Dr. Pat Bosco

Kansas State '69

Ever since being the first person in his family to graduate from high school, Dr. Pat Bosco has made his family proud. Both maternal and paternal grandparents came to the United States from Italy, and his father only completed 8th grade. Now married for 35 years, Dr. Bosco’s family’s education background is extensive. His wife has four degrees, he has three degrees, and his children attended Kansas State University, the institution Dr. Bosco has been employed with ever since graduating in the Spring of 1971.

Dr. Bosco was born in Syracuse, NY, and grew up dedicated to education. When searching for the right college, he sought after the traditional public state university experience. Kansas State University met his match. It was an institution that was very dedicated to holistic education, including outside the classroom leadership development – a component Dr. Bosco says K-State still has today.

What he didn’t know was that he would never leave Manhattan, KS upon landing for summer orientation in 1969. After earning his associate’s degree at Onondago Community College in 1969, Dr. Bosco arrived on campus for summer activities and attended a fraternity involvement session. It was there he met Bob Yarrow, who was the summer recruitment chairman for the Alpha Upsilon Chapter. Dr. Bosco liked what Delta Sig had to offer a serious young man who was ready to tackle education. He moved into the chapter house the first semester, and made K-State history the second semester. After being at K-State for just seven months, Dr. Bosco was elected student body president – an election that yielded the most student voters in the history of student government elections. He admits Delta Sig played a big role in his election.

While student body president, his fraternity experience was not put to rest. He was pledge educator and Engineered Leadership Director. Upon receiving his undergraduate degree from K-State, he was offered a job as Coordinator of Student Activities with his alma mater advising student organizations and student government. His professional skills led him up the ranks at K-State where he currently serves as Vice President for Institutional Advancement and Dean of Students, a position he has held since 1987.

While in his current position, enrollment has grown from 17,000 to over 23,000 students, over $100 million has been added to the student life program he directs, a national parent and family association has been formed, and the university has designated him as one of the chief spokespersons for the largest fundraising campaign in K-State’s history totaling $500,000,000, of which $350,000,000 has already been raised. A man with this kind of skill has certainly received many honors throughout his career, one of which was the Harvey H. Hebert Award bestowed to him by Delta Sigma Phi Fraternity for his outstanding alumni service.

When reflecting on his most fond Delta Sig memory, he recalls his wedding – noting all groomsmen were Alpha Upsilon brothers from all different parts of the country. That moment was very special to him and his wife Susan, who have two wonderful children - Christopher, a manager with Accenture in Atlanta, and Mary Catherine, a senior account executive at Fleishman-Hilliard in Kansas City.

He still finds time to volunteer in community youth activities for the past 30 plus years. His summer baseball and softball teams have won state championships (Valentino’s in 1989; McDonald’s Bullets in ’94, ’96, ’98, ’00, ’01, ’02) – possibly the only coach in the state to have such a distinction.

Dr. Bosco’s advice to our undergraduates is “believe very strongly in academic pursuit. Today’s leader needs to be bright, focused, highly motivated, and have a sense of duty.”