SENATE RESOLUTION NO. 28

(By Senators Stollings, Foster, Browning, Prezioso, Yost, Plymale and Unger)

Memorializing the life of Dr. Mildred Mitchell-Bateman, friend, psychiatrist, former State Director of the Department of Mental Health, former Vice President of the American Psychiatric Association and former Chair of the Psychiatry Department at Marshall University’s School of Medicine.

     Whereas, Dr. Mildred Mitchell-Bateman was born in Brunswick, Georgia, in 1922 to a minister and a registered nurse; and

     Whereas, Dr. Mildred Mitchell-Bateman graduated from Johnson C. Smith University in Charlotte, North Carolina in 1941 and received an M.D. from the Women’s Medical College of Pennsylvania; and

     Whereas, Dr. Mildred Mitchell-Bateman came to West Virginia when she was hired as a staff physician at West Virginia’s Lakin State Hospital for the mentally ill, where she would meet William L. Bateman, whom she married in 1947; and

Whereas, Dr. Mildred Mitchell-Bateman became clinical director of Lakin State Hospital in 1955 after leaving to practice privately and attend the Meninger School of Psychiatry in Topeka, Kansas; and

     Whereas, Dr. Mildred Mitchell-Bateman was appointed Director of the Department of Mental Health by Governor Wallace Barron in 1962, becoming the first African-American woman to head a state agency in West Virginia; and

     Whereas, In 1973, Dr. Mildred Mitchell-Bateman became the first African-American woman to serve as Vice President of the American Psychiatric Association and, four years later, was named one of four psychiatrists on the President’s Commission on Mental Health; and

     Whereas, In 1977, Dr. Mildred Mitchell-Bateman became Chair of Psychiatry Department at Marshall University’s School of Medicine; and

     Whereas, Dr. Mildred Mitchell-Bateman’s dedicated advocacy on behalf of the mentally disabled, exemplified by a program called “Breaking the Disability Cycle” which she developed to give hope to patients who were previously considered untreatable, has earned numerous awards and distinctions including the Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Psychiatric Association in 2000 and the Governor’s Award for Civil Rights Contributions in 2004; and

     Whereas, The Mildred Mitchell-Bateman Hospital, formerly Huntington State Hospital, bears her name acknowledging the ongoing legacy of her efforts; and

     Whereas, Sadly, this heroic West Virginian passed away on January 25, 2012, leaving behind family, friends, countless patients, colleagues, former students and a State greatly bereaved by her departure; therefore, be it

     Resolved by the Senate:

    That the Senate hereby memorializes the life of Dr. Mildred Mitchell-Bateman, friend, psychiatrist, former State Director of the Department of Mental Health, former Vice President of the American Psychiatric Association and former Chair of the Psychiatry Department at Marshall University’s School of Medicine; and, be it

Further Resolved, That the Senate expresses its deepest sympathies to the family and friends of Dr. Mildred Mitchell- Bateman on her passing; and, be it

Further Resolved, That the Clerk is hereby directed to forward a copy of this resolution to members of Dr. Mildred Mitchell-Bateman’s family.