Patricia O’Rourke

Research Associate, Connecticut Sentencing Commission

Patricia O’Rourke is a Research Associate with the Connecticut Sentencing Commission. In this role, Patricia contributes to the work of the Mental Health Subcommittee and other Commission projects through pursuing independent and collaborative research, identifying opportunities for funding and research partnerships, and supporting the success and development of student interns and graduate assistants. Additionally, Patricia maintains her own research agenda on projects related to education segregation, integration, and equity.

Patricia received her PhD in Education from the University of Connecticut (UConn) Neag School of Education and holds graduate certificates in Human Rights and Indigeneity, Race, Ethnicity, and Politics from UConn. She was recently appointed to the Commission on Racial Equity in Public Health (CREPH) and serves as chairperson of the CREPH Criminal Justice Subcommittee.

Patricia’s transdisciplinary scholarship explores the root causes of racial and social disparities and our capacity to imagine and contribute to alternative social realities for individual and collective wellbeing. Connecting theory with action, she has worked to support strategic litigation and policy, including the struggle for educational justice in the Greater Hartford area and the Sheff v. O’Neill landmark civil rights case. Patricia was the recipient of multiple grants through the Humanities Institute for community-engaged projects during her time as a graduate student, and she continues to maintain collaborative relationships with a network of individuals and organizations involved in social justice efforts.

Arts-based research and collaborative practice are integral aspects of Patricia’s work. Her poem A Container, published in the Journal of Critical Thought and Praxis, is a reflection on the dehumanizing treatment of refugees. More recently, Patricia co-authored the book chapter, Collaborative Reach of a Site-Specific Exhibition that Addresses School Segregation, with Katie Fuller in Dimensions of Curation: Considering Competing Values for Intentional Exhibition Practices.

Education

Ph.D., Education, University of Connecticut
Graduate Certificate in Human Rights, University of Connecticut
Graduate Certificate in Indigeneity, Race, Ethnicity, and Politics, University of Connecticut
B.A., Business Administration, Marist College

Research and Teaching Interests

Segregation, integration and the school-prison nexus
Mental health and the criminal legal system
Transdisciplinary studies in racial and social justice
Dialogic public pedagogy and praxis
Arts-based participatory action research