Page 1 of 3 Regular Session, 2013 ENROLLED SENATE RESOLUTION NO. 119 BY SENATOR BROOME A RESOLUTION To commend Willie F. Hawkins for his forty-two years of dedicated public service and wish him well in his retirement. WHEREAS, Willie F. Hawkins has provided forty-two years of distinguished service to the citizens of Louisiana and Baton Rouge in the areas of higher education, health care, and social services; and WHEREAS, since 1984, he has served in several high level state health care administrative positions including sixteen years with the LSU System; and WHEREAS, in 1978, Willie Hawkins began his public service as the Executive Director of the Eden Park Community Health Center and also served as the Administrator of East Baton Rouge Parish Health Care Services; and WHEREAS, early in his professional career, he served in several not-for-profit positions in the Baton Rouge community including Director of Health and Social Services for Community Advancements, Inc., and Director of the Young Adult Offender Program for the Community Corrections and Rehabilitation Center; and WHEREAS, Willie Hawkins was the recipient of the two and one-half year prestigious Ford Foundation Fellowship Award in 1974; and WHEREAS, he was named Executive Assistant to the Vice Chancellor at LSU Health Sciences Center New Orleans-Health Care Services Division and CEO of the Medical Center of Louisiana in New Orleans in July 1999, having previously served as the Executive Assistant to the Vice Chancellor at LSU Health Sciences Center from July 1997 to July 1999; and WHEREAS, prior to his service with LSU, Willie Hawkins served as the Confidential Assistant to the CEO of the Louisiana Health Care Authority from November 1993 to August 1995, and January 1996 to July 1997; and SR NO. 119 ENROLLED Page 2 of 3 WHEREAS, under the Louisiana Health Care Authority, he served as the Acting Administrator of Earl K. Long Medical Center from August 1995 to January 1996, and as Assistant Administrator from April 1984 to November 1993; and WHEREAS, Willie Hawkins graduated from Southern University in 1965 with a bachelor of science degree in Business Administration and served as a Vista Volunteer at the Columbia University School of Social Work in 1966 and 1967; and WHEREAS, he is a veteran of the United States Army having served with the Military Assistance Command in Vietnam; and WHEREAS, Willie F. Hawkins retires on July 5, 2013, from LSU as the Director of Institutional Relations, a position he has held since February 2004; and WHEREAS, he can be found on any given day, at any given hour, navigating patients through the often complicated Louisiana health care system; and WHEREAS, Willie Hawkins has not only provided professional administrative leadership in public health care for many years, he also personally ensured that thousands of patients were able to get medical appointments and emergency treatment regardless of their ability to pay; and WHEREAS, there is not a single local official of city or state government, a local minister, a city-parish department head, or a local community leader that Willie Hawkins does not know on a first-hand basis; and WHEREAS, he provided invaluable legislative assistance on behalf of LSU by keeping "watch" from a key seat on the House floor; and WHEREAS, Willie Hawkins was extremely instrumental in securing from the Brown family the donation of property that make up strategic parts of the new medical clinic and urgent care center campus in North Baton Rouge; and WHEREAS, in 2011, while providing information to a legislator on a piece of legislation vital to LSU and attempting simultaneously to navigate a steep staircase in the Capitol, he fell and broke his hip sidelining him but not his telephone dialing finger for the remainder of the session; and WHEREAS, the state of Louisiana is grateful for the dedicated and professional public service of Willie F. Hawkins and further recognizes his selfless contribution to the SR NO. 119 ENROLLED Page 3 of 3 health care of Louisiana residents. THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Senate of the Legislature of Louisiana does hereby commend Willie F. Hawkins for his forty-two years of dedicated public service and wish him well in his retirement. BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a copy of this Resolution be transmitted to Willie F. Hawkins. PRESIDENT OF THE SENATE