Patricia Ryan, an Arizona transplant, is originally from the Midwest. She began her career in higher education working as the Office Manager in the Department of Electrical Engineering at the University of WI, reporting to the chair of the department. Patty has also worked as an elementary school teacher in the Milwaukee Public School System, owned an art gallery specializing in work by local artists, and in the corporate world as an Account Manager at a large national insurance company where she was responsible for managing the employee benefit programs for large employers.
She began her career at ASU in June of 2014 as a Program Coordinator working for David Guston in the Center for Nanotechnology, in the School for the Future of Innovation in Society. In November of 2015 she transferred to the Department of Electrical, Computer and Energy Engineering, in the Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering, where she worked for Stephen Goodnick, the Deputy Director of LightWorks and Co-Director of QESST as well as 13 additional ECEE faculty members. In June 2017, Patty worked in the Deans Office of The College of Liberal Arts and Sciences as an Executive Assistant to the Dean of Humanities. In October 2021 Patty transered to ASU EdPlus at the Skysong campus, working as an Executive Assistant in the Office of the Dean.