Repository: UIHistories Project: Board of Trustees Minutes - 1982 [PAGE 145]

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134

BOARD O F TRUSTEES

[November 20

You have brought to your trusteeship, and to the University at large, clear and thoughtful perspectives, especially in the University's relations with the people it touches and in its business and financial affairs. Although one of the few nonalumni to have served on the board, you quickly understood the nature of the University and its mission. You have chaired the Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Committee since its creation in 1976 and have shown yourself a champion of the rights of minorities and the economically deprived, but you have not spoken solely to their causes. Your concern and support for all students, as for all members of the University staff, have consistently been demonstrated throughout your service. That concern with the quality of life, shown as well in many community service commitments, has been of great value in our deliberations. In the business and financial questions facing the University, your background and expertise have also contributed to the effectiveness of the board and to the well-being of the institution. You have shown an ability to penetrate quickly to the essential question and a willingness to deal with it directly and firmly. Your counsel, humane, calm, and succinct, has helped the University to maintain and enhance its mission of service to the people of the state, and we are immensely grateful to you. The president and other administrative officers of the University wish to join with the Board of Trustees in this tribute to you and in extending best wishes to you and Mrs. Velasquez. The Board of Trustees directs that this resolution be incorporated in the minutes of today's meeting to become a part of the official public record, and that a suitable copy be given you as a permanent reminder of the esteem and affection in which you are held.

Mrs. Velasquez and the Velasquezes' daughter, Renee, were present and accepted the tribute with Trustee Velasquez. H e expressed his thanks to his fellow trustees and his pleasure in having served on the board, in particular the close association he had had with the trustees with whom he had stood for office in the election of 1972 and again in 1980. Mrs. Velasquez spoke briefly of her pleasure in meeting with the trustees and their spouses in the course of the last six years. Resolution

To Robert J. Lenz: The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois hereby recognizes your six years of service as a member of this board and gratefully expresses its appreciation for your dedicated and vigorous support of the University. From the first year of your tenure when you served as chairman of the Committees on General Policy, on Nonacademic Personnel, and on Patents, you have committed extraordinary effort and time to the work of this institution. With previous experience in higher education, you brought to the board a sensitivity to academic ideals and a keen awareness of faculty interests and values. But you also have been closely attuned to the needs of others of the University staff. Serving throughout your entire tenure on the Committee on Nonacademic Personnel, you now lead, as well, the State Universities Civil Service System Merit Board as chairman — a contribution recently recognized in your receipt of the Kathryn G. Hansen Award. In recognition of your sophistication in inter-institutional and inter-governmental relations, you have for the last two years been designated the University's representative on the Illinois Board of Higher Education. In that forum and in