Patricia Goosey O’Connor (born October 2, 1940) is the founder of the now-defunct Fashion Careers College (FCC), which was located in

San Diego San Diego ( , ) is a city on the Pacific coast of Southern California, adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a population of over 1.4 million, it is the List of United States cities by population, eighth-most populous city in t ...

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

Life and career

O’Connor has been an educator since 1963 when she graduated from

San Diego State University San Diego State University (SDSU) is a Public university, public research university in San Diego, California, United States. Founded in 1897, it is the third-oldest university and southernmost in the 23-member California State University (CS ...

and began teaching for the

San Diego Unified School District San Diego Unified School District (SDUSD) is a public school district based in San Diego San Diego ( , ) is a city on the Pacific coast of Southern California, adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a population of over 1.4 ...

. After one year away from her hometown of

, teaching at Berkeley Unified School District, she returned to

in 1965 to continue her career with the

. Taking a break from her full-time teaching duties at San Diego Unified, she took a part-time position at Patricia Stevens Modeling School to initiate a new

fashion merchandising Fashion merchandising can be defined as the planning and promotion of sales by presenting a product to the right market at the proper time, by carrying out organized, skillful advertising, using attractive displays, etc. Merchandising, within fashio ...

program offered for the first time at the school. She continued there for nine years as director and instructor of the certificate program in fashion merchandising, before founding her own college in 1979. Fashion Careers College was founded in San Diego in January 1979 in

Mission Valley Mission Valley is a wide river valley trending east–west in San Diego, California, United States, through which the San Diego River flows to the Pacific Ocean. For planning purposes the City of San Diego divides it into two neighborhoods: Mi ...

. In 1984, FCC moved to its current location at 1923 Morena Boulevard in San Diego. Over the years O'Connor has been involved in all aspects of the

fashion Fashion is a term used interchangeably to describe the creation of clothing, footwear, Fashion accessory, accessories, cosmetics, and jewellery of different cultural aesthetics and their mix and match into Clothing, outfits that depict distinct ...

industry and has taken an active role in the community. She has served on the Joint Committee to develop a Master Plan for Education-Kindergarten through the

University of California The University of California (UC) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university, research university system in the U.S. state of California. Headquartered in Oakland, California, Oakland, the system is co ...

, on the advisory board of the

California Bureau for Private Postsecondary and Vocational Education The California Bureau for Private Postsecondary and Vocational Education (BPPVE) was a unit of the California Department of Consumer Affairs whose purpose was to protect students by establishing academic standards for private institutions of higher ...

, and on the Consumer and Family Studies Division and Vocational Education Board for the

. She was on the Board of Directors of Educational Talent Search and Fashion Group International of San Diego, Inc. and was appointed Chair of the Board of Directors of the American Friends of the

Zandra Rhodes Dame Zandra Lindsey Rhodes (born 19 September 1940), is an English fashion and textile designer. Her early education in fashion set the foundation for a career in the industry creating textile prints. Rhodes has designed garments for Diana, Pr ...

Museum in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

. O’Connor is the creator of the Annual Golden Hanger Fashion Awards Gala and has served as its chair for the past 23 years. She is also the creator of a new annual event at the

Timken Museum of Art The Timken Museum of Art is a fine art museum in Balboa Park in San Diego, California, close to the San Diego Museum of Art. It was established in 1965. History The groundwork for the museum was laid in 1951 when Walter Ames helped sisters A ...

called The Art of Fashion which brings talented fashion design students from the college to create interpretations of the costumes in some of the great works of art that are part of the permanent collection at the Museum. In 2009 O'Connor was appointed by the Timken Museum as a member of the Board of Directors. She also serves as a docent and guest lecturer at the Museum.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Oconnor, Patricia American educators Living people 1940 births Fashion merchandising