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1
SENATE RESOLUTION

 
2    WHEREAS, The members of the Illinois Senate are saddened
3to learn of the death of Nathaniel "Nate" Thomas, Ph.D., who
4passed away on November 7, 2020; and
 
5    WHEREAS, Dr. Thomas was born in Mound Bayou, Mississippi
6on February 26, 1936; he came to Chicago as a young child; he
7graduated from Wendell Phillips High School in 1953, and he
8had recently served as the president of the alumni
9association; he served in the U.S. Marines, where he earned
10the rank of corporal and performed as the bass singer with the
11Four Palms; he earned his Bachelor of Arts in Computer
12Technology, with a minor in Business Administration, from
13Roosevelt University; he received his Master of Arts in
14Vocational Guidance from Roosevelt University; he earned his
15Ph.D. in Higher Education Administration from LaSalle
16University; and
 
17    WHEREAS, Dr. Thomas came to the Illinois Institute of
18Technology (IIT) in 1965, where he began his career at the
19campus computer center; he was promoted to serve as assistant
20director of Cooperative Education, and he helped IIT receive a
21$25,000 grant from General Electric (GE) for minorities in
22engineering in 1973; he used the funds from GE to establish a
23pre-engineering program on campus called Early Identification

 

 

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1(Early ID) beginning in 1974, which was a summer-long program
2to bring high-potential students from Chicago area high
3schools to campus and expose them to the engineering
4profession; his efforts led to 20% of those students later
5attending IIT, establishing Early ID as a novel recruitment
6strategy; he was promoted to director of Admissions; he
7oversaw increasing undergraduate enrollment to 801 freshmen,
8which included a 433% increase in minority enrollment; and
 
9    WHEREAS, Dr. Thomas served as executive director for the
10Committee for Institutional Cooperation and Midwest Programs
11for Minorities in Engineering from 1977 to 1980; and
 
12    WHEREAS, Dr. Thomas returned to the Illinois Institute of
13Technology and served as the head of Minority Affairs; he
14oversaw the graduation of 97 Black engineers from IIT in 1982,
15the highest in the country regardless of the size of the
16university; he retired as assistant vice president of External
17Affairs in 1988; over the course of his illustrious career at
18IIT, he oversaw the recruitment of hundreds of talented Black
19and Latinx students to IIT, raised hundreds of thousands of
20dollars for scholarships, connected students to summer jobs
21and long-term employment, and provided expensive graphing
22calculators until students could afford their own; under his
23leadership, minority graduates of IIT became engineers,
24doctors, lawyers, entrepreneurs, architects, accountants,

 

 

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1business managers, and ministers; and
 
2    WHEREAS, Dr. Thomas also served as the vice chancellor of
3Student Services for the City Colleges of Chicago; and
 
4    WHEREAS, Dr. Thomas received a number of accolades during
5his career, including the Reginald H. Jones Distinguished
6Service Award by the National Action Council for Minorities in
7Engineering in 1983 and the National Society of Black
8Engineers (NSBE) Golden Torch Legacy Award at the
9organization's national convention in 2011; he was honored
10with a Nate Thomas Tribute, a three-day event with over 200
11guests, on the Illinois Institute of Technology campus in
122009; he became the namesake of the Nate Thomas Legacy
13Scholarship in 2015; and
 
14    WHEREAS, Dr. Thomas was a pioneer of diversity, equity,
15and inclusion; he made an indelible impact on the lives of
16hundreds of students throughout his career and enriched the
17STEM workforce for generations to come; and
 
18    WHEREAS, Dr. Thomas was preceded in death by his parents,
19Aaron and Marie Thomas; his daughter, Taunda Thomas; and his
20brothers, Aaron (Brown) Thomas and Jerry Thomas; and
 
21    WHEREAS, At the time of his death, Dr. Thomas was survived

 

 

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1by his children, Rhonda Thomas, Barbara (BJ) Thomas, Dwayne
2Thomas, Jennifer Chalmers, and Susan Thomas Smith; 12
3grandchildren; six great-grandchildren; four nieces; two
4nephews; and a host of friends, relatives, and mentees;
5therefore, be it
 
6    RESOLVED, BY THE SENATE OF THE ONE HUNDRED SECOND GENERAL
7ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we mourn the passing of
8Nathaniel "Nate" Thomas, Ph.D., and extend our sincere
9condolences to his family, friends, and all who knew and loved
10him; and be it further
 
11    RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be
12presented to the family of Dr. Thomas as an expression of our
13deepest sympathy.