Patricia O’Rourke

Patricia O’Rourke holds a Ph.D. in Education and Graduate Certificates in Human Rights (HRTS) and Indigeneity, Race, Ethnicity, and Politics (IREP) from the University of Connecticut. Her transdisciplinary scholarship explores root causes of racial and social disparities and our capacity to imagine and build public policy to promote civil and human rights.

Connecting theory with action, Patricia 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. She was the recipient of multiple grants through UConn’s Humanities Institute for community-engaged initiatives, and she continues to pursue publicly-engaged research and policy change in her role as Executive Director of the Connecticut Appleseed Center for Law and Justice.