While the University of New Haven (UNH) has a number of admired faculty, few compare to Martin O’Connor.
Throughout his career at the university, O’Connor has been a significant presence in the lives of faculty and students. He has served as a professor, campus chaplain, faculty advisor to the President’s Public Service Fellowship and faculty member of the university’s committee on community service.
As a way to recognize O’Connor’s contributions to the campus community, he was awarded the 2026 Philip H. and Susan S. Bartels Award for Advocacy, Service & Leadership at this year’s Martin Luther King Jr. Day celebration. Having introduced this award to O’Connor, Interim Dean for the Henry C. Lee College of Criminal Justice and Forensic Sciences, David Schroeder, knew his service well. The introduction was a difficult one for Schroeder to write, because of O’Connor’s individuality and service at all levels.
“Of all the things that you want to say about someone who’s had the kind of cultural effect on the college and the university, Marty’s very, Marty’s singular in that regard,” Schroeder said. “There’s nobody who’s been around and has been as connected and has been as involved at all levels, I think as Mario O’Connor has.”
Michael Rossi, who recently retired from the university as associate dean for the College of Arts and Sciences, worked with O’Connor in his role as chaplain.
“Martin O’Conner is one of the most ethical people I have ever worked with,” said Rossi. “He is a great example of living a life of service.”
Using examples of O’Connor’s dedication to students, Schroeder recalled a story from his early years at the university.
“I became the assistant chair of criminal justice, the second year that I was here, and I remember at that point, I was working on a lot of scheduling stuff,” said Schroeder.
At the time, student registration was not the simple task it is now where students can set up meetings with their advisors over email and finish their meeting within a couple of minutes.
“Professors would be placed in the Tagliatela College of Engineering, where students would come in packs to then get the opportunity to schedule with professors individually,” Schroeder said. “It was a very hands-on process, and Marty and I were engaged in this a lot.”
Schroeder said students involved in extracurriculars such as athletes or members of band proved to be difficult to find a schedule for, because they needed to satisfy their requirements while working around their other commitments. Schroeder described having to work long hours with students whose schedules were challenging.
“I would look over and across the room and Marty would still be there,” said Schroeder. “He’d be working on the impossible students that he met, and I’ll be working with the Impossible Student that I met, and we just kind of had this way of agreeing that we were not gonna leave the room until we got these students what they were there to get.”
Following the murder of George Floyd in 2020, Schroeder was instrumental in the implementation of the UNCommon Course, which O’Connor co-teaches. During the class, professors rotate weekly and visit other classes, in what they call their “carousel.”
“Marty’s carousel is, I would say it’s unlike the others,” said Mike Lawlor, acting associate dean and associate professor at the Henry C. Lee College of Criminal Justice and Forensic Sciences. “It’s really inspirational for students to get them to focus on, you know, what’s gonna give them the most personal satisfaction, not just in employment, but in, you know, your personal life and stuff and so it does dovetail with the main themes of this course.”
Lawlor, a friend of O’Connor, said that O’Connor embodies service.
“Yeah, so Marty has got his hand in quite a few different things, right?” Lawlor said. “He’s very active in the community. Basically, he’s been the kickoff speaker at every campus-wide event since campus wide events began.
“Doing like a prayer, an opening prayer, and usually his prayers are preceded by a very thoughtful message appropriate to the occasion, which is, you know, and it’s important to have somebody to do that,” said Lawlor.
“I think if you talk to students who have had any interactions with him, I mean, they view him as the go to person to answer questions or to give them some inspiration or if they’re feeling down to talk to him, because I think that’s, that’s his skill set.”
Sophomore Virginia Scaccabarozzi took O’Connor’s “Tools to live a Good Life” course and described him as friendly and inviting.
“He was really nice, he found out that I was from Italy and he started talking about the campus in Prato and how was my freshman year going,” said Scaccabarozzi.
Schroeder said O’Connor is the heart and soul of the university. “Some people may not agree with that, but it’s kind of hard not to,” he said.
