Walk through the doors of the O’Neill School and you’ll feel it. There’s an energy here that you won’t find anywhere else. A certainty that what we’re doing has the power to create change. We’re committed to working together to make a better world.
Leading the way to a better world
What is the O’Neill School?
The O’Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs is a nationally ranked academic institution located on the campus of Indiana University and home to one of the nation’s top Master of Public Affairs programs.
We bring together management skills, science, policy analysis, and the humanities. We focus on governing, managing, and leading. We prepare students to address the complex issues that face society today—issues one field of study alone can't solve.
And the world has noticed. We’ve been recognized many times over for our unique programs and outstanding faculty.
Get to know the O'Neill School
Description of the video:
[Music]
The O'Neill School of Public and Environmental
Affairs is named in honor of Paul H. O'Neill.
Former Secretary of the U.S. Treasury.
Established nearly 50 years as SPEA, our school
was the first school of its kind in the world.
Bringing together the study of public affairs,
environmental science, and policy.
Today, the O'Neill School has more than 36,000
alumni.
And our graduates are working across the globe
as leaders of nonprofit organizations,
government agencies, and in the private sector.
You may have heard that O'Neill offers top
ranked programs in public affairs and environmental science.
Did you know that you can also study healthcare
management, international affairs, and even arts administration?
We have a variety of master's degrees and
graduate certificates
that you can customize to propel your future career.
Our faculty are national leaders inside and
outside the classroom.
They teach from experience, drawing from their
own public service
and consulting with governments around the world.
Our public administration research is considered
some of the best in the world,
according to the Shanghai Rankings.
In addition, O'Neill students have access
to more than 1,600 acres of protected land
at the Research and Teaching Preserve, providing
great opportunities for research experience in the field.
And if you are passionate about making the
world cleaner and more energy efficient,
IU is home to 12 centers and institutes dedicated
to environmental sustainability.
If you want to get involved outside of class,
it's easy.
O'Neill has more than 20 different student
organizations, including the Nonprofit Management Association
and the Environmental Management
and Sustainable Development Association.
And every year, roughly 60 students participate
in our Service Corps program,
serving local organizations in the public, nonprofit, and
arts sector.
At the O'Neill School, you can also make the
world your classroom.
From a semester exchange in Australia to a
spring break trip in the United Arab Emirates,
we have over 20 overseas programs designed
specifically for O'Neill graduate students.
And the best part?
Every year, the O'Neill School awards almost
$300,000 to help students gain international experiences.
At the O'Neill School, we actively strive
to cultivate diversity, equity, and inclusion.
We use the engagement of all faculty, students,
staff, alumni, and community members in all of our efforts.
As Paul H. O'Neill once said, a real leader
hungers for the responsibility of making a difference.
If you are looking for a place where you can
develop the skills you need to change the world,
schedule a visit to see where the O'Neill
School can take you.
oneill.indiana.edu.
[Music]
O’Neill creates leaders for every sector of the economy
Our programs run the gamut from public policy to environmental management and from healthcare administration to arts administration.
Our graduates thrive in governmental agencies, private corporations, and nonprofit organizations—and often move seamlessly among all three.
Learn more about how O'Neill can help you lead for the greater good
A Legacy of leadership
Description of the video:
00:00
[inspirational music]
00:01
[Chuck Bonser] Yeah, we were all pretty young. I mean, I was still in my 30s.
00:04
[Carlyn Johnson] Everybody thought that
00:06
there really was a need for something like this.
00:11
[Bill McGregor} We had a chance to create something new and it actually worked.
00:13
[Frank Vilardo] What was unique and challenging was the fact that we could get involved in anything
00:16
and that was also the exciting part.
00:18
[Bonser] In our first year when we opened our doors, which was in the fall in 1972,
00:22
I think we had 20 graduate students and
00:25
maybe about the same number of undergraduates in that first year. They were real pioneers taking a real risk on on this new program, but, um ...
00:33
Yeah, I think people are pretty excited about it. Others saw us, some on campus looked at us with a jaundiced eye, the more traditionalists and...
00:39
But I think we proved ourselves, right?
00:42
[SPEA 40th Anniversary, 1972-2012]
00:51
[Bonser] It was a very edgy time in American society.
00:55
In universities all over the country there was a lot of unease and the students were upset because they thought that
01:02
they ought to be more relevant to the world and they're hearing too much theory and not enough
01:07
problem solving and a
01:09
lot of it had to do with the war. As I said, in Vietnam, there were people upset about that stuff ...
01:14
The Bloomington Faculty Council, around the mid-1960s, appointed a committee and the committee recommended that they develop a school of public affairs.
01:22
Administration at IU,
01:24
who also learned to make some changes, and wanted to bring in direct, hands-on
01:28
work with government and problem solving, as opposed to political theory-- they thought we ought to be
01:34
working on governmental problems. [drums]
01:39
So this, we're talking 1971 now, John Ryan
01:43
who was now president (of IU), and he decided we wanted to move on this and so he approached me in the summer ...
01:48
And I was associate dean of the business school in those days. He invited me over to his house for a drink
01:55
after work.
01:55
So I went by. So they kind of laid this on me, and said, you know, would you be willing to leave the business
01:59
school and
02:01
come into my office and work to help do the plan for the school (of public and environmental affairs) and and then,
02:06
if all goes well, you might be able to run it.
02:09
Yeah, so that's kind of how the thing began.
