Patricia L. Grilione

Background: Dr. Patricia “Pat” Grilione, is a deeply passionate educator, leader and researcher whose legacy inspires students and faculty at San José 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’s Degree focused on microbes. While in the Master’s 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’s 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 José State University as an Assistant Professor in the Fall of 1966 and remained a Spartan for 36 years, retiring in 2002. Pat shared, ‘My years at SJSU 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.’

During her childhood, Pat’s parents loved nature and shared their love for the outdoors with their only daughter. It’s no surprise that Pat’s graduate school research involved studies of microbes collected from nature. Pat devoted her research efforts at SJSU 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 SJSU 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 SJSU and introduced techniques of field collection for students in the field. 

Many of Pat’s graduate students used this course to launch their own Master’s Degree research and a few even pursued their PhD’s. One student, Pamela Smith, came to Pat Grilione seeking advice on whether to explore a career pathway in the sciences. Pat became Pamela’s adviser, and Pamela and Pat began a lifelong
friendship which lasted for almost 50 years. After retiring from SJSU, 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’s husband Fred Smith (Business ‘71)

Spartan Daily Reference of Pat on the Women’s Week Activities Panel Event:
https://scholarworks.sjsu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=5450&context=spartandaily