Master’s International is a program affiliated with the Peace Corps, and with hundreds of schools across the nation. Essentially it is like killing two birds with one stone; you go to school to complete your Master’s degree, and to the Peace Corps at the same time. Everything you do in the Peace Corps counts towards your Master’s degree, so usually you spend less time on campus than in an average Master’s program (the actual time spent taking classes varies from program to program).

In order to be designated a Master International student, you have to first be accepted into a graduate program affiliated with Master’s International, and then be nominated by the Peace Corps (a nomination is essentially a recommendation from the Peace Corps that you move on to the next phase of the application process).

These are both two separate processes, and must be done before you can be designated a Master’s International student.

Once I decided I wanted become a Master’s International student I went to the Peace Corps website, printed out the list of Master’s International affiliated schools, and got to work. Since there are so many schools affiliated with the program I researched each one that seemed interesting carefully; I wanted to make sure I chose the right one.

SPEA was one of the first schools that caught my eye (who doesn’t like the idea of getting two Master’s degrees with the addition of only one more semester?!); however, I must admit I was a bit apprehensive at first. Growing up on Long Island I’ve become accustomed to have the beach at my footsteps, and now I was going to relocate to an area over 800 miles from the coast? One visit to SPEA, and all of my hesitations disappeared; not only did I fall in love with the program, but I fell in love with Bloomington, and the strong sense of community I felt here.

Since I am completing a dual degree with only two years at school, it was important that early on that I was very proactive about my studies. That meant meeting with as many professors as possible, going to seminars, and talking to different people in an attempt to figure out what exactly I wanted my concentration to be in. Deciding this early on was crucial in structuring my second semester of classes because, all of the courses taken in my second semester need to be courses that will most benefit my Peace Corps Service.

It is also good to be proactive about finding a faculty member to act as a research adviser. This initially involves looking at what different professors are interested in, and seeing what grabs your attention. Then once at SPEA you can contact those professors to discuss your mutual interests. With the help of an adviser you will design a research project that will be carried out during your Peace Corps Service. This research project will take the place of the required internship component of your degree program at SPEA.

I currently am in the process of shopping for a research adviser. Since my concentration is Sustainability and Sustainable Development my research project will stay within that theme, focusing on Food Sustainability. While it is good to get a rough idea of what you want to do your research on, it is difficult to formulate the specifics of your project until you know where you will be stationed; a project in the heart of the Amazon will be different from a project in a small town.

At times being a Master’s International student can be a bit stressful, overwhelming, and feel like a waiting game (I am currently waiting to find out my Peace Corps placement which can take up to a few months); it definitely is a rigorous program. SPEA tests you because they know you can do it. They want to make you into the best version of “you” that you can be. When all is said and done I hope to come out of SPEA, and the Peace Corps with tools to help create environmental education programs in inner cities focusing on greening these communities, and making them more sustainable.

When we polled SDA members at the beginning of the year, we found that our members’ #1 priority is gaining resume-worthy skills outside of the classroom. So this year, SDA events will emphasize job skills and gathering some good advice about career and internship opportunities.

With that in mind, we hosted a lunchtime Introduction to LEED Certification last week. We invited two local LEED professionals to speak to us about the LEED process, the local US Green Building Council chapter, and recent efforts to certify Bloomington City Hall as a LEED building. Ten SDA members attended the session – for which the Office of Career Services provided a conference room and cookies! – and learned about how LEED certification might factor into our public service work. A few students have since decided to pursue LEED certification, so SDA is considering applying for funding to help cover the cost of books and study materials for those students.

Another project we’re initiating is a consulting partnership with local businesses. Here’s the idea: interested SDA members will be paired with a local business or organization that needs short-term research, promotion, or implementation of a sustainable idea for their project. The partner will get (free) SPEA grad student assistance while the student gains a few hours of meaningful experience. To identify potential partnerships, several SDA members and I attended Bloomington’s September and October “Green Drinks” networking events. I introduced our organization and our consulting idea, and I felt very encouraged that more than ten community members approached me afterward to share ideas about how we might work together!

The other SDA project that I’m really excited about is a speaker series that we plan to co-host with the Environmental Management Association. We will invite faculty, students and community members to participate in weekly or bi-weekly panel discussions, lectures and workshops. Several SDA and EMA members have formed a team to organize this series.

I’ve really enjoyed my work with SDA. It’s been a great way to get involved with SPEA beyond my specific classes, and I think we’re helping other students learn something valuable for the future work in sustainability. Hopefully when you come to SPEA, you’ll find an organization that inspires you just as much!

