Advising & MPO Team

Michele Lersch is the administrative lead for the Master's Programs Office (MPO). She leads the vision and strategy pertaining to recruitment, admissions, fellowship allocation, and current student service delivery and engagement for O'Neill's master's degree programs. Michele is the bridge for all (students, staff, and faculty alike) to other Directors and Deans in the O’Neill School.

She/Her/Hers | msassano@iu.edu | Staff Directory

Katie Neely serves as the front-line of the Master’s Programs Office. She receives all visitors, triages incoming MPO inquiries, and helps arrange student-related events and initiatives. Katie also handles the financial and administrative support across the office; including calendar and travel management for the Faculty Program Directors and Director of the MPO.

She/Her/Hers | oneillmp@iu.edu | Staff Directory

Morgan Horstman manages the application and admission process, as well as fellowship allocation for the O’Neill School’s graduate degree programs. She also assists current graduate students in answering financial aid questions, understanding financial aid options, and locating funding resources.

She/Her/Hers | oneillad@iu.edu | Staff Directory

Kaitlin Hossom manages the application and admission process for the O’Neill School’s graduate degree programs. 

oneillad@iu.edu | Staff Directory

Patrick Lewis sustains and develops recruitment initiatives for the O’Neill School’s master’s programs. His main responsibilities include building connections with prospective students, as well as managing recruitment and enrollment events both on and off campus. Patrick spends much of the year attending recruitment events in-person and virtually, and facilitating virtual sessions and webinars, to attract and recruit students. He also co-leads various recruitment initiatives for all master’s degree programs, in particular our O’Neill Ambassadors program.

He/Him/His | oneillgd@iu.edu | Staff Directory

Ruth Byers manages Records Office operations and degree progress for the master’s programs in the O'Neill School.  She has managerial oversight of student records relating to admission, registration, grade collection/reporting, and degree certification. She is responsible for reporting to internal and external constituents related to student admission, progress and graduation.

She/Her/Hers | oneillrc@iu.edu | Staff Directory

A.J. Brock maintains graduate student records and updates Academic Advising Reports. A.J. certifies that student degree requirements are fulfilled, facilitates enrollment issues, processes academic exception forms, and initiates administrative enrollment requests/schedule adjustments. A.J. reviews student records in regards to degree and graduation requirements.

He/She/They | oneillrc@iu.edu | Staff Directory

Meredith Dreiman serves as the leader of advising and academic planning for domestic and international students pursuing O’Neill’s master’s degrees and certificates. This includes student retention, academic planning/advising, and academic probation/dismissal processes. She works to lead co-curricular programming designed to engage and support students. Additionally, she collaborates with various departments within the MPO to implement new initiatives and improve degree programs.

She/Her/Hers | agoneill@iu.edu | Staff Directory

Calendly link: https://calendly.com/mdreiman

Julia Driscoll serves as an academic advisor for O'Neill graduate students, with special focus on students in the MAAA/MAAA-MPA, MIA/MIA-MPA, and Online MPA programs. Julia also develops engagement and professional development opportunities for students in O'Neill's arts administration programs, collaborates with the MPO recruitment team for special initiatives, and supports arts administration curriculum planning and program development.

She/Her/Hers | jushanno@iu.edu | Staff Directory

Calendly link:  https://calendly.com/jushanno

Ben Pogorelc serves as an academic advisor for O'Neill graduate students, with special focus on students in the MES, MSES, and MPA-MSES programs. He is responsible for academic planning services for O’Neill environmental master’s degree students, including developing and executing retention services and working alongside faculty and administrators to ensure effective student support. Additionally, he collaboratively coordinates orientation for residential students and actively designs student enrichment initiatives, while also evaluating and measuring the success of student services initiatives to inform future programming.

agoneill@iu.edu | Staff Directory

Calendly link: https://calendly.com/bpogorel