UA College of Engineering Announces T. Morris Hackney Faculty Leadership Award Winner

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – The University of Alabama College of Engineering recently announced Dr. David Cordes, associate professor and head of the computer science department, as the 2003 T. Morris Hackney Endowed Faculty Leadership award recipient. The T. Morris Hackney Endowed Faculty Leadership Award honors a faculty member who exemplifies the leadership qualities that advance and add to the stature of the College of Engineering.

This award was created as a tribute to T. Morris Hackney for his leadership of the Citation Corp. As president of Citation, Hackney supported The University of Alabama with a $1 million endowment to provide student scholarships and fund renovations of UA’s foundry. This award is made possible by contributions from Mr. John H. Josey and his son, Mr. Howard Josey.

Cordes has served the College of Engineering for 15 years. He has been involved in several professional organizations, and he has received numerous awards for his accomplishments. He has authored more than 95 publications and presentations throughout his career.

Under Cordes’ leadership, the department of computer science has enhanced its academic reputation and expanded its solid research foundation. He has been a key figure in developing innovative curricula for the department, which has been competitively awarded grants totaling more than $4.5 million.

In addition to his departmental duties, Cordes is serving as project director for the state of Alabama National Science Foundation’s EPSCoR Internet2 Initiative, working with six other research institutions within the state to expand its high-speed networking infrastructure. He also has been an active figure in the NSF-sponsored Engineering Education Coalitions project, the Foundation Coalition, serving as the national strategy director for sharing, outreach and dissemination activities.

In 1837, UA became the first university in the state to offer engineering classes and was one of the first five in the nation to do so. Today, the College of Engineering, with about 1,900 students and more than 90 faculty, is one of the three oldest continuously operating engineering programs in the country and has been fully accredited since accreditation standards were implemented in the 1930s.