O'Sullivan Award - Judy Primavera

Judy Primavera became an Orange “transplant” in 1986.  Her early local community involvement focused mainly on issues and activities related to her young family including being an active member of the Race Brook School PTA, leader of Race Brook’s Brownie and Girl Scout troops, and PTO member at Amity Middle School and Amity High School.  Judy later joined the Executive Board of the Friends of the Case Memorial Library serving as Vice President and President for some of that time. Judy also served on the founding Board of the Orange Art & Culture Council.  Judy has been a member of the Orange Democratic Committee since 2010.

Judy is a Mount Holyoke College graduate, and she received her Doctorate in Clinical-Community Psychology from Yale University.  Judy is a licensed psychologist in the State of Connecticut who engaged in full time clinical work at the Child Guidance Center of Greater Bridgeport in the 1980’s and served as a consultant for program development and evaluation for the New Haven Public Schools, the Bridgeport Public Schools, Action for Bridgeport Community Development, Hall Neighborhood House, and the United Way of Greater Fairfield County.  Judy retired as a Professor of Psychology at Fairfield University.  Judy is the founder of the Kirby Family Literacy Project at Fairfield University which for nearly 30 years has provided school-readiness and literacy enhancing services to the children and families in Bridgeport.  She also serves on the Board of Directors of ‘rkids Family Center in New Haven.  

Much of Judy’s service to the Orange community and beyond is through her role as the co-founder and President of the Jamie Hulley Arts Foundation, a non-profit organization created in memory of her daughter, Jamie Alaine Hulley. Since its inception in 2002, the foundation has contributed over hundreds of thousands of dollars in arts educational programming and scholarships to local communities, especially the Orange-Amity community, touching the lives of thousands of individuals each year.

Judy has been the recipient of national, state, and local awards including the Earnest A. Lynton Award for Faculty Professional Service, the SBC national Telecommunications Partnership Award, the Connecticut Department of Higher Education’s leadership in Community Service Award, Distinguished Service Award from Connecticut’s Department of Children & Families, Delta Kappa Gamma International Woman Educators Honor Society’s “Woman of Vision” Award, the Bridgeport Community Service Award, and at Fairfield University, the 1996 Teacher of the Year Award, the Martin Luther King Visions Award, and the Alumni Association’s Distinguished Faculty Award.