Bill Text: IL HJR0068 | 2023-2024 | 103rd General Assembly | Introduced

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Bill Title: Mourns the passing of William M. Patterson, Ph.D.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)

Status: (Engrossed) 2024-04-16 - Resolution Adopted [HJR0068 Detail]

Download: Illinois-2023-HJR0068-Introduced.html

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HJ0068 LRB103 40152 LAW 71897 r
HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION
WHEREAS, The members of the Illinois House of
Representatives are saddened to learn of the death of William
M. Patterson, Ph.D., who passed away on April 2, 2024; and
WHEREAS, Dr. Patterson, a native of Urbana, graduated from
Urbana High School in 1984; he earned his Bachelor of Arts in
Communications, Radio & Broadcast from Columbia College in
Chicago in 1990, his Master of Science in Curriculum and
Instruction from Illinois State University in Normal in 1994,
and his Ph.D. in Educational Policy Studies from the
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) in 2000; and
WHEREAS, Dr. Patterson worked as a clinical associate
professor in the School of Music, College of Fine & Applied
Arts at UIUC, and he also served as an adjunct lecturer in the
School of Information Sciences and the College of
Engineering's Technology Entrepreneurship Center; and
WHEREAS, Dr. Patterson was heavily involved with Illinois
Public Media, serving on the Community Advisory Board for
Illinois Soul, the Black-focused radio service from Illinois
Public Media that launched in February 2024; he also
co-created Illinois Public Media's Youth Media Workshop,
providing instruction to local Black youth on how to turn

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interviews with their elders into stories for WILL radio and
television; and
WHEREAS, Dr. Patterson served in many other positions
around the Champaign-Urbana area, including associate director
of the Bruce Nesbitt African American Cultural Center on the
UIUC campus and chief teen officer at the Don Moyer Boys and
Girls Club in Champaign; and
WHEREAS, Dr. Patterson belonged to numerous organizations
over the course of his life, including serving on the boards of
the Illinois Humanities Council, the Musical Arts Institute,
and 40 North, co-founding the North End Breakfast Club and the
Urban Business Network, Inc., and being a member of the
University Smart Communities Initiative Committee at UIUC and
the International Communication Association, among many more;
and
WHEREAS, Dr. Patterson was the recipient of a number of
accolades, including being named a Department of Educational
Policy Studies ICEOP Fellow by the UIUC in 1994, an Academy for
Entrepreneurial Leadership Fellow by the UIUC in 2008, and a
Fiddler Fellow by the National Center for Super Computing
Applications in 2020; more recently, he was to receive the
Distinguished Alumni Award from the Champaign Urbana Schools
Foundation; and

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WHEREAS, Dr. Patterson, affectionately known as "Dr. P",
was an educator who worked tirelessly to bring STEAM (science,
technology, engineering, arts, and mathematics) education to
under-resourced Black neighborhoods and to empower students to
tell their own stories; as a director of the Hip Hop Xpress
Double Dutch Boom Bus Innovation Lab & Data Center, he
organized his work under STEAMGenius.org to promote Black
cultural wealth, wealth he saw as rooted in and acquired by
individuals in places and spaces that are undervalued,
underestimated, and marginalized; and
WHEREAS, Dr. Patterson was a pillar of the
Champaign-Urbana African American community and will
especially be remembered for his contributions to youth
education and arts; and
WHEREAS, Representative Ammons held great admiration for
Dr. Patterson and his work, acknowledging his contributions as
a community genius; her daughter participated in his impactful
All Girls Radio program, her sons and grandson benefited from
his programs at the Don Moyer Boys and Girls Club, and her
husband, Clerk Aaron Ammons, collaborated with Dr. Patterson
on SPEAK Café alongside the Krannert Center for the Performing
Arts for 10 years, forming a close bond akin to brothers; and

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WHEREAS, Dr. Patterson is survived by his wife, Lori Gold
Patterson; three children; a grandchild; and a sister;
therefore, be it
RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE ONE
HUNDRED THIRD GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, THE
SENATE CONCURRING HEREIN, that we mourn the passing of William
M. Patterson, Ph.D. and extend our sincere condolences to his
family, friends, and all who knew and loved him; and be it
further