O'Neill Speaks

For the past seven years, Siân Mooney has served as the dean of the O’Neill School, leading the school through its most prestigious era in its half-century of history.First and foremost, there is the recognition from U.S. News and World Report, which ranks the O’Neill School’s Master of Public Affairs program as the top graduate program of its kind in the nation. Along with the top-ranked MPA, four concentrations at the O’Neill School, including environmental management and policy, health policy and management, nonprofit management, and public finance and budgeting also are ranked No. 1. Additionally, multiple other concentrations rank in the top 10 in the country, including the nonprofit management programs at O’Neill’s Bloomington and Indianapolis campuses holding the top two rankings in the country.Beyond the rankings, Dean Mooney has guided the school through record enrollment, the establishment of the Environment, Society, and Sustainability Institute, eight new degrees and certificates across IU Bloomington and IUI, more than $60 million in awards since 2019, more than $24 million in raised gifts, a growing portfolio of international partnerships, the hiring of 53 faculty members, including 37 tenure-track faculty members… the list goes on and on.But all great times must come to a close, and this spring, Dean Mooney announced she would be pursuing her next chapter and stepping down as dean effective June 30. We’re thrilled to have Dean Mooney—who was the first-ever guest of O’Neill Speaks—join us to talk about her time at O’Neill, what her experience was like, and what’s next.

When Hurricane Helene roared across Florida and up the East Coast in late September, relief efforts began immediately. People were without power, water, food, medical supplies and a host of other basic needs.The Federal Emergency Management Agency exists for these types of situations, but it’s also when nonprofit organizations spring into action. From high-profile organizations such as the American Red Cross and the United Way to smaller, local organizations, nonprofits play a huge role in the recovery effort. The work is difficult and expensive, and the physical and mental energy required quickly takes its toll on volunteers.Then, of course, just a couple of weeks later, Hurricane Milton struck Florida, stacking disasters and impacting nonprofits that were already stretched by Helene.To find out the kind of impact these stacked disasters may have on nonprofit organizations helping with relief efforts and the challenges that will be faced not only in the present but in the future, we’re joined by Professor Beth Gazley, who is a world-renowned expert in U.S. nonprofit management and civil society policy. She has published more than 85 research articles, books, and commentary addressing intersectoral collaboration, volunteerism, nonprofit governance, public service coproduction, association management, disaster response, and other topics.All opinions and comments on O’Neill Speaks belong to the host and guest of the O’Neill School and don’t necessarily reflect those of the school itself. Music for O’Neill Speaks is by Manos Mars.

In the effort to combat climate change, a move away from fossil fuels, particularly when it comes to the way get around, is seen as one of the critical steps to making progress.Electric vehicles, or EVs, in particular are seen as the next step in the evolution away from fossil fuels. The idea of an electric vehicle isn’t new—the idea is nearly 200 years old, and the first mass-produced EVs were built in the early 1900s. But only in the past two decades has the effort to transition from gas to electric vehicles gathered momentum. And the effort has come with hurdles. Battery capacity can limit range, there are environmental concerns to be addressed, and simply getting people to accept a different model of vehicle is a challenge.Recently, President Joe Biden and the Environmental Protection Agency finalized regulations that have created the United States’ toughest limits on passenger car and light truck emissions ever. The regulations are designed to accelerate the transition to EVs, even if automakers won’t need to dramatically boost EVs sales until after 2030.Meanwhile, Emissions Analytics, a United Kingdom-based company that compiles large databases of independent test data to give market insights and delivers unbiased test results on real-world product performance, recently released a report showing that, due to the weight of EVs, tire wear emissions are 1,850 times greater than tailpipe particulate emissions from gas cars.In other words, EVs may have lower particulate emissions when it comes to fuel emissions, but it could have a larger impact in other ways.Finding a way to balance the pros with the cons—and, more importantly, convincing reluctant consumers to make the transition to EVs—is part of challenge of adopting a different technology that is so embedded in our culture. We’re joined today by Professor John Graham, who has long been focused on risk analysis. He is the former Administrator of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs in the federal Office of Management and Budget during the George W. Bush administration. Professor Graham also served as Dean of the O’Neill School from 2008-2019, and he has remained as a faculty member with a keen interest in electric vehicles.O’Neill Speaks is the official podcast of the Paul H. O’Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs. All opinions and comments on O’Neill Speaks belong to the host and guest of the O’Neill School and don’t necessarily reflect those of the school itself. Music for O’Neill Speaks is by Manos Mars.

