Cooley Honored

Cooley Honored

The late Mortimer E. Cooley, the engineer-educator who was instrumental in bringing the U-M College of Engineering to world prominence, was honored recently 32 years after his death.

On Sept. 23, Cooley, who died in 1944 at age 89, was inducted into the Michigan Highways Hall of Fame at ceremonies at Lansing’s Olds Plaza Hotel.

According to the official citation, “in 47 years on the faculty of the University of Michigan (1881 to 1928), both as professor and dean, Cooley was mainly responsible for elevating its College of Engineering from a minor position to one of the most outstanding in the world.

"He was the leading exponent of a broader education for engineers beyond the technical requirements of the profession and of the involvement of engineers in public affairs. He helped establish at the University both a short course for in-service training of highway engineers and officials, and a laboratory for the testing of road materials, one of the first in the country.

“As chairman of the State Highway Advisory Board (1933-43), he was in the forefront of the efforts to make Michigan’s highway system one of the nation’s best.”

Cooley’s grandson, James Cooley Houston of Jackson, a 1931 U-M graduate, accepted the award. U-M representatives at the award ceremonies were Prof. Robert Hanson, chairman of the Civil Engineering Department, and professor and associate dean emeritus Arlen Hellwarth.