Lawrence County, population 45,518, is known as “Limestone Country” because of the stone terrain and active limestone industry found there. Caves, caverns, forests, and rivers make up much of the county, aside from its communities of Bedford and Mitchell. It is located 25 miles south of Bloomington.
The county demonstrated outstanding leadership and commitment to improving quality of life for its citizens through a variety of civic initiatives, and it was selected to be the pilot Sustaining Hoosier Community for the 2017-2018 academic year.
In partnership with Sustaining Hoosier Communities, Lawrence County identified sustainability projects for their community that intersected with a variety of disciplines and served a host of the community's needs. IU students and faculty worked with Lawrence County leaders on projects ranging from promoting dark skies in the Hoosier National Forest to reducing the rates of hypertension in Mitchell, IN.
Check out the final reports and deliverables from all projects below.
Sarah Murphy stands in the woods flipping through a book.
[Sarah Murphy]
My name is Sarah Murphy. I'm from Bedford, Indiana and my major is outdoor recreation, parks, and human ecology
[Video description]
Sarah Murphy, classmates, and instructor, Dr. James Farmer, explore the woods of the Avoca Fish Hatchery.
[Sarah Murphy]
So I'm taking integrated resource management with Dr. James Farmer.
[Video description]
Still images of Avoca State Fish Hatchery, including the road sign, woods, and a stream. [Fade] Instructor, Dr. James Farmer talking to students.
[Sarah Murphy]
So we are working on the Avoca Fish Hatchery project with Lawrence County and so basically the DNR is decommissioning it so they're not gonna they don't want to manage it anymore so Lawrence County is considering taking it over for their community.
[Video description]
Students walking along a trail. [Fade] Sarah Murphy writing on a clipboard in the woods. [Fade] Still images including classmate looking at a clipboard, Sarah Murphy working with another classmate, hands holding a seed.
[Sarah Murphy]
So as students we are basically creating proposals for Lawrence County because this is the first time they've really dealt with the projects like this. It's a really open slate as to what they want to do with this site so we're just providing ideas as to what they could do at this site that's gonna be economically sustainable as well as ecologically sustainable.
[Video description]
Students talking together in the woods and taking measurements.
[Sarah Murphy]
The biggest things I've learned would be you have to look at the big picture when dealing with management strategy so not focusing on what you would like to do with this site, but really knowing what the community can do with this is how they will use it. Separating yourself from the area and looking at the big picture for the community and the stakeholders involved. Being in the class that is closely involved in my community it's just it's really awesome. It makes my major feel more tangible that I'm doing work that I could see in the future like, oh, I had a part in this. So that's just, I mean, it's awesome. And also we sent out a survey of what people would like to see done with Avoca. Different ideas that we were bouncing around and we got over 700 answers. I was like proud of my community that they actually cared what was gonna happen and that they took the time to be involved in our project. A lot of people will want to go out to Colorado or Alaska and be working like national parks which is great but also there's a lot to be done within the community.
[Credits]
Sustaining Hoosier Communities, Center for Rural Engagement
Project spotlight: Sarah Murphy at Avoca Fish Hatchery
Sarah Murphy, a student in Professor James Farmer's SPH-O305: Integrative Resource Management, reflects on her experience as a native of Bedford, IN working with Lawrence County leaders to propose ways the Avoca Fish Hatchery can be preserved as a historical and cultural resource. The Avoca Fish Hatchery was built in the early 1800s, but the Indiana Department of Natural Resources decommissioned the hatchery after nearly 100 years of stocking Indiana's waters with fish so Professor Farmer's students worked with Lawrence County to distribute surveys to determine how the community wants to use the site. An overwhelming majority of the 700 responses the student-conducted survey generated concluded that the Avoca Fish Hatchery remains a beloved public space with the potential to become the social and economic hub it once was.
Projects
As the Monon South Trail continues to develop, there is a need to document its transformation and community impact.
Students from the Eskenazi School of Art, Architecture + Design will conduct plein air painting sessions along the trail as part of an annual effort to capture the evolution of the trail and trail communities over time.
Community Partners Radius Indiana
IU Instructors Amanda Smith and Caleb Weintraub, School of Art, Architecture + Design
Project Courses SOAD-S 330 Painting 2: The Landscape, SOAD-S 530 Graduate Topics in Painting (Painting the Landscape), SOAD-S 430 Painting 3: The Landscape, SOAD-S 230 Painting 1, fall 2025
Communities along the Monon South Trail are seeking ways to boost local economies by tapping into the trail’s potential to attract visitors and support small businesses.
