O'Neill School grad student puts public affairs into practice across rural Indiana

When Molly Marcuson arrived at Indiana University in 2024 to begin her Master of Public Affairs at the Paul H. O’Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs, she knew she wanted to spend her time working alongside rural communities and supporting their growth.

Through sustained involvement with the IU Center for Rural Engagement, Molly has spent the past year doing exactly that.

Molly has been involved with the center in more ways than one since first arriving at IU. During her first semester, she participated in the Sustaining Hoosier Communities (SHC) program with Daviess County as part of her Local Economic Development course, led by Clinical Assistant Professor Mitchell Berg. Working with the county’s economic development corporation, she conducted technical economic analyses to identify potential land‑use options for the county’s planned I‑69 corridor development.

The following semester, Molly continued to work with Daviess County through an SHC-partnered Planning and Community Development course led by Professor Scott Burgins. This one focused on enhancing bicycle thoroughfares in the city of Washington.

“Having SHC courses was great and allowed me to continue working with [the center] and continue my education,” she said.  

Alongside her coursework, Molly also serves as a project management intern with the center’s Creative Arts for Veterans (CAV) initiative. Coming from a military family, Molly is passionate about veterans' affairs and innately understands the challenges that many veterans face.

“CAV allows us to reach veterans in isolated rural communities, where many choose to live as they face barriers to re-integrating into civilian life,” she explained, emphasizing how the program meets veterans where they are.

Molly’s focus on rural issues doesn’t stop there. During the 2025 fall semester, she began developing heatmaps displaying food and healthcare access in Daviess, Monroe, Orange, Lawrence, Knox, Martin, and Greene counties for her Vector-Based Geographic Information Systems class through the O’Neill School. She is continuing her work on the project with the goal of creating something practical and relevant to rural Hoosiers.

Molly’s sustained engagement in this work is no coincidence. During her undergraduate years, she studied anthropology and discovered a deep interest in supporting and advocating for rural communities. That commitment ultimately shaped her decision to pursue graduate study at IU.

As her passion for rural outreach has grown, Molly has also developed a clearer understanding of the challenges rural communities face. Through her work, she has learned how it can be challenging to balance rural development with honoring local character.

“Being able to show them that a little change can benefit their community, and that you respect and can maintain the small-town character they cherish, is key,” she said. 

Through these experiences, Molly has come to better understand why change can feel daunting and why development efforts must be approached with care.

“I learned a lot about establishing trust and what successful collaboration looks like,” Molly said. “They’re really passionate and that’s something I really admire about rural communities.”

Each step in her academic and professional journey has strengthened her passion for community development and solidified her long-term career goals.

“Ultimately, what I want to do is work for regional development commissions. That way, I can still engage with rural communities,” she said. 

Molly’s involvement with the center has allowed her to actively participate in rural work, gaining real-world experience through opportunities that build on her degree's Community and Economic Development concentration and support her ultimate goal of working with rural communities in Indiana.

“Working for [the center] has given me an immense appreciation for Indiana, both its scenery and people. Being more involved in the communities around me allows me to see all that Indiana has to offer and how we can keep Indiana a wonderful place to live, especially in our more rural parts,” Molly said. 

In her newest role as a rural health scholar at the center, Molly is expanding on her development of healthcare and food access maps, supporting community health improvement planning efforts in Brown County, and working with the Center for Community-Engaged Dissemination and Implementation Research to help rural communities apply data‑driven insights to local challenges.