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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. | ||||||