Dekalb County Democrats

Dr. Patricia S. Vary

County Board Dist: #10

work phone: 815-753-7421

Home phone: 815-787-2502

Pat has been on the County Board since 2002 and currently serves as Vice Chair and Legislative liaison. She has been a precinct committeeman (DK32) since 2000. She has served on the Planning and Zoning Committee since 2002 and is strongly supportive of the Future Unified Comprehensive Plan for smart growth. She also serves on the Economic Development committee and is trying to encourage an increased tax base with diverse industry including knowledge-based industry as well as warehousing with higher-paying jobs. She andJulia Fauci (DK9) authored a conservation initiative that was passed by the Board in the Fall of 2007. They are responsible for workshops and a conservation website.

She raised her children in Wheaton and was on the Board and President of the League of Women Voters during critical growth years. She has served on School advisory panels and AAUW boards. Since moving to DeKalb in 1998, Pat has given several talks to local high schools and to conferences for girls interested in science. She has served on an advisory panel for the Children’s Learniing Center and the Community Foundation. She is a director of a children’s choir at her church, a violinist with the Kishwaukee Symphony Orchestra, and sings with the women’s chorus Bread and Roses, which does benefits for social support organizations in DeKalb. Pat is also a member of the DeKalb county Farmland Foundation.

After receiving her PhD, she stayed home for eight years in Wheaton raising two children, then began her full-time scientific career at NIU in 1977. She is a Distinguished Research Professor and former Chair of the Dept. of Biological Sciences at NIU. She retired in 2003 after teaching and directing research in Microbiology for 30 years. She is the mother of two grown children and loves biking, reading, music, traveling and spending time with her five young grandchildren.