RESOLUTION HONORING THE LIFE OF NATHANIEL "NATE" THOMAS, CHERISHED ILLINOIS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY ADMINISTRATOR
WHEREAS, Nathaniel "Nate" Thomas, father, grandfather, uncle, brother, trailblazer, and lifelong educator, passed away on November 7, 2020; and
WHEREAS, The Chicago City Council has been informed of Nathaniel's passing by the Honorable Pat Dowell, Alderman of the 3rd Ward; and
WHEREAS, Nate was born in Mound Bayou, Mississippi on February 26, 1936; he moved to Chicago as a young child and graduated from Wendell Phillips High School; and
WHEREAS, During his time attending Fisk University, Nate was a singer in the John Work Chorale, captain of the baseball team, and played basketball, before temporarily leaving school and joining the United States Marines Corps, where he served as a corporal; and
WHEREAS, While serving in the Marines, Nate was also the bass singer with the Four Palms, a music group that made history as the first African American group to win the worldwide All-Navy Talent Show; the Four Palms also performed on the Ed Sullivan Show twice; and
WHEREAS, Nate went on to earn a Bachelor of Arts in Computer Technology and a Master of Arts in Vocational Guidance from Roosevelt University, and a PhD in Higher Education Administration from LaSalle University; and
WHEREAS, In 1965, while still a student at Roosevelt University, Nate started working at Illinois Tech in the campus computer center before he was promoted to Assistant Director of Co-Op education where he focused on recruiting and supporting students from communities underrepresented within the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields; Nate's efforts resulted in a 433% increase in underrepresented students in his first year alone; and
WHEREAS, To further his mission in recruiting underrepresented students, Nate established the Early ID Program in 1974, a summer-long program that brought high-potential local students from Chicago area high schools to campus to ex...
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