One thing that I didn’t know about SPEA when I came in as a first year MPA was the myriad of opportunities available to students who want to study and research abroad while working towards their degree. Graduate students have the freedom to travel abroad for a semester or a summer, receiving academic SPEA credit through Overseas Studies. You can also choose to work with SPEA Career Services to find an internship abroad during the summer months. That’s what I did last summer to fulfill my experiential credits—I was able to partner with a community development organization called Soluciones Comunitarias in Southern Ecuador, and I spent May-August training rural women to own and operate small businesses in their local communities.

I’m learning more and more, through my academic career and my position with the Office of Overseas Education, that study abroad is a vital component in understanding where we fit in the global context. Working and studying abroad, even for a short period of time, can help to cultivate a spirit of global citizenship that makes you better at achieving all of your career goals—whether it be management, policy analysis, environmental research, or public planning. From a personal standpoint, working and studying abroad in Europe and Latin America have contributed to my experiential education in a way that classroom lectures, reading, and theory never have. Don’t get me wrong; these are all vital aspects of professional development. But there’s just something about getting out there, and seeing the world through a different lens, that
allows you to shift your perspective and grow in a much larger, experiential context.

That is precisely why I have been working with two faculty members and a group of student leaders to create a new, experiential service-learning program for SPEA graduate students in Kenya. We are calling the program: ACCT International—Advancing Community, Collaboration, and Training. Summer 2012 will be our first pilot launch of the program, and we will be sending 18 students to Western Kenya for a four-week collaborative workshop with Kenyan NGOs, Businesses, and Government Organizations. Following the workshop, SPEA student will be paired with a partner organization for a six-week internship, where they will live with a host family, and work in their community to complete a deliverable. We have designed the curriculum and
schedule of this program to help students cultivate their experiential learning in a global context. It is also the first service-learning study abroad program that SPEA has offered to graduate students, and I am very excited to move forward with the application process and help prepare my fellow students for this incredible Kenyan experience.

As I’m sure you can tell, I love talking about study abroad opportunities and sharing my own experiences from work and research abroad. If you are interested in learning more about any of the programs I’ve talked about, I encourage you to check out the SPEA Abroad website.

And if you have any questions about our new ACCT International program in Kenya, please feel free to send me an email at sjhollis@indiana.edu. I would be more than happy to talk with your about opportunities for incoming students, as well as viable student leadership positions in overseas education. Thanks for checking out this blog post!

The Nonprofit Management Association provides students with the opportunity to share ideas and supplement their education through workshops, seminars, and presentations, and by organizing visits to local nonprofit organizations and other relevant facilities. In these pursuits, we highlight nonprofit issues and the challenges that students will face as future nonprofit managers. The NMA advocates on behalf of its members to enhance the quality of education for all nonprofit students.

On November 4, the Nonprofit Alliance of Monroe County and Indiana University’s School of Public and Environmental Affairs (SPEA) hosted the Nonprofit Toolkit, a one-day symposium comprised of lectures and activities from SPEA professors and distinguished alumni with a wide array of fund development expertise.  More than 50 students and community members attended this one-day symposium and were able to learn about such topics as fundraising feasibility, special events, capital campaigns, and philanthropy psychology.

Matt vandenBerg, Director of Development at the Indiana University School of Informatics and Computing, started the day off with a presentation on “Feasibility Analysis.”  He emphasized the importance of feasibility studies and their ability to test financial objectives; identify and cultivate major leaders and donors; and assess perceptions of your organization.  Following this presentation, Charlotte Walker, Director of Development and Communications at Pets Alive, illustrated how nonprofits can make special events pay off and described some unique ideas that can help your event stand out.

After a delicious lunch, Erika Albert, Director of Development at the Monroe County YMCA, offered a presentation on “Successful Capital Campaigns in Tough Economic Times.”  She stressed the importance of understanding the different “faces of philanthropy” before beginning to steward donors.  In the midst of these presentations, Beth Gazley, Associate Professor at SPEA, facilitated an activity that had students and community members working together in small groups to discuss how fundraisers could collaborate to benefit the communities we serve.

Finishing out the day, Jen Shang, Assistant Professor at SPEA, and Alvin Lyons, Visiting Lecturer at SPEA, presented on “Philanthropic Psychology” and “What is the Future of Fundraising?”, respectively.  Jen Shang highlighted the importance of understanding the different identities that donors possess and Alvin Lyons helped illustrate the common mistakes fundraisers make and how to avoid them.

The Nonprofit Toolkit was an incredibly successful event and the response from both students and community members has been incredibly positive.  The Nonprofit Management Association looks forward to continuing to collaborate with Nonprofit Alliance of Monroe County and Indiana University’s School of Public and Environmental Affairs (SPEA) to provide opportunities like this for students and community members in the future.

I sat down at one of the tables and waited for students to show up, and it wasn’t long (actually I think it was less than 30 seconds) before I heard a familiar voice.

