Joseph O'Grady

Professor Joseph O'Grady has been teaching at Champlain College since 1988. He has taught nearly a dozen different business and management courses over the past 22 years. Currently he focuses on Human Resource Management I and II, Problem Analysis & Decision Making and Business Research Methods. Besides teaching, he also served a three-year term as Chair of the Division of Business during the time Champlain was transitioning from a 2-year to a 4-year college. In 2005-2007 he was awarded the Edward P. Lyman Professorship in recognition for his outstanding contributions to teaching, service and student engagement at Champlain College. His academic interests include: best practices in human resources, trends in employment law, business problem solving models, workplace competencies, and sustainable business practices. He is a member of the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM).

Before coming to Champlain, he sampled a variety of positions in the public and private sectors in two countries. He worked at the University of Vermont for two years participating in research on Vermont's farm and rural economy and guest lecturing in economics classes. During this time he developed an innovative methodology to measure the economic value of honeybee pollination to a rural economy. His model has been applied by agronomists and cited by researchers in the United States, Canada, England, Australia, Poland, Kenya, as well as by the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations. Prof. O'Grady has also worked in golf and resort operations, as a marketing researcher, and as a consultant with the Small Business Administration. He began his career in Canada as a labor market analyst with the Canadian government.

Prof. O'Grady's degrees include: a Bachelor's degree in Business Administration (BBA) from the University of Prince Edward Island, Canada; a Master's degree in Business Administration (MBA) from Plymouth State University in NH; and a Master's degree in Economics (MS) from the University of Vermont. He holds the national certification of "Senior Professional in Human Resources" (SPHR), awarded by the Society for Human Resource Management.

Prof. O'Grady lives in Burlington with his wife Brenda (who also works at Champlain) and teenage daughter, Eileen. She is a talented fiddler and her dad is her "official roadie" shuttling her and fellow musicians to their gigs. In his downtime he reads extensively, walks for exercise, does home repair projects, follows the ups and downs of Notre Dame football, practices thinking like Sherlock Holmes, and samples craft brews. He and his family love to spend summer vacations on the shoreline of his birthplace, Prince Edward Island. Much of Prof. O'Grady's volunteer work is currently focused on his daughter's school. He organizes and promotes contra dances to benefit the school; he is a class field trip driver; he serves on the school's Buildings & Grounds Committee. Recently he has also been a strategic planning consultant to Vermont Catholic Charities.

He says the most satisfying thing about teaching at Champlain College is seeing his students grow in knowledge and confidence during their time here. In particular he enjoys seeing them pass through his Human Resource Management classes and become inspired and enthusiastic about the field. They find an internship in HR, land a first HR job, and then pursue professional certification. The circle is complete when they return to Champlain as recruiters for their organizations. There is great satisfaction in helping someone find their niche in life.

For internships, his HR students have interned at such places as Lake Champlain Chocolates, Recycle North (now ReSource), Lake Champlain Ferries, Burton Snowboards, Spherion Recruiters, Ben & Jerry's, HR Sentry and Sheraton Burlington Hotel.

You'd never guess that long before motor scooters became cool (again) Prof. O'Grady was an avid "scooterist." For the past 15 years he has commuted to Champlain on a venerable 1993 Honda motor scooter. "It gets 90 mpg, it leaves a light footprint on the earth, and we can always find a parking spot!" You might also be surprised to know that he holds dual citizenships in Canada and the United States.

TAGS: Faculty/Staff, Business Division, Accounting, Business, International Business, Legal Studies, Marketing