02:13
I thought we needed a professional school for the public sector and the
02:16
more I got into the field the more I was convinced that's what we needed and that really
02:21
affected the model that we we developed.
02:25
IU bought the Poplars about that time. You know the Poplars? Big, red building on the corner of
02:32
Seventh Street and Dunn?
02:35
[McGregor]HI can't imagine starting life in the Poplars and that you would be tucked away in this hotel for a number of years
02:42
trying to become a--
02:45
eventually--a famous public affair school.
02:47
[Vilardo] It was challenging.
02:49
The library was half of the boiler room
02:52
separated by a cardboard wall
02:56
which didn't make fire safety officials very happy!
03:01
[Bonser] The way that was set up it had
03:01
two rooms and then they shared a bath, so everybody in SPEA had their own private bathroom, you know ...
03:08
We were close to Nick's and we were close to good places to walk to for lunch, so we had a great time.
03:18
Moving into this building in 1982. It was really special. Because we had worked 10 years
03:23
to get to that point and we built a program from nothing to a really flourishing, growing, lively nterprise.
03:32
[Vilardo] That gave us our identity, it gave us the space that allows to do everything. Our advances in environmental science
03:39
really took off because now we had layoffs space and students. I think that that really put us on the map.
03:45
[Bonser] We're fortunate enough to build a new building in Indianapolis as well.
03:48
That was 1981 so before we moved into this one (in Bloomington). That was certainly key.
03:55
You know it was more than a job. It was a cause.
03:59
Because we were determined that we were going to have an effect
04:03
on society. We're going to make a contribution to that and to improving the the
04:09
common good.
04:15
[Vilardo] I think SPEA has been blessed by having the right dean at the right time.
04:19
I think in the early days having a Chuck Bonser there who had the entrepreneur spirit,
04:23
who allowed you to do things ...
04:26
try new things--whether they're going to work or not. So, that's what we did, and I think it was his
04:34
his personality, his spirit, his leadership. They were what got us where we are today and
04:41
he was just a perfect person for the perfect time.
04:46
[Carlyn Johnson] You can trace it all back to Chuck Bonser. You know, he started it and ...
04:51
has remained active in it He's got lots of new ideas ... still has new ideas. He's been ... wonderful.
04:59
Not only was it a brand new school, but it was a system-wide school
05:05
with programs on
05:08
several different campuses.
05:09
[John D. Graham] The key things that Chuck Bonser did that made a difference is
05:12
he created the undergraduate program at the same time as the master's program and the Ph.D.
05:17
There are many schools of public affairs around their country right now who are wishing
05:21
that they had an undergraduate program or a Ph.D. program.
05:25
So, Bonser certainly had the vision from the beginning.
05:28
[McGregor] He stood for a kind of commitment to public service, and he and Nancy together were
05:34
really all in this new venture and for 15 years
05:38
they worked every day at making this a stronger place.
05:43
After Chuck, we were very fortunate to have a
05:47
succession of deans, each of whom made their contribution to the school.
05:52
The net result, at 40 years and counting, is a school that really has no limit on what it could do.
05:57
[violins]
06:11
[Graham] Our undergraduates are predominantly in the private sector our master students are probably 60 to 70 percent in the public sector,
06:19
whether they be at the federal government, state and local government ...
06:22
Young people today are change agents. They want to make the world a better place.
06:28
[Carolyn Raider] We're ranked second in the nation (#1 as of 2016) and
06:32
it's an amazing place because the professors are exceptional.
06:36
Every student I've met here is very impassioned about what they do.
06:41
Right now I'm actually working as an intern at the Office of Sustainability. One of the research aspects
06:47
I'm involved with right now is trying to think of different
06:50
behavior changes that we can bring to the campus at large and what different types of methods people can use to start reducing their energy consumption.
07:00
SPEA actually is known for the tool set that students get when they leaves SPEA
07:02
Primarily I want to make some sort of an impact, so I really would love to be working internationally in the field of energy.
07:14
SPEA is an incredible place to be.
07:16
We have the science side, we have the policy side, and it's very unique in this aspect and bringing those together
07:22
we can really, as students and faculty, come together and bring about
07:27
tremendous change.
07:32
[Bonser] We have had a huge impact. We must have I
07:36
think probably it's between 25 and 30,000 alumni at this school now (33,000 in 2017).
07:40
Which is really quite astonishing if you figure where we began.
07:42
[IU President Michael A. McRobbie] I think it's widely admired for the impact that it's had in that area in the state,
07:48
it's widely admired nationally ... When I travel internationally
07:53
I'm struck by how many people know about SPEA, know about its work, know about the quality of its work. All over the world... Our
08:00
late Nobel Prize winner Lin Ostrom
08:02
had a
08:03
significant role in SPEA as well because that intersection of those two areas
08:08
was an area exactly where Lin did much of a path-breaking work as well. And, of course, it is one of the
08:15
academic jewels in the University's crown being--as I think everybody knows-- the second most highly ranked school of its kind (2016: #1)
08:23
anywhere in the nation.
08:24
[Graham] SPEA is a
08:26
passionate place where the values of making the world a better place are shared by everyone and of course that's its history
08:32
and that's its future.
08:34
[Bonser] I'm just thrilled at how well the school's doing, we're thriving.
08:37
And yet, it's not always easy. It's never easy, as a matter of fact, and we've done a really good job.
08:57