Dr. Maurice Tillman

Associate dean at the U of I who grew up ten blocks north of the quad

College Made Here

SAMPLE PROFILE — FILM SLOT

His story is coming to the series soon.

The Start

Maurice Tillman grew up in a rented house off North First Street, the middle of five kids. His father cleaned buildings at the university and never once walked in the front door of one.

At Central High he tested into honors classes and spent four years as the only Black kid in most of them. A counselor told him to be realistic about college. He was sixteen. He still remembers her office, the carpet, the way she said it kindly.

I was the only Black kid in my honors classes at Central. I stayed anyway. You stay anyway.

The Long Way Up

He went to the U of I anyway, washing dishes in a dorm cafeteria to cover what the grants didn't. A sociology professor hired him as a research assistant his junior year, and that changed the math on his whole life.

Three degrees later he's an associate dean at the same university. His office looks out on buildings his father used to clean at night. He keeps his dad's old key ring in the desk drawer. Some mornings he takes it out and just holds it.