SPEA’s mission is to serve the public interest across the public, nonprofit, and private sectors at the local, state, national, and international levels. SPEA IUPUI faculty made important contributions in the areas of Teaching and Learning; Research, Scholarship, and Creative Activity; and Civic Engagement during the 2007-2008 academic year. 

Teaching and Learning

• SPEA IUPUI awarded degrees or certificates to 240 students during the 2007-2008 academic year.   Thirty-six and 23 students, respectively, earned Master’s of Public Affairs and Bachelor’s of Science in Public Affairs degrees. Eighteen and 40 students, respectively, earned the Master’s of Health Administration (MHA) and the Bachelor’s of Science in Public Health, majoring in environmental science and health or health administration. Fifty-one students earned the Bachelor’s of Science in Criminal Justice.   An additional seven students earned associate degrees, while 65 earned certificates. 

• The Kazakhstan Academy of Public Administration contracted with SPEA IUPUI to provide a four-week training course in public administration for 32 national, regional, and local officials from Kazakhstan. The Rector of the Academy reports directly to the President of Kazakhstan, an oil-rich former republic in the USSR. 

• Goodwill Industries, one of the largest nonprofit employers in Central Indiana, contracted with SPEA to deliver a new, customized version of the Nonprofit Management Certificate to a cohort of 13 employees selected by Goodwill leadership to participate in its Strategic Leaders Program.  

Research, Scholarship, and Creative Activity

• SPEA established two new research organizations, the Indiana University Public Policy Institute (PPI) and the Center for Criminal Justice Research (CCJR), to will be directed, respectively, by Professors John Krauss and Sam Nunn.  Professor Wright was awarded nearly $1,000,000 in new contract awards from the Indiana Division of Mental Health and Addiction, while Professor Nunn was awarded more than $400,000 in new contract awards from the Indiana Criminal Justice Institute and other agencies, in both cases for projects involving assessments of traffic safety and factors that affect the safety of neighborhoods.

• As a researcher in SPEA’s Center for Urban Policy and the Environment, Professor Laura Littlepage received an award of more than $200,000 to conduct evaluations of gaming operations for the Indiana Gaming Commission.

• Professor Terry Baumer received a $50,000 award from the Indiana Department of Corrections to assess the use of Global Positioning System (GPS) electronic monitoring equipment in supervising sex offenders released to parole.

• Professor Alfred Ho received support from the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy to study issues in infrastructure spending and development in Guangdong Province in China.

• Professor Kenna Quinet published a seminal research paper, “The Missing Missing: Towards a Quantification of Serial Murder Victimization in the United States” in Homicide Studies.  The paper, which received widespread coverage in national news media, revised estimates of serial murder victimization substantially upward by accounting for probable victims among missing persons and other individuals previously not included in official statistics.

Civic Engagement

• Governor Mitch Daniels asked SPEA’s Center for Urban Policy and the Environment to provide staff to the Indiana Commission on Local Government Reform headed by former Governor Joe Kernan and Chief Justice of the Supreme Court Randy Shepherd.  The Commission made 27 far-reaching recommendations for changes in the structure of local government, including elimination of elected township assessors.

• Professor Roger Jarjoura received nearly $400,000 in new funding to support research and service related to re-entry programs for juvenile offenders returning to society following incarceration.  Funding agencies included the Indiana Criminal Justice Institute, the Marion County Justice Agency, and the Indiana Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives.

Diversity

• In collaboration with a number of local agencies, including Health By Design, SPEA hosted Dr. Robert Bullard, professor of sociology at Clark Atlanta University, who is widely regarded as the intellectual founder of the environmental justice movement.  Bullard spoke on environmental justice in transportation and other issues.  

Best Practices

• In collaboration with the Kelley School of Business, SPEA IUPUI completed Learning Spaces II, an innovative $800,000 redesign of the second floor of the Business-SPEA building financed primarily by successful philanthropic efforts.  The renovated spaces, which feature wired, accessible video screens for use by students and “café-style” seating, provide students with new and attractive places to study in the building.  

External Awards and Appointments

• U.S. News and World Report ranked SPEA IUPUI’s Nonprofit Management program third in the nation among more than 260 schools of public administration and affairs.  SPEA IUPUI, which trailed only SPEA IUB and the Maxwell School at Syracuse University, moved ahead of the Kennedy School at Harvard University for the first time. 
• U.S. News and World Report ranked SPEA IUPUI 45th among more than 260 schools of public administration and affairs in the United States.  This marked the second time SPEA IUPUI has ranked among the top 50 schools.

• Professor Wolfgang Bielefeld received the Best Article Award from the Academy of Management, Public and Nonprofit Division, for his article, “Networks and Organizational Growth", published in Administrative Science Quarterly in 2006.

• Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels named Associate Dean Greg Lindsey a Distinguished Hoosier for his contributions and service to the State of Indiana in the area of public affairs.

• Professor Sheila Kennedy was named Indiana University School of Law alumna of the year.