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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 Caf 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
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