Community Engagement and Public Service Activities

A gathering hosted by the John Boner Neighborhood Center bringing together IUPUI faculty and staff and the Center's staff to engage in dialogue about community initiatives and potential collaborations with IUPUI and the Center. The gathering included a presentation by the Boner Center and a guided discussion moderated by IUPUI CSL staff (Morgan Studer).

A gathering of IUPUI faculty and staff at the Hawthorne Social Services Association to learn more about initiatives in the neighborhood and engage in dialogue around potential partnership opportunities between the community and the IUPUI campus.

Volunteers cleaned and organized the RMH.

Microfinance/Women's Empowerment projects in Sierra Leone, Kenya and India are administered by Right Sharing of World Resources (RSWR) and funded by a wide variety of donors and fundraising initiatives. Civic entrepreneurship demonstrates how providing women with the opportunity to start their own small companies builds a support system and sense of community and addresses the need for social, economic and political stability.   

As part of the New Century Curators, students from the Museum Studies program at IUPUI worked with staff at the Benjamin Harrison Presidential Site to propose and develop exhibitions based on the stories, objects, and history of President Benjamin Harrison. 

Exhibits have included:

Woment of the Harrison Era (January-October2017)

A Trip to Unify (January - October 2018)

I deliver a curriculum known as the Path to Freedom at Pendleton Prison. Path of Freedom ® is a mindfulness-based emotional intelligence (MBEI) model for at-risk and incarcerated youth and adult prisoners developed by Kate Crisp and Fleet Maull.

The curriculum  used in prisons includes training in: mindfulness meditation, emotional intelligence, communication, conflict resolution, and various resourcing and resiliency building skills.

Participants develop greater self-awareness, improved impulse control, and greater social awareness which will give them a new positive vision for their lives.
 

The Robert H. McKinney School of Law is closely cooperating with former Attorney General Greg Zoeller, the Chairman of the newly founded World Trade Center Indianapolis. Over the next two to three years, the World Trade Center will develop an office tower in downtown Indianapolis and invite a range of companies involved in international business and trade - law firms, consultants, banks and financing institutions, logistics providers, customs agents, and many more - to come together under one roof to provide integrated and comprehensive solutions for trading partners in Indiana and around the world. Several McKinney students are already enjoying internship opportunities with the World Trade Center Indianapolis and honing their skills in this rapidly expanding field.

One of the unmet needs in central Indiana was identified as professional ADR services. ADR stands for alternative dispute resolution and generally refers to mediation and arbitration and other forms of dispute settlement support that does not rely on courts. ADR has become the dominant form of dispute settlement in international trade because of problems with courts in many foreign countries. Delays, lack of business expertise, bias, corruption, and problems with enforcement of judgments in other countries, are discouraging American and international businesses from counting on the public courts for settlement of their disputes. Professional ADR service providers do not face the same issues and produce high quality mediation services and arbitration awards that are enforceable in more than 150 countries around the world.

The International Smart Mediation and Arbitration Institute was incorporated by Professor Emmert in Indianapolis in March. It is affiliated with the World Trade Center and hopes to move into the future office tower as soon as it opens for business. Professor Emmert is an experienced arbitrator, Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators, and member of the board of its North America Branch. He has been teaching International Business Transactions and International Commercial Arbitration, as well as World Trade Organization Law and European Union Law at the McKinney School for fifteen years. In coming weeks and months, he is going to develop the procedural rules of the SmartArb Institute and train a roster of students as aspiring mediators and arbitrators. 

As a global first, the SmartArb Institute will develop - in addition to the nuts and bolts of international business and trade - a special expertise in Blockchain- and SmartContract-related disputes. Hence the name "Smart" Mediation and Arbitration Institute.

The day-long gathering brought together residents and community leaders for workshops, networking, and inspiring community action with a focus on improving neighborhood health, increasing businesses’ efficiency, and working toward a more united community. 

In honor of IUPUI's 50th Anniversary, the university is participated in a Habitat for Humanity house build. The build kicked off on September 20 and the home was dedicated on December 7. Two-hundred and twenty students, faculty, staff and alumni participated in 22 build days. 

The IU Office of Community Engagement at IUPUI leads a tutoring, mentoring, college/career readiness, and family engagement program. This is in collaboration with four IU campuses (IUPUI, IU East, IU Southeast, IU South Bend). IU students provide in-person tutoring and mentoring for K-12 students selected by partnering schools.

IU SSC is an equity program that focuses on students who will benefit from additional academic and social emotional support. The program is free to all students. IU students, who serve as tutors and mentors, are prepared to support culturally diverse students with diverse learning needs, including students with special needs. 

A national education law called the Every Student Succeeds Act, or ESSA, passed in 2015 to ensure that states provide all children with equal access to a high-quality public education. States must hold schools accountable for student outcomes and identify schools to receive improvement services if their students, including historically underserved groups, struggle to succeed.

Nearly half of the schools in Indiana graded for the performance of students with disabilities received "F" grades from the state in 2018, and nearly one-third received that grade for the performance of black students.

The School of Education at IUPUI is preparing to help get those schools up to standards, receiving a grant for $498,308 from the Indiana Department of Education to provide cultural competency training and support for more than 300 schools across the state.