Brendan O’Connor

Hometown: Staunton, VA

Education: BA, Philosophy & Religion, James Madison Univ.; M.Ed., Community Development & Action, Vanderbilt Univ.

Advisor: Dr. Andrew Gadaire

Program Track: Community

Research Interests: Sense of community, social cohesion, loneliness/isolation, and related constructs (eg, individualism, relational and political solidarity, pluralism), and implications for political and economic democracy. Specifically, understanding and developing practices, interventions, and settings that decrease loneliness, isolation, and anomie, and support social cohesion, sense of community, and both political and economic democracy in diverse societies. Also interested in how these factors relate to participatory practices in businesses, particularly those structured as cooperatives.

Hobbies: Woodworking; writing & reading poetry for open mics, etc.; Irish history & culture (playing the guitar & bodhrán, or Irish drum); hanging around with my dog, Inis; traveling to less-common places; watching political dramas (h/t Madam Secretary & Rebellion)