Patricia Kriska earned a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Political Science and a Master of Liberal Arts, with an emphasis in International Economics and Culture, both from Southern Methodist University (SMU).
Her professional career has been spent mainly at SMU, teaching Entrepreneurship classes and managing programs in the Entrepreneurship department, as well as running a robust mentoring program for undergraduate business majors.
Patricia has taught Entrepreneurship at the undergrad, graduate, and non-credit levels, as well as seminars for entrepreneurs in several Eastern European countries, including Ukraine, Lithuania, Romania, and Czech Republic. She continues to teach in the mini-mesters, January and May.
With over 39 years of experience working with student entrepreneurs, Patricia has coached and tutored numerous thousands of students in business plan writing and small business start-ups. She has written case studies for Management textbooks, as well as monthly articles for a women’s business newspaper, and published a bi-monthly newsletter for the Entrepreneurship department at SMU.
Patricia was raised Roman Catholic and became an Episcopalian about 17 years ago. In addition to regular worship at The Church of the Transfiguration, she participates in Bible Study, Flower Guild, Daughters of the King, Food Pantry, Racial Justice Ministry, Prayer Shawl Ministry, and several other organizations. Patricia became a volunteer with International Students, Inc. about 18 months ago and developed a program for them called NGO Go, which debuted last summer. NGO Go seeks to coach and encourage students to solve a social problem in their home country while building the Kingdom of God through Entrepreneurship.
Patricia is a native of Dallas, Texas, married to her husband, Charles, for many years, and has 3 daughters, all married, and 4 wonderful grandchildren. In her spare time, she loves to cook, garden, dabble in arts and crafts, and travel internationally. Learning to paint with watercolors is her latest endeavor.
