HR1470

LRB095 21754 KXB 51966 r






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HOUSE RESOLUTION


 
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    WHEREAS, The members of the Illinois House of 
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Representatives are pleased to congratulate Paula Allen-Meares 
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on her selection as the next chancellor of the University of 
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Illinois at Chicago (UIC); and

 
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    WHEREAS, Paula Allen-Meares, dean of the nationally 
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top-ranked school of social work at the University of Michigan, 
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has been selected as the next chancellor of UIC; the chancellor 
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serves as the executive officer of the UIC campus and reports 
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to the president of the University of Illinois;

she would take 
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office effective January 16, 2009, and would assume the helm of 
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a UIC campus that ranks 47th nationally in federally funded 
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research, enrolls 25,000 undergraduate, graduate and 
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professional students, employs 12,000 faculty and staff, and 
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operates with a total annual budget of about $1.7 billion; and

 
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    WHEREAS, Paula Allen-Meares is a high-aspiration, 
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high-achieving leader who for 15 years has kept a professional 
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school of a leading university at the very top of the national 
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rankings; the search committee described her as a role model 
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for the UIC community, an academic leader, and highly 
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productive scholar who is personally involved in vital areas of 
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improving peoples' lives; and
 
 


 






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    WHEREAS, Paula

Allen-Meares has been dean of the school of 
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social work at the University of Michigan since 1993 and is the 
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Norma Radin Collegiate Professor of Social Work as well as a 
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professor of education at the university; prior to joining the 
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University of Michigan, she was a professor and dean of the 
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school of social work at the University of Illinois at 
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Urbana-Champaign, where she received her master's and Ph.D. 
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degrees; her bachelor's degree was earned at the State 
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University of New York at Buffalo; and

 
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    WHEREAS, In addition to the UIC chancellorship, she will 
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hold faculty appointments in social work and education at the 
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UIC and Urbana campuses; her academic career has been 
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distinguished during the nearly four decades since she first 
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enrolled in the master's of social work program on the U. of I. 
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Urbana-Champaign campus, where she rose between 1970 and 1993 
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from graduate student and teaching assistant in the school of 
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social work to professor and dean of the school; and

 
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    WHEREAS, Her interest and expertise focus on social work as 
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it relates to educational settings and adolescents; in addition 
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to her administrative experience as a dean at Michigan and 
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Illinois, Allen-Meares has conducted extensive research in her 
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field and her findings have been widely published; and

 
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    WHEREAS, She is a member of the Institute of Medicine of 
 


 






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the National Academies and is a trustee of the New York Academy 
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of Medicine; at Michigan's school of social work, she is 
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principal investigator of the Global Program on Youth, an 
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initiative supported by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, and the 
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principal investigator of the Skillman Good Neighborhoods 
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Grant and the National Institute of Mental Health's Social Work 
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Research Center on Poverty, Risk and Mental Health; therefore, 
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be it

 


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    RESOLVED, BY THE  HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE 
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NINETY-FIFTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we 
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congratulate Paula Allen-Meares on her appointment and look 
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forward to the great things she will accomplish as chancellor 
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of the University of Illinois at Chicago; and be it further

 
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    RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be 
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presented to Paula Allen-Meares as a symbol of our respect.