Students from the Kelley School of Business and the Paul H. O’Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs will assess opportunities for small business development and offer recommendations to help trail communities leverage the trail for economic growth.
Community Partners Radius Indiana
IU Instructors Keith Dayton and Doug McCoy, Kelley School of Business
Mitch Berg and Scott Burgins, O'Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs
Project Courses IU Center for Real Estate Studies, BUS-A 569 Field Consulting, SPCN-V 551 SPEA Connect Week, SPEA-L 563 Planning and Community Development, fall 2025 and spring 2026
Organizations in the Uplands region seek an assessment of their strengths and areas for improvement concerning cybersecurity risk and management.
To improve digital resilience across the region, student teams from the IU Cybersecurity Clinic will assess risks, provide recommendations, and host community sessions on safe practices.
Community Partners Lawrence County Economic Growth Council, Washington County Community Foundation, Washington County Family YMCA, Bedford Chamber of Commerce, Community Foundation Partnership of Lawrence and Martin Counties
IU Instructors Isak Nti Asare, Hamilton Lugar School of Global and International Studies
North Lawrence Community Schools wanted to explore ways to maximize the effectiveness of public funding.
Graduate accounting students from the Kelley School of Business recommended innovative funding frameworks to help the district increase the impact of its resources and support student success.
Community Partners North Lawrence Community Schools
IU Instructors Chris Cook, Kelley School of Business
Project Courses BUS-A 569 Field Consulting, fall 2025
Through a series of classes in social work, students researched and analyzed the social and legal issues of drug use, abuse, and addiction. The classes explored the impacts of drug use on individuals and families and examined best practices used in other communities as models for addressing drug use issues in the Lawrence County community.
These projects and courses are ongoing and are receiving additional support from the IU Center for Rural Engagement.
Community Partners Lawrence County Circuit Court, Lawrence County Probation
IU Instructors Kristin Hamre and John Keesler, School of Social Work
Project Courses SWK-S 502: Research Methods in Social Work, SWK-S 505: Social Policy Analysis and Practice, fall 2017
As part of Maurer School of Law's Access-to-Justice (A2J) Program, students worked with Lawrence County Circuit Court to assess the most pressing and unmet legal needs of Lawrence County's underserved populations. By researching the current legal services delivery systems, students helped recommend ways to improve the delivery of civil legal services to low-income Hoosiers in Lawrence County.
Current research is ongoing and is receiving additional support from the IU Center for Rural Engagement.
IU Instructor Victor Quintanilla, Maurer School of Law
Project Course LAW-B515: Project Management for Lawyers, spring 2018
The decommissioned Avoca State Fish Hatchery is in the midst of transfer from Indiana’s Department of Natural Resources to the Lawrence County Community. The class spent the semester evaluating the site in order to propose a long-term vision and management plan for the historic, cultural resource. Students applied ecological and social theory and knowledge to the Avoca State Fish Hatchery Case, presenting the community with a variety of potential proposals to consider for the sustainable stewardship of the newly acquired resource.
Community Partner Parks and Recreation
IU Instructor James Farmer, School of Public Health, Recreation, Parks and Tourism Studies
Project Course SPH-O 305: Integrated Resource Management, fall 2017
Both Bedford and Mitchell expressed the need for increasing community participation and outreach for their community gardens. Students created fundraising, marketing, and community engagement plans for the community gardens that tailored to the specific needs of the targeted age groups as identified by each community.
Community Partner Lawrence County Community Wellness
IU Instructor Deb Getz, School of Public Health, Applied Health Sciences
Project Course SPH-F 150: Intro to Life Span Development, fall 2017
In addition to assessing the internal and external factors that affect issues of diversity in the City of Bedford, students conducted interviews and online surveys with Bedford students, parents, educators, and leaders to understand more fully Bedford residents’ attitudes, views, and perceptions of the diversity of their community. Mayor Shawna Girgis is in the process of initiating a Diversity Council to emphasize the importance of racial and cultural awareness and to foster a greater sense of diversity and inclusivity throughout Lawrence County.
Community Partner City of Bedford
IU Instructor Minjeong Kang, Media School
Project Course MSCH-R 428: Public Relations Planning and Research, spring 2018
Bedford and Mitchell are planning to build city gateways that mark the entrances of these communities and celebrate their unique identities. Students from IU, led by professors from the School of Art and Design, learned about the community identities of both cities and presented gateway and logo designs for each community to reflect their unique attributes.
