Grand Marshal

Susan Stuban Monks, JD, is an attorney, educator, and former Naval officer whose career spans maritime operations, law, and higher education. She currently serves as a Magistrate for the State of Connecticut Judicial Branch, where she has adjudicated small claims, motor vehicle, and infraction matters since 2011.

Mrs. Monks began her legal career in 1990 with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Region 2, providing counsel in the Superfund Branch. There, she negotiated settlements, managed enforcement actions under federal environmental statutes, and worked alongside the U.S. Department of Justice on complex national priority cases. Before entering law, she served as a U.S. Coast Guard licensed Merchant Marine Officer for Atlantic Richfield Oil Company, where she was responsible for navigation and vessel safety aboard crude oil tankers. Her engineering background also includes positions with the U.S. Army Communications-Electronics Command and Analytics, supporting defense equipment procurement and compliance as a government employee and later, as a consultant.

A Lieutenant in the United States Naval Reserves from 1978-1991, she actively drilled with the Naval Control of Shipping Unit 601, New Haven, Connecticut as a training officer. She was actively deployed in 1985 as the Operations Officer/Navigator for Maritime Prepositioning Squadron 2, onboard the flagship, MV Cpl. Louis J. Hauge Jr. The mission successfully prepositioned the squadron to Diego Garcia, British Indian Ocean Terminal. She continues to serve the veteran community as Vice President of the Western Connecticut Military Officers Association, chairing the annual Young American Awardee scholarship banquet honoring patriotic high school graduating Seniors. As Vice-Commander of Ukrainian American Veterans Post 33, she has assisted in fundraising and humanitarian aid efforts to support the Ukrainian military and civilian victims of the current conflict. She is a member of the American Legion A.V. Napolitano Post 141, Trumbull.

A dedicated educator, Mrs. Monks has been an Adjunct Professor of Law at Western Connecticut State University and Connecticut’s community colleges since 2004, teaching courses in commercial, tort, probate, real estate, and human rights law. She has also instructed environmental law at the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy. Beyond the classroom, she is a certified mediator, as well as a commercial arbitrator panelist with the American Arbitration Association.

Mrs. Monks earned her Juris Doctor from Quinnipiac University School of Law (then University of Bridgeport School of Law) in 1990 and her Bachelor of Science from the United States Merchant Marine Academy in 1982. She is admitted to practice law in Connecticut and Federal Courts and the Military Court of Appeals.

An active volunteer and community leader, Mrs. Monks supports Make-A-Wish Connecticut and serves on the board of St. Peter and St. Paul Byzantine Catholic Church in Ansonia, CT. She is a parishioner of St. Theresa Catholic Church, Trumbull, and St. Cyril and Methodius Church, Bridgeport. Her career reflects a lifelong commitment to faith, family, public service, maritime tradition, and the advancement of justice.

Mrs. Monks was married to the late Thomas Monks, the former Trumbull Fire Commissioner and Long Hill Volunteer Firefighter, for 30 years. She has resided in Trumbull for 27 years and raised five children, Lydia DeCastra (husband John), Paul (fiancée Sarah Philips), Bridget, Patrick (fiancée Chloe Shoemaker), and Peter. She has six grandchildren, Augustus, Mary Claire, Thomas, Therese, Genevieve, and Lucille.