Dean, Paul H. O'Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs

Indiana University; Bloomington (IN); On-site; USD 180,000 - 280,000; Full time

Job summary

Indiana University invites nominations and applications for the next Dean of the Paul O'Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs, a core school with campuses in Bloomington and Indianapolis. The Dean will shape a shared strategy across two campuses, strengthen research, teaching, and engagement, and expand partnerships to advance public service and policy impact.

The successful candidate will provide administrative leadership, foster scholarly excellence, and promote innovative programs

Job description

Dean, Paul H. O'Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs
Indiana University

Position Description

Indiana University invites nominations and applications for the next Dean of the Paul O'Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs, a core school with major campuses at IU Bloomington and IU Indianapolis.

The O'Neill School is one of the nation's defining schools of public affairs and environmental education. It is the largest school of public administration and public policy in the United States, with more than 37,000 alumni, a nationally recognized faculty, a broad portfolio of undergraduate, graduate, online, executive, and professional programs, and an unusually strong record of preparing students for leadership in public service, policy, nonprofit, environmental, healthcare, arts, criminal justice, public safety, and management-oriented fields.

The next Dean will lead one O'Neill School across two IU core campuses. Bloomington and Indianapolis each have important standing in the school’s mission and future. Bloomington brings the strengths of IU’s flagship residential campus, AAU and Big Ten context, broad academic ecosystem, doctoral education, and deep student discovery market. Indianapolis brings an urban R1 research setting in the state capital, proximity to government, employers, community partners, health sciences, public safety, nonprofit leadership, executive education, and applied policy work. The new Dean will also have access to IU’s recently launched Capital Campus in Washington, D.C. The opportunity is to treat these assets as one cohesive public affairs platform, with investments and priorities presented as shared school strategy.

The next Dean will inherit a highly successful school with strong faculty, well-regarded programs, and significant momentum from recent program growth, faculty hiring, research productivity, philanthropy, community engagement, executive education, and expanded national and global activity. The Dean will be expected to advance O'Neill’s national standing while helping IU colleagues work together on interdisciplinary societal challenges and increase shared impact. Many collaborations already exist. The next step is to make those connections easier, more visible, and more ambitious, including environmental and sustainability work, public health and health policy, arts and nonprofit leadership, science and technology policy, criminal justice and public safety, international and national affairs, public management and finance, and the civic uses of data and artificial intelligence.

The successful candidate will bring international scholarly credibility, administrative skill, political judgment, external presence, and a deep belief in public service. O'Neill’s next era will require a Dean who can sustain excellence, build resources, protect quality, strengthen faculty and staff development, grow distinctive programs, and translate the school’s two-campus reputation into new partnerships, new student pathways, and greater public impact in Indiana, Washington, D.C., and beyond.

About the O'Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs

Founded in 1972 as the School of Public and Environmental Affairs, the Paul O'Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs is a world leader in public and environmental affairs and the largest school of public administration and public policy in the United States. The school has built a distinctive model at the intersection of public policy, management, environmental science, civic leadership, nonprofit work, healthcare, public safety, criminal justice, arts administration, and global public affairs.

O'Neill is a core school with presence in both Bloomington and Indianapolis. At IU Bloomington, O'Neill enrolls more than 2,600 undergraduate students, more than 500 master’s students, and approximately 70 doctoral students. Bloomington programs include Public Affairs, Environmental Science, Environmental and Sustainability Studies, Healthcare Management and Policy, Arts Management, the Master of Public Affairs, Master of Public Policy, Master of Science in Environmental Science, Master of Environmental Sustainability, Master of International Affairs, Master of Arts in Arts Administration, online degrees, certificates, and dual‑degree pathways.

At IU Indianapolis, O'Neill serves an urban student population through undergraduate programs in Criminal Justice, Management and Civic Leadership, Public Policy, Public Safety Management, Sustainability Practice and Policy, and Community and Organizational Leadership Studies, as well as graduate programs in Public Affairs, Criminal Justice and Public Safety, Leadership and Organizational Systems, certificates, and executive education. Its Indianapolis setting creates direct lines to public agencies, nonprofits, employers, community partners, health and public safety systems, and policy work in the state capital.

The school is nationally known for both scale and quality. O'Neill Bloomington’s MPA is ranked No. 1 overall by U.S. News & World Report for 2026-27, with No. 1 specialty rankings in Environmental Policy and Management, Nonprofit Management, Public Finance and Budgeting, and Health Policy and Management, and additional top‑10 rankings across Public Management, Policy Analysis, Local Government, Social Policy, and Urban Policy. O'Neill Indianapolis received its highest‑ever MPA ranking in 2026, No. 31 overall among 266 schools, with five specialties ranked in the top 25, including No. 2 in Nonprofit Management.

Recent years have brought meaningful growth and renewal. Under former Dean Sian Mooney’s leadership, O'Neill maintained its top national ranking, expanded its graduate portfolio, secured APSIA and CAHME accreditations, grew research productivity and external funding, launched the O'Neill Center for Leadership in Public Service, added Executives in Residence, expanded global engagement, advanced programs in national defense, created new career supports, and helped launch the Environment, Society, and Sustainability Institute with the College of Arts and Sciences. The school also hired 53 new faculty members and increased scholarship and fellowship support through philanthropy.

