Mary Helen O'Connor

Dr. Mary Helen O’Connor is an assistant professor of English and Director of the Center for Community Engagement at Georgia State University. Her teaching, research, and community advocacy work focus on the lives and experiences of refugees and immigrants. She has created and teaches courses considering the political, cultural, and psychological consequences of forced migration. Dr. O’Connor is a co-investigator for community engagement on a Prevention Research Center grant awarded Georgia State by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The grant focuses on health disparities and community needs of migrant people in the city of Clarkston, Georgia. Nurturing the campus-community connection has been the foundation of her research and teaching whether in the English composition classroom or the community. She works closely with community residents, partners, organizations, and local government to address the needs of the “most diverse square mile in America” as the city of Clarkston, her home campus, was dubbed by Time Magazine.

She co-founded a student mentoring program for refugee students, MINA (Mentoring Initiative for New Americans) with Dr. Heval Kelli, a Syrian refugee and Georgia State alum. In 2018, she received the Carl V. Patton President’s Award for Community Service and Social Justice Outstanding Faculty Award, and the George M. Sparks Award, recognizing GSU’s unsung heroes who exemplify a willingness to go the extra mile with good humor and perseverance.” In 2018, O’Connor was named a “Daily Point of Light” by Points of Light, the world’s largest organization dedicated to volunteer service established by President George H.W. Bush during his presidency. The award recognizes extraordinary volunteers who are donating their time and talent to better their communities. She is a recipient of the NISOD Teaching Excellence Award, led the college-wide reading program for many years, and actively publishes and presents on refugee and migration issues. O’Connor, a tenured faculty member, was formerly the senior faculty associate for Perimeter in Georgia State University’s Office of International Initiatives. She received her B.S. from the University of Florida’s College of Journalism and Communication, her master’s degree in English and English education from Agnes Scott College, and her doctoral degree in Rhetoric and Composition from Georgia State University.