Community Partners City of Bedford and City of Mitchell
IU Instructors Jenny El-Shamy and John Racek, School of Art, Architecture + Design
Project Course SOAD-A 211: Cross-Disciplinary Workshop—Design for Social Impact, fall 2017
Project teams utilized common national metrics for walkable and bicycle-friendly communities to provide a gap analysis for Bedford. Teams also researched best practices in Complete Streets policy and implementation and made specific recommendations for moving forward with aspects of the 2016 Bicycle and Pedestrian Master Plan.
Community Partner City of Bedford
IU Instructor Bill Brown, School of Public and Environmental Affairs
Project Course SPEA-S 515: Sustainable Communities, fall 2017
The City of Mitchell is in the early stages of planning a multi-use trail connecting Gus Grissom's boyhood home, the Gus Grissom Monument, and the Gus Grissom Memorial in Spring Mill State Park. A capstone team in the School of Informatics piloted a mobile application that would help monitor the use of this trail as well as allow visitors to locate specific trail markers on the application's interactive map and learn more about Gus Grissom at each stop.
The mobile app prototype is undergoing revisions to prepare for hopeful deployment in 2018-2019.
Community Partner City of Mitchell, Lawrence County Tourism Commission
IU Instructor Bryce Himebaugh, School of Informatics, Computing, and Engineering
Students assessed the feasibility of adjusting the current route of Highway 50 away from the downtown Bedford square. The class conducted a scoping study to analyze the impacts of an alternate corridor for the highway and the potential for business development in the downtown area.
Community Partner City of Bedford
IU Instructor Frank Nierzwicki, O'Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs
Project Course SPEA-V 365: Urban Development and Planning, spring 2018
To increase the number of visitors and their enjoyment of the forest, the Hoosier National Forest is pursuing Dark Sky designation for parts of the forest within Lawrence County. IU students developed prototypes of wireless light sensors and a web interface to track light pollution. The data from these systems will be used to satisfy the requirements for an ongoing application for the Hoosier National Forest to receive International Dark Sky designation.
Sensors and web interface are undergoing revisions for hopeful deployment in the 2018-2019 academic year.
Community Partner Hoosier National Forest
IU Instructor Bryce Himebaugh, School of Informatics, Computing, and Engineering
Project Course CSCI-P 442: Digital Systems, spring 2018
An important obstacle to entrepreneurship and small business start-ups is the availability of community-based workspace. In collaboration with the Bedford Chamber of Commerce, the class reimagined and redesigned the interior spaces of the historic Indiana Limestone Company headquarters in Bedford into an incubator workspace to attract and retain young entrepreneurs.
Community Partner Bedford Chamber of Commerce
IU Instructor Marlene Newman, Eskenazi School of Art, Architecture + Design
In order to assist the Little Theatre retain its position as a vibrant part of the Bedford community, students created best practices for fund development, board development, community relations and audience development. The class investigated comparable local theatres and proposed strategic plans that included both business and artistic perspectives.
Community Partners Little Theatre of Bedford
IU Instructor Ursula Kuhar, O'Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs, Arts Administration Program
Project Course AADM-Y 650: Seminar in Arts Administration, fall 2017
To address Mitchell's high rates of hypertension and cardiovascular disease, students used community-based participatory research and worked with Mitchell leaders to propose the What Moves You Mitchell? public health campaign. What Moves You Mitchell? encompasses proposed physical activity intervention programs, a host of educational materials for community-wide distribution, public health events, and trail-use and general health surveys assessing the needs of Mitchell residents to encourage physical activity and promote healthier lifestyles.
Students and community leaders are working on a 12-week physical activity program to be implemented in 2018-2019.
Community Partners City of Mitchell, Indiana Healthy Communities
IU Instructors Whitney Schlegel, College of Arts + Sciences, Department of Biology Jeanne Johnston, School of Public Health, Department of Kinesiology
Project Courses BIOL-P 451: Integrative Human Physiology, SPH-K 553: Physical Activity in Health, SPH-K 554: Seminar in Physical Activity and Wellness, fall 2017 SPH-K 556: Physical Activity Assessment in Public Health, spring 2018
IU students developed and led a personal financial health curriculum for middle school students participating in the Boys & Girls Club of Lawrence County's Teen Center. The engaging curriculum was integrated in the Boys & Girls Club's existing Money Matters program and focused on issues of financial well-being and planning and developing a sense of community belonging and participation. The curriculum met specific principles set out in the Indiana Academic Standards (IAS).
Community Partners Lawrence County Commissioner Bedford North Lawrence Schools
IU Instructor Deb Getz, School of Public Health, Applied Health Sciences
Project Courses SPH-F 180: Survey of Practice of Youth & Families, spring 2018
Center for Rural Engagement resources and social media channels
