Eddie O'Connell

They say a college degree can take you anywhere in the world you want to go. But for Eddie O’Connell, B.A. 1989 — a lifelong resident of the greater Washington, D.C., metropolitan area — his diploma paved the way to a dream job that was just minutes away from the very place where he was born.

Born and raised in nearby Frederick, Maryland, Eddie graduated from CUA in 1989 with a B.A. in history. While at CUA, he played football and worked as a bartender, first at the Irish Times, and later at Garrett’s, a pub in Georgetown popular with CUA students. After graduating from CUA, he left Washington to attend law school at Quinnipiac University in Connecticut.  Following law school, Eddie returned to Washington, where he clerked for a judge on D.C. Superior Court and then worked as an assistant state’s attorney in Baltimore.  For the last seven years Eddie has worked as an assistant United States attorney for the District of Columbia, where he now prosecutes domestic violence and sex offenses.  He lives in Northwest Washington with his wife, Veronica Jacques O’Connell, a 1994 graduate of Trinity College. The couple has a two-year-old daughter Bridget.
 
"My experience at CUA was instrumental in getting me where I am today,” says O’Connell. "The courses in CUA’s core curriculum, including philosophy, religion and symbolic logic, gave me a solid base to read widely, think critically and to embrace an ethic of lifelong learning.” O’Connell was quick to add that some of his fondest CUA experiences came outside of the classroom, noting "the friends that I made during my years at CUA — many of whom like me never left or have returned to Washington — remain the group that I turn to."

As Homecoming and Reunions Weekend approaches, this lifelong Washington, D.C., native is eager to welcome a number of his old friends "back home.”

"I am excited to come back to campus for homecoming to see so many friends who do not live in the area.  As one who never left, I know how great the CUA campus and Brookland look today and how the reputation of the university has grown.  I am excited to see the response of friends who haven’t been home in a while and to tell them about the great things that have been going on at CUA."