“Hey, Chris! I thought you were supposed to be in New York already.” It was Scott. He and I had been in the same cohort from the start of our experience at Indiana  University, and I couldn’t help but reflecting back to those first days at SPEA. I hadn’t gone to Experience Day myself, so my first experience was during Orientation week. It dawned on me in that moment with those simple two sentences Scott had said just how many connections and rewarding friendships I had formed during those first few weeks of class the year previous and the many others I have made since then.

“I’ll be heading out right after this breakfast event,” I explained to Scott who plopped himself down at my table.

“Well aren’t you the die-hard ambassador.”

“Yeah, I try my best to keep up my image as the model citizen at SPEA,” I mused as we both turned to look at the first few prospective students starting to filter past the registration table. Scott stood up and wandered over to his assigned table, and I waited as a young woman wearing a nametag walked towards my table.

“Hello,” she said with a voice that conveyed a sense of false confidence.

“Hello! Are you considering coming here for school?” I said with perhaps a bit of an overly eager smile on my face.

She said she was and that she lived in the region, so she had been to Bloomington a number of times already. After that she and I chatted pleasantly between pauses to chew on bagels and fresh fruit. Eventually we were joined by another two prospective students with varying stories of travel, past internships and work experience, and aspirations for future professions.

As our plates emptied and when we got the signal that it was time for the prospective students to head downstairs to attend their first large-group meeting of the morning, I said goodbye to the people at my table and wished them well. As I watched the students leave, I was struck by the simplicity of what had just transpired in those last couple of hours. In essence, all that had happened was a few people ate while chatting about their lives. Humans have gone through this kind of ritual for thousands of years. The thing that made the morning’s activities significant was that I had been a part
of these few students’ decision to go to SPEA for graduate school. And that
effort wasn’t motivated by a hope of any reward other than having students be
placed in a rewarding program, since my experience, though it might have had
its ups and downs, has been overwhelming positive.

As I walked the few hundred feet from the Atrium to my exit, I was stopped by a number of friends all wishing me well in New York. Hiring specialists always say that it’s not what you know but who you know that counts. While I think a certain level of knowledge is necessary to pass over the threshold of employability, I think they might be right about that.  But the value of an alumni base is not found solely in the number of network connections one might have or in the ease in getting references from classmates: I have found some lasting friendships in my classmates. And although I won’t be able to go back in time to view how my life would have played out differently had I made a difference decision on graduate school programs, I don’t think I really need to because I have found what I was looking for in SPEA.

Although IU is a large university with over 40,000 undergraduate and graduate students, the SPEA program is a small bubble within the university. As a small group of
students on a large campus, we reap the benefits of all the opportunities brought to IU, ranging from the Flaming Lips performing at the IU Auditorium to special screenings of “The Room” at the Union with its mysterious director Tommy Wiseau. Bloomington also boasts the Lotus World Music and Arts Festival, one of the oldest and largest of its kind. This year, a group of SPEA students volunteered one night in exchange for a free pass. What graduate student doesn’t love free events? (And perhaps more importantly, free food!) This year at Lotus I danced to Finnish string music, Creole gospel and Swedish hip-hop.

How do we balance social life with academics? Luckily the range of opportunities
available is endless, appealing to a range of different interests. I personally need my oldies dance nights and horror film showings at IU Cinema to keep myself sane post-Midterms. This weekend, GSA held its annual fundraising Halloween Party for SPEA graduate students. We had a great turnout and lots of creative costumes, including a giant shower, Mr. Mistofelees and Dora the Explorer. With the funds we raised from the party, GSA will throw more events for SPEONS, including an ice-skating activity before finals and possibly an “Ugly Holiday Sweater” event before Winter Break. Stay tuned for more social opportunities for the remainder of the semester!

This past August, I was fortunate enough to have the opportunity to go to Greenland with Dr. Jeff White.  To have the ability to get out of the classroom and into the field with a professor is always a rewarding experience!  Not only did this trip solidify the things I learned in the classroom about limnology, aquatic chemistry, and environmental chemistry, but I also picked up many new skills.  Even more importantly, I was a contributing member of the project.  My ideas were not only respected, but were greatly appreciated.  To work shoulder to shoulder with a faculty member on a project really gives you a sense of accomplishment that no letter grade on a test can match.

Before leaving for Greenland, I had the responsibility of inventorying, packing, and loading all of the gear.  When we made it to Greenland, I was responsible for making sure we had the gear we needed every day.  I also had opportunities to show my research expertise, like programming a data logger for use in taking temperature measurements.  Through all of these experiences, Dr. White and Dr. Lisa Pratt were both very supportive and helpful, without being overbearing.  Even though this research would reflect much more greatly on them than I, they were still incredibly helpful and patient in guiding me through the various responsibilities they entrusted me with.

