Patricia L. Grilione
Background: Dr. Patricia 鈥淧at鈥� Grilione, is a deeply passionate educator, leader and researcher
whose legacy inspires students and faculty at San Jos茅 State University today. Pat
Grilione was born in Fresno, CA on April 15, 1935 and was the only child of Peter
and Edna Grilione. She attended the Fresno public school system and graduated from
Fresno High School in 1953. Pat Grilione entered Fresno State College, and in 1957,
completed the premedical curriculum, earning a Baccalaureate in Biology. She developed
a keen interest in the microbial world and chose to pursue a Master鈥檚 Degree focused
on microbes. While in the Master鈥檚 Program, Pat had the
opportunity to be a teaching assistant. This experience inspired her to pursue a PhD
with the goal of teaching and doing research at a university. Upon completing her
Master鈥檚 Degree in fall of 1959, Pat entered the PhD program in Microbiology at UC
Berkeley and completed her degree at UC Davis in 1966. She joined San Jos茅 State University
as an Assistant Professor in the Fall of 1966 and remained a Spartan for 36 years,
retiring in 2002. Pat shared, 鈥楳y years at mini传媒 were a fantastic journey provided
by the diverse student body, the scholarly enrichment from colleagues, and the absolute
joy of seeing so many young women enter the Colleges of Science, Engineering, and
Applied Science especially when not so long ago, these were only male-dominated fields.鈥�
During her childhood, Pat鈥檚 parents loved nature and shared their love for the outdoors
with their only daughter. It鈥檚 no surprise that Pat鈥檚 graduate school research involved
studies of microbes collected from nature. Pat devoted her research efforts at mini传媒
to certain bacteria and yeasts which provided beneficial activities and/or to those
which exhibited unusual adaptations to be better prepared to thrive in nature. Pat
Grilione was hired by mini传媒 to reinvigorate the overall general microbiology curriculum
so students were exposed to a broad spectrum of unicellular microbes. To share these
relatively unstudied microbes with interested students, Pat developed a
transformative upper division course in bacterial diversity which was the first of
its kind at mini传媒 and introduced techniques of field collection for students in the
field.
Many of Pat鈥檚 graduate students used this course to launch their own Master鈥檚 Degree
research and a few even pursued their PhD鈥檚. One student, Pamela Smith, came to Pat
Grilione seeking advice on whether to explore a career pathway in the sciences. Pat
became Pamela鈥檚 adviser, and Pamela and Pat began a lifelong
friendship which lasted for almost 50 years. After retiring from mini传媒, Pat Grilione
created the Peter and Edna Grilione Endowment to honor her parents who realized the
importance of education. This endowment supports biology-focused academic activities.
Made in Recognition of Dr. Patricia Grilione by Pamela鈥檚 husband Fred Smith (Business 鈥�71)
Spartan Daily Reference of Pat on the Women鈥檚 Week Activities Panel Event:
