Patrick O’Connor is director of college counseling at Roeper School in Birmingham, Michigan, and Social Science Department Chair at Oakland Community College in Auburn Hills, Michigan.  He has been a teacher and counselor for 25 years, including work as a middle school math teacher and as a school counselor in rural, urban, and suburban public high schools, working with caseloads over 400 students.  He also served as a counselor at Oakland Community College for 5 years, where he worked with many returning and nontraditional students. 

This variety of experiences helped Patrick build a student- centered approach to college advising, where the college selection process is designed based on the needs, interests, and abilities of the student.

Patrick is a past president of the National Association for College Admission Counseling, a recipient of the Margaret E. Addis Service to NACAC Award for authoring a chapter in the NACAC text Fundamentals of College Admission Counseling, and recipient of the 2009 NACAC Excellence in Government Relations Award, for his advocacy to include a required course in college advising in school counselor training programs in the United States. He teaches the only college advising course in Michigan-- this is one of less than 40 such classes in the US.