Many people have some sort of an idea when they come to SPEA of what they want to do, or what field they want to work in; for those of us who don’t, SPEA offers concentration sessions. Concentration sessions are just what they sound like- informative sessions dedicated to describing particular concentrations. The sessions are quick and to the point, (about 20 minutes each), and led by the concentration advisers. They give you information such as what courses you have to take, and which semesters they are offered; they even tell you what courses are offered in other schools (such as in the Kelley School of Business) that may be useful towards your degree. Even if you already have an idea of what you want your concentration to be, it is still recommended that you attend as many concentration sessions as possible (because attending a session might just change your mind). It is also a good idea to meet with different professors for additional guidance.

Declaring a concentration aids you in the registration process because, once your concentration is declared the associated courses show up in your Academic Advising Report. This makes registration much easier since now all the courses you have to take/can choose from are in one nice, convenient place!

Also, at SPEA you can essentially customize your course load. To clarify, if you find another course that would serve as a better fit for one of your electives (even if it is from another school), as long as you provide a good explanation to your adviser as to why you want to substitute “course X” for “course Z” you generally can do it.  You can even create a custom degree (with the aid of an adviser of course) if you don’t find that you fit into a particular concentration.

What’s great about SPEA is that everyone here is so willing to help you; they want to make sure that you get the best education possible, and that you are provided with the best tools to prepare you for your job after graduation. That’s one of the things that drew me to SPEA to pursue a dual MPA/MSES degree in Sustainability and Sustainable Development.

The blog entries are offered from the perspective of current students, providing an insider’s look at the world of SPEA – from class topics and internships to events and
student life.  We’re looking forward to providing you weekly updates and connecting you with our student community as you make the important decision about choosing SPEA for graduate study and calling Bloomington your home away from home.

Meet our student bloggers for 2011-2012!

Chris is a second-year MPA student concentrating in Public Management.  He is from Ogden, UT and earned his undergraduate degree in Psychology from Weber State University.  At SPEA, he is a Co-President of Students Taking Active Roles Today (START), as well as AmeriCorps Alumni.

Hayley is a second-year MPA student concentrating in Comparative and International Affairs. She is from Dunlap, Illinois and earned her undergraduate degree in Economics from Indiana University.  She is currently the Social Chair of the SPEA Graduate Student Association (GSA).

Jake is a second-year MSES student concentrating in Applied Ecology and Water Resources.  He is from California, Kentucky and earned his undergraduate degree in Environmental Science and Chemistry from Thomas More College.

Kartik is a second-year MPA student concentrating in Economic Development and Public Financial Administration. He is from Bhopal, India and earned his undergraduate degree in Electrical Engineering at the University Institute of Technology – Rajeev Gandhi Technological University.  He is Secretary of the SPEA Public Finance Association.

Lauren is a first-year dual MPA/MSES student.  She is also enrolled in SPEA’s Masters International program.  She is from Centereach, New York and earned her undergraduate degree in Biology from Stony Brook University.

Molly is a second year MPA student concentrating in Nonprofit Manangement.  She is from Dahlonega, Georgia and earned her undergraduate degree in Social Studies Education from the University of Georgia.  She is currently the Nonprofit Community Coordinator for the Service Corps program at SPEA.

Sarah Jene is a second-year MPA student concentrating in Nonprofit Management, while also pursuing a certificate in Social Entrepreneurship through the Kelley School of Business.  She is originally from Zionsville, Indiana and earned her undergraduate degree in Communications from Hanover University.  She is currently a Graduate Assistant in SPEA’s Office of Overseas Study.

Shannon is a second-year dual MPA/MSES student concentrating in Water Resources.  She is from Chicago, Illinois and earned her undergraduate degree in International Studies and Spanish from DePaul University.  She is part of the Executive Team for SPEA’s Sustainable Development Association.

After listening to the presentations, I had a better understanding about how to plan for my financial future.  Mr. Hughes emphasized the importance of realistically assessing the type of income flow you may have and then planning your portfolio around that knowledge.  He also advised all of us to plan for the unexpected by prioritizing putting money into savings accounts and making it a regular habit.

Mark Case gave a brief presentation and then fielded questions regarding job offer
negotiation.  One of his main points was that in a tough job market, offers may or may not be negotiable.  You must do your research and know how much your skills are worth.  Although job offer negotiation seems a bit daunting, it was helpful to learn that being prepared and researching current salaries can make you more likely to successfully negotiate.

As part of the Service Corps Program, we offer professional development opportunities throughout the semester to complement training that occurs in the classroom and on the job.  Besides providing professional advice, these opportunities have also allowed me to network with professionals in the community.  I thought that the information provided on Saturday was very helpful, and it made waking up a little early on the weekend very worthwhile! (The catering from Bloomington Bagel didn’t hurt either!)