Mortimer E. Cooley (b. Canandaigua, New York, March 28, 1855; d. 1944) was a professor and dean of the University of Michigan College of Engineering.
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In 47 years on the faculty of the University of Michigan (1881-1928), 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 firsts in the country. As chairman of the State Highway Advisory Board (1933-1943), he was in the forefront of efforts to make Michigan's highway system one of the nation's best.
Sources
- Mortimer E. Cooley Papers 1873-1944, Bentley Historical Library.
Dean of the College of Engineering of the University of Michigan; correspondence, letter books, appraisals and reports, lectures, blueprints, newspaper clippings, photographs, and other materials concerning his activities as dean of the College of Engineering, engineer for the U.S.S. Yosemite in the Spanish American War, chairman of the Block Signal and Train Control Board, Democratic candidate for the U.S. Senate in 1924, and coordinator for the P.W.A. in Michigan in 1933-1935; also genealogical materials on the Cooley family.