In May 2023, the United States Supreme Court handed down a ruling that limited the Environmental Protection Agency’s ability to protect millions of acres of wetlands from pollution by saying that the EPS could not regulate discharges into wetlands unless they have a continuous surface connection to larger bodies of water. Then, just a few weeks ago, the Indiana State house passed and Governor Eric Holcomb signed House Enrolled Act 1383, which redefined some protected wetlands, limiting their protection.Indiana’s wetlands are grouped into three tiers by the state. Class III wetlands, the highest tier, receive full protections. Class II wetlands have fewer protections, and Class I has none. Those standards were put in place in 2022, and the latest law will redefine select Class III wetlands as Class II. Wetlands are often overlooked by the general public but play a critical role in nature. Wetlands—aquatic environments that are covered by freshwater, saltwater, or a mix—are the planet’s natural waste-water treatment facilities and carbon-storing champions. They soak up excess nutrients in soil, such as nitrogen and phosphorus, which are normally found in fertilizer and can leach from farmland, and wetlands catch and hold excess stormwater, reducing flooding on that landscape. Developers are lauding the latest bill as a boon to construction, but environmental advocates are angry about the loss of the protections.To learn more about this issue, we’re thrilled to welcome Janet Duey Professor of Rural Land Policy Chistopher Craft. Professor Craft is a professional wetland scientist, and has studied the effects of climate change, eutrophication, and other human activities on estuarine and freshwater wetlands and the restoration of those ecosystems. In 2012, he received the National Wetlands Award for Science Research. Craft has been a visiting professor with senior international scientists of the Chinese Academy of Sciences since 2010.

The COVID-19 pandemic pulled a number of issues into the spotlight, and one of the brightest spotlights fell on health care supply chain issues. Most stories focused on securing enough masks for medical professionals early in the pandemic, but everything from hand sanitizer to IV bags to medical tubing became an issue for the healthcare community. Crisis creates the opportunity for change, especially when it comes to the supply chain and the healthcare industry.With that thought in mind, the National Association of Manufacturers recently released a study, “Advancing Resilience in the U.S. Health Care Supply Chain After the COVID-19 Pandemic: Four Areas of Opportunity,” outlining steps to improve health care supply chain resilience to allow manufacturers in the United States to better prepare for and adapt to the next disruption.We’re joined today by Associate Professor and Director of the Manufacturing Policy Initiative at Indiana University Sameeksha Desai, who led the study.O’Neill Speaks is the official podcast of the Paul H. O’Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs. All opinions and comments on O’Neill Speaks belong to the host and guest of the O’Neill School and don’t necessarily reflect those of the school itself. Music for O’Neill Speaks is by Manos Mars.

What is the path to a rewarding career in public service for young people who have a passion for serving but don’t know where to get started? Show up. It’s as simple as that according to Brian Payne, the new executive in residence at the Paul H. O’Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs.Payne joins us to talk about his career, why he was drawn to the O'Neill School, and how his relationship with students is a two-way street.O’Neill Speaks is the official podcast of the Paul H. O’Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs. All opinions and comments on O’Neill Speaks belong to the host and guest of the O’Neill School and don’t necessarily reflect those of the school itself. Music for O’Neill Speaks is by Manos Mars.

The issue of climate change is considered by many to be THE most critical issue of our time, and extreme weather-related disasters continue to stack up week after week. Combating climate change will require a number of strategies, the most critical of which is the drastic reduction of fossil fuel emissions. But another key strategy is the use of nature-based climate solutions that allow the use and enhancement of existing natural resources to help remove carbon emissions from the air.Two researchers from the Paul H. O’Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs, Assistant Professor Mallory Barnes and Professor Kim Novick, were recently awarded a three-year, $950,000 grant from NASA’s Carbon Monitoring System Program to propel innovative research into nature-based climate solutions focused on enhancing the precision of carbon sequestration estimates and bolstering our strategies to combat climate change.We’re joined by Mallory Barnes, an expert in quantitative analysis and integration of ecological data across spatial and temporal scales. Barnes’s research and teaching focuses on environmental informatics, remote sensing, ecohydrology, natural resource management, ecological analytics, and geographic information systems.O’Neill Speaks is the official podcast of the Paul H. O’Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs. All opinions and comments on O’Neill Speaks belong to the host and guest of the O’Neill School and don’t necessarily reflect those of the school itself. Music for O’Neill Speaks is by Manos Mars.

For more than a year, Ukraine has been defending itself from the invading Russian army, and the world has been watching to see what happens next. The outcome of the war is in doubt, but Bob Kravchuk, a professor at the Paul H. O’Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs and a world-renowned expert in Ukrainian-Russian relations, says that the very survival of Russia may be at stake in the conflict.O’Neill Speaks is the official podcast of the Paul H. O’Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs. All opinions and comments on O’Neill Speaks belong to the host and guest of the O’Neill School and don’t necessarily reflect those of the school itself. Music for O’Neill Speaks is by Manos Mars.