O'Neill’s two‑campus platform is matched by statewide, national, and international reach. Bloomington and Indianapolis provide complementary homes for teaching, research, and public engagement. Washington, D.C. connections, executive education, alumni leadership, global partnerships, and policy‑facing research extend the school’s work beyond Indiana. The next Dean will have the opportunity to join these assets into an even stronger public affairs enterprise.

The Role of the Dean

The Dean reports directly to the Provost and Executive Vice Chancellor of IU Bloomington and serves as the chief academic and administrative officer of the O'Neill School. Although the formal reporting line is through IU Bloomington, the role should be understood as a shared Bloomington‑Indianapolis leadership assignment for a core school on both campuses.

The Dean is responsible for the school’s academic vision, faculty and staff leadership, research enterprise, student experience, budget, advancement, external partnerships, rankings strategy, program quality, and long‑term institutional health.

The Dean works closely with fellow IU deans, school executive leadership, faculty, faculty governance leaders, staff, students, alumni, donors, IU Bloomington and IU Indianapolis leaders, community organizations, government and nonprofit partners, policy leaders, employers, and peer institutions. The role requires a visible leader who can sustain a high‑performing organization while encouraging the next level of ambition.

The Dean will be expected to protect and extend O'Neill’s national reputation, recruit and retain excellent faculty and staff, support rigorous standards for faculty development and performance, strengthen student recruitment and outcomes on both campuses, and align the school’s programs with emerging needs in public service, environmental sustainability, healthcare, nonprofit leadership, arts administration, management, public safety, criminal justice, and public policy.

Leadership Agenda

The next Dean will be expected to:

Lead one school across two core campuses. The Dean must treat Bloomington and Indianapolis as key drivers of O'Neill’s mission, reputation, and future. This includes creating a shared strategy for program growth, faculty hiring, staff support, research development, student services, advancement, executive education, and external partnerships, while recognizing the different strengths and markets of each campus.

Sustain and extend O'Neill’s national leadership. The school enters this search from a position of strength. The Dean must protect the quality, visibility, and results that support O'Neill’s top rankings, while ensuring that rankings reflect real excellence in scholarship, teaching, student outcomes, public service, and external impact across both campuses.

Use the two‑campus platform (+ the Capital Campus) as a shared advantage. Bloomington and Indianapolis, along with a burgeoning D.C. presence, give O'Neill a rare combination of flagship academic breadth and capital-city applied reach. The Dean should turn that combination into a clearer value proposition for students, faculty, alumni, donors, employers, public agencies, national partners, and peer institutions.

Work with IU partners on societal challenges and shared impact. O'Neill already has many natural collaborations across IU. The Dean should help those partnerships become easier to launch, easier to sustain, and more visible externally. Priority areas include environment and sustainability, public health and health policy, arts and civic leadership, science and technology policy, public safety and criminal justice, international and national affairs, public finance, nonprofit leadership, management, and the uses of data and artificial intelligence.

Understand and grow student markets on both campuses. O'Neill must recruit nationally among its peer set while serving students who discover interests in public affairs, management, administration, policy, environment, healthcare, nonprofit work, arts administration, criminal justice, public safety, or international service after arriving at IU. The Dean should understand student choice patterns in Bloomington and Indianapolis, including the overlap with business, management, civic leadership, and policy interests, and should communicate the value and career power of O'Neill programs clearly.

Build the next chapter of graduate, online, executive, Indianapolis, and D.C. engagement. Graduate education in public affairs faces a competitive and changing market. O'Neill has strong assets in residential graduate education, online programs, executive education, Indianapolis public‑sector and employer connections, Washington, D.C. opportunities, and applied leadership experiences. The Dean will need to make strategic choices about where to grow, where to protect quality, and where O'Neill can lead nationally.

Support faculty excellence and organizational discipline. The school has strong faculty expectations, rigorous standards, and meaningful faculty development pathways. The Dean should reinforce those assets, support high‑performing faculty and staff, recruit exceptional new talent, and ensure that workload, evaluation, mentoring, and resource allocation practices support excellence and fairness throughout both campuses.

Generate resources for a high‑performing school. O'Neill is a successful unit making a case for continued investment. The Dean will need to work with Advancement, alumni, foundations, government, employers, policy organizations, community partners, and external funders to grow philanthropy, sponsored activity, executive education, and other mission‑aligned revenue sources.

Represent O'Neill to Indiana, the nation, and the world. The Dean should strengthen O'Neill’s Bloomington and Indianapolis homes while using Indiana state relationships, Washington, D.C. connections, alumni leadership, global partnerships, and public‑facing research to expand the school’s influence and opportunities for students and faculty.

Qualifications and Experience

Indiana University seeks a Dean with the scholarly stature, administrative experience, public presence, strategic judgment, and integrity required to lead one of the nation’s most visible and successful schools of public affairs and environmental education.

A terminal degree is required. Candidates must have a record of scholarly, scientific, policy, or professional accomplishment meriting appointment as a tenured full professor in a discipline represented in, or closely related to, the O'Neill School.

While no one candidate will embody every desired attribute, the strongest candidates will bring many of the following qualifications, experiences, and qualities:

• A distinguished record of scholarship, research, policy work, public leadership, or professional accomplishment, with