Patrick Ghezzi earned his Bachelor of Arts in psychology in 1974 and his Master of Science in experimental psychology in 1978 (with Larry Miller) at Western Washington University. He received his doctorate in the experimental analysis of behavior in 1985 at Utah State University (with Carl Cheney).
Ghezzi served on the research faculty in the Department of Special Education and Rehabilitation at the University of Arizona before coming to the University of Nevada, Reno in 1992, and in 1995, he co-founded (with Sid Bijou) the University of Nevada, Reno’s Early Childhood Autism Program. He became the director of the Behavior Analysis Program at the University in 2002 and has been a Board Certified Behavior Analyst since 2004.
His entrepreneurship includes directing the Early Childhood Autism Program and serving as the senior consultant for the Center for Advanced Learning; the City of Reno Parks, Recreation and Community Services; Washoe County School District; and Washoe County Social Services.