About

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The Paul H. O’Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs at IU Indianapolis prepares students to address the issues of modern society in ways that more traditional schools overlook.

Founded in 1972, the O’Neill School was the first school to combine public management, policy, and administration with the environmental sciences. It remains the largest public policy and environmental studies school of its kind in the United States, with programs on both the IU Indianapolis and IU Bloomington campuses.

O'Neill Indianapolis graduate program rankings

#39MPA ranking out of 271 schools

#2Nonprofit Management

#12Environmental Policy & Management

More rankings and stats

The O'Neill School in Indianapolis

The O’Neill school at IU Indianapolis is based in our nation’s 15th largest city, Indianapolis—our state’s capital. O’Neill students are engaged with the Indianapolis community, and they take advantage of the proximity to city, state, and federal government centers as well as hundreds of corporations and nonprofit organizations.

More than 30,000 students in 21 schools live, work, study, and play on IU Indianapolis’s campus. It is here that O’Neill students build a network and a career from day one.

O'Neill locations

A message from the dean

At the O’Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs, you’ll learn from the sharpest minds in criminal justice, public administration, urban affairs, environmental policy, economics, sociology, nonprofit management, public policy, and law. You can then apply your degree to solving some of the most challenging issues in the world today. We are eager to help you get started.
Siân Mooney, Dean of O'Neill

Our values

All people deserve to live in thriving and sustainable communities.
Strong, healthy communities depend on well-educated, innovative, ethical leaders and informed and engaged citizens.
Creative, current, and rigorous research informs sound decision-making.
Leaders need both relevant information and the skills necessary to interpret and use information and data effectively.
Successful leaders must be able to bridge public, private, and nonprofit sector boundaries.
Conversation and collaboration among people with diverse perspectives, backgrounds, and skills leads to more vibrant ideas and solutions.

Less theory, more practice

A SPEA student rides their bike on a city trail.

A student wears a SPEA shirt that says, 'Wake up. Get to work. Change the world.'

Student life

Careers at O'Neill

Our faculty and staff have a heart and passion for public and environmental affairs. We look for people who want to change the world through better policies, safer communities, and more abundant natural resources.