Full Text of SR0397 102nd General Assembly
SR0397 102ND GENERAL ASSEMBLY |
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| 1 | | SENATE RESOLUTION
| 2 | | WHEREAS, The members of the Illinois Senate are saddened | 3 | | to learn of the death of Nathaniel "Nate" Thomas, Ph.D., who | 4 | | passed away on November 7, 2020; and
| 5 | | WHEREAS, Dr. Thomas was born in Mound Bayou, Mississippi | 6 | | on February 26, 1936; he came to Chicago as a young child; he | 7 | | graduated from Wendell Phillips High School in 1953, and he | 8 | | had recently served as the president of the alumni | 9 | | association; he served in the U.S. Marines, where he earned | 10 | | the rank of corporal and performed as the bass singer with the | 11 | | Four Palms; he earned his Bachelor of Arts in Computer | 12 | | Technology, with a minor in Business Administration, from | 13 | | Roosevelt University; he received his Master of Arts in | 14 | | Vocational Guidance from Roosevelt University; he earned his | 15 | | Ph.D. in Higher Education Administration from LaSalle | 16 | | University; and
| 17 | | WHEREAS, Dr. Thomas came to the Illinois Institute of | 18 | | Technology (IIT) in 1965, where he began his career at the | 19 | | campus computer center; he was promoted to serve as assistant | 20 | | director of Cooperative Education, and he helped IIT receive a | 21 | | $25,000 grant from General Electric (GE) for minorities in | 22 | | engineering in 1973; he used the funds from GE to establish a | 23 | | pre-engineering program on campus called Early Identification |
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| 1 | | (Early ID) beginning in 1974, which was a summer-long program | 2 | | to bring high-potential students from Chicago area high | 3 | | schools to campus and expose them to the engineering | 4 | | profession; his efforts led to 20% of those students later | 5 | | attending IIT, establishing Early ID as a novel recruitment | 6 | | strategy; he was promoted to director of Admissions; he | 7 | | oversaw increasing undergraduate enrollment to 801 freshmen, | 8 | | which included a 433% increase in minority enrollment; and
| 9 | | WHEREAS, Dr. Thomas served as executive director for the | 10 | | Committee for Institutional Cooperation and Midwest Programs | 11 | | for Minorities in Engineering from 1977 to 1980; and
| 12 | | WHEREAS, Dr. Thomas returned to the Illinois Institute of | 13 | | Technology and served as the head of Minority Affairs; he | 14 | | oversaw the graduation of 97 Black engineers from IIT in 1982, | 15 | | the highest in the country regardless of the size of the | 16 | | university; he retired as assistant vice president of External | 17 | | Affairs in 1988; over the course of his illustrious career at | 18 | | IIT, he oversaw the recruitment of hundreds of talented Black | 19 | | and Latinx students to IIT, raised hundreds of thousands of | 20 | | dollars for scholarships, connected students to summer jobs | 21 | | and long-term employment, and provided expensive graphing | 22 | | calculators until students could afford their own; under his | 23 | | leadership, minority graduates of IIT became engineers, | 24 | | doctors, lawyers, entrepreneurs, architects, accountants, |
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| 1 | | business managers, and ministers; and
| 2 | | WHEREAS, Dr. Thomas also served as the vice chancellor of | 3 | | Student Services for the City Colleges of Chicago; and
| 4 | | WHEREAS, Dr. Thomas received a number of accolades during | 5 | | his career, including the Reginald H. Jones Distinguished | 6 | | Service Award by the National Action Council for Minorities in | 7 | | Engineering in 1983 and the National Society of Black | 8 | | Engineers (NSBE) Golden Torch Legacy Award at the | 9 | | organization's national convention in 2011; he was honored | 10 | | with a Nate Thomas Tribute, a three-day event with over 200 | 11 | | guests, on the Illinois Institute of Technology campus in | 12 | | 2009; he became the namesake of the Nate Thomas Legacy | 13 | | Scholarship in 2015; and
| 14 | | WHEREAS, Dr. Thomas was a pioneer of diversity, equity, | 15 | | and inclusion; he made an indelible impact on the lives of | 16 | | hundreds of students throughout his career and enriched the | 17 | | STEM workforce for generations to come; and
| 18 | | WHEREAS, Dr. Thomas was preceded in death by his parents, | 19 | | Aaron and Marie Thomas; his daughter, Taunda Thomas; and his | 20 | | brothers, Aaron (Brown) Thomas and Jerry Thomas; and
| 21 | | WHEREAS, At the time of his death, Dr. Thomas was survived |
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| 1 | | by his children, Rhonda Thomas, Barbara (BJ) Thomas, Dwayne | 2 | | Thomas, Jennifer Chalmers, and Susan Thomas Smith; 12 | 3 | | grandchildren; six great-grandchildren; four nieces; two | 4 | | nephews; and a host of friends, relatives, and mentees; | 5 | | therefore, be it
| 6 | | RESOLVED, BY THE SENATE OF THE ONE HUNDRED SECOND GENERAL | 7 | | ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we mourn the passing of | 8 | | Nathaniel "Nate" Thomas, Ph.D., and extend our sincere | 9 | | condolences to his family, friends, and all who knew and loved | 10 | | him; and be it further
| 11 | | RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be | 12 | | presented to the family of Dr. Thomas as an expression of our | 13 | | deepest sympathy.
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