Full Text of HJR0068 103rd General Assembly
HJ0068 103RD GENERAL ASSEMBLY | | | HJ0068 | | LRB103 40152 LAW 71897 r |
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| 1 | | HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION | 2 | | WHEREAS, The members of the Illinois House of | 3 | | Representatives are saddened to learn of the death of William | 4 | | M. Patterson, Ph.D., who passed away on April 2, 2024; and | 5 | | WHEREAS, Dr. Patterson, a native of Urbana, graduated from | 6 | | Urbana High School in 1984; he earned his Bachelor of Arts in | 7 | | Communications, Radio & Broadcast from Columbia College in | 8 | | Chicago in 1990, his Master of Science in Curriculum and | 9 | | Instruction from Illinois State University in Normal in 1994, | 10 | | and his Ph.D. in Educational Policy Studies from the | 11 | | University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) in 2000; and | 12 | | WHEREAS, Dr. Patterson worked as a clinical associate | 13 | | professor in the School of Music, College of Fine & Applied | 14 | | Arts at UIUC, and he also served as an adjunct lecturer in the | 15 | | School of Information Sciences and the College of | 16 | | Engineering's Technology Entrepreneurship Center; and | 17 | | WHEREAS, Dr. Patterson was heavily involved with Illinois | 18 | | Public Media, serving on the Community Advisory Board for | 19 | | Illinois Soul, the Black-focused radio service from Illinois | 20 | | Public Media that launched in February 2024; he also | 21 | | co-created Illinois Public Media's Youth Media Workshop, | 22 | | providing instruction to local Black youth on how to turn |
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| 1 | | interviews with their elders into stories for WILL radio and | 2 | | television; and | 3 | | WHEREAS, Dr. Patterson served in many other positions | 4 | | around the Champaign-Urbana area, including associate director | 5 | | of the Bruce Nesbitt African American Cultural Center on the | 6 | | UIUC campus and chief teen officer at the Don Moyer Boys and | 7 | | Girls Club in Champaign; and | 8 | | WHEREAS, Dr. Patterson belonged to numerous organizations | 9 | | over the course of his life, including serving on the boards of | 10 | | the Illinois Humanities Council, the Musical Arts Institute, | 11 | | and 40 North, co-founding the North End Breakfast Club and the | 12 | | Urban Business Network, Inc., and being a member of the | 13 | | University Smart Communities Initiative Committee at UIUC and | 14 | | the International Communication Association, among many more; | 15 | | and | 16 | | WHEREAS, Dr. Patterson was the recipient of a number of | 17 | | accolades, including being named a Department of Educational | 18 | | Policy Studies ICEOP Fellow by the UIUC in 1994, an Academy for | 19 | | Entrepreneurial Leadership Fellow by the UIUC in 2008, and a | 20 | | Fiddler Fellow by the National Center for Super Computing | 21 | | Applications in 2020; more recently, he was to receive the | 22 | | Distinguished Alumni Award from the Champaign Urbana Schools | 23 | | Foundation; and |
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| 1 | | WHEREAS, Dr. Patterson, affectionately known as "Dr. P", | 2 | | was an educator who worked tirelessly to bring STEAM (science, | 3 | | technology, engineering, arts, and mathematics) education to | 4 | | under-resourced Black neighborhoods and to empower students to | 5 | | tell their own stories; as a director of the Hip Hop Xpress | 6 | | Double Dutch Boom Bus Innovation Lab & Data Center, he | 7 | | organized his work under STEAMGenius.org to promote Black | 8 | | cultural wealth, wealth he saw as rooted in and acquired by | 9 | | individuals in places and spaces that are undervalued, | 10 | | underestimated, and marginalized; and | 11 | | WHEREAS, Dr. Patterson was a pillar of the | 12 | | Champaign-Urbana African American community and will | 13 | | especially be remembered for his contributions to youth | 14 | | education and arts; and | 15 | | WHEREAS, Representative Ammons held great admiration for | 16 | | Dr. Patterson and his work, acknowledging his contributions as | 17 | | a community genius; her daughter participated in his impactful | 18 | | All Girls Radio program, her sons and grandson benefited from | 19 | | his programs at the Don Moyer Boys and Girls Club, and her | 20 | | husband, Clerk Aaron Ammons, collaborated with Dr. Patterson | 21 | | on SPEAK Café alongside the Krannert Center for the Performing | 22 | | Arts for 10 years, forming a close bond akin to brothers; and |
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| 1 | | WHEREAS, Dr. Patterson is survived by his wife, Lori Gold | 2 | | Patterson; three children; a grandchild; and a sister; | 3 | | therefore, be it | 4 | | RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE ONE | 5 | | HUNDRED THIRD GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, THE | 6 | | SENATE CONCURRING HEREIN, that we mourn the passing of William | 7 | | M. Patterson, Ph.D. and extend our sincere condolences to his | 8 | | family, friends, and all who knew and loved him; and be it | 9 | | further | 10 | | RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be | 11 | | presented to the family of Dr. Patterson as an expression of | 12 | | our deepest sympathy. |
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