Other projects have examined the impacts of welfare reforms, the adequacy of child support guidelines, community responses to the Temporary Assistance to Needy Families legislation, AIDS education for incarcerated youth, the homeless, and battered women. The institute serves as the National Child Support Enforcement Research Clearinghouse. Further information concerning FASR can be found at www.spea.indiana.edu/fasr/. The Center for Urban Policy and the Environment at IUPUI is a nonpartisan applied research organization in the School of Public and Environmental Affairs at Indiana University– Purdue University Indianapolis. The center, now more than 10 years old, is one of the largest of its kind in the country. Any social and economic issues that affect quality of life are of interest to center researchers. Some of the research topics have ranged from community safety and riverboat gambling to policies to reduce health care costs, neighborhood empowerment, the property tax structure, affordable housing, the economic impact of the arts and sports, and drinking water and sewer infrastructures. With an award of general support from Lilly Endowment, Inc., center scholars have conducted ongoing studies on Indiana. These investigations have helped policy makers understand how investments by households, businesses, governments, and nonprofits have influenced the state. Center scholars, staff, and student interns typically form project teams and work in partnership with local governments, nonprofit organizations, and private businesses. Over the years, the center has worked with more than 150 clients and partners. These include the city of Indianapolis, Indiana General Assembly and Office of the Governor, Indianapolis Museum of Art, Central Indiana Corporate Partnership, Indianapolis-Marion County Public Library, Indiana Gaming Commission, Indianapolis Neighborhood Housing Partnership, Indiana Land Resources Council, and the Points of Light Foundation. For more information about the center, visit its Web site at www.urbancenter.iupui.edu. Center for Urban Policy and the Environment Contact The Transportation Research Center was established in 1972 as the Institute for Research in Public Safety. Its purpose is to coordinate and facilitate SPEA’s research objectives in transportation and related areas, including transportation safety, risk analysis and security, regulatory policy, energy, and the environment. Work in automobile safety focuses on crash investigation, occupant injury, and how these are mitigated with both active and passive safety systems. The center uses a staff of professional researchers, faculty, and graduate students in performing projects for government agencies and the private sector. Additional information on the center and its activities can be found at www.spea.indiana.edu/trc. Upsilon Phi Delta Office of Career ServicesSPEA’s Office of Career Services (OCS) provides a wide range of career development services. Career counselors meet individually with students soon after they begin their first semester to plot the students’ career timelines, and to help familiarize them with the services that the OCS provides, which include:
The OCS also offers students a number of resources to facilitate the internship and job search process, including:
The OCS continually strives to develop strong relationships with the best employers to facilitate their ongoing recruitment of SPEA’s graduates. In partnership with employers and alumni, OCS coordinates on-campus interviews to help facilitate students’ internship/job search process. The OCS also helps students access potential employers by coordinating regional and national career development site visits. Trips to Indianapolis, Chicago, and Washington, D.C. help position students for pursuit of employment opportunities with governmental, nonprofit, consulting, environmental, and international organizations. The OCS works with SPEA alumni, recruiters, and other contacts within these organizations to set up information sessions tailored specifically to the educational and professional backgrounds of the visiting students. Visit us on the Web at www.indiana.edu/~speaweb/careers/. Bloomington Campus For answers to specific questions on other campuses, students may contact: Indianapolis Campus Fort Wayne Campus Northwest Campus South Bend Campus Kokomo Campus
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Last updated: 21 November 2024 08 47 33
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