She attended Barnard College and was a graduate of East Stroudsburg University with a bachelor's degree in education.

She also served as the Public Affairs Advisor to the U.S. Delegation to the CSCE Conference on the Human Dimension, in Paris in 1989.

Her first tour was in Paris, where she served as the Assistant Information Officer and Deputy Press Attaché.

During a three-year hiatus from the Foreign Service, Pat served as the Executive Assistant to the President and CEO of Otis Elevator Company, in Farmington, Connecticut.

Hawkins, formerly a director of quality improvement for the Otis Elevator Company who quit his job and applied to join the Foreign Service to spend more time with his wife, and has two children, Frédéric and Jessica.