Memorial Service Being Planned for Emeritus University Professor Wally Cordes

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FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Renowned teacher and University Professor emeritus Wally Cordes passed away Saturday, Jan. 25. He joined the chemistry department at the University of Arkansas Department in 1959. As a scholar he specialized in crystallography, publishing more than 200 articles, and was a long-time member and leader of the American Crystallography Association.

He was best known as a teacher, however.

“Through his 40 plus years of service he developed a reputation as one of the most outstanding teachers ever that called the U of A his home,” wrote his colleague, and friend, chemistry professor Bill Durham. “University Chemistry II was his course of choice and he dedicated his life to the students in those classes, thousands of them through the years. He made the classes exciting with stunts that past students remember vividly. Sitting in the audience on the first day of class, pretending to be the janitor and discussing the potential attributes of the instructor who was obviously late is a story that is often quoted. He also had a knack for getting at the center of a difficult concept and developing ways that helped the students relate to the concepts. For example, early on in his career he was instrumental in building a giant periodic table with a complex panel of switches that allowed lights to shine behind each element as each was discussed.

“Not all of the help involved elaborate devices. In fact, most was simply putting the material in a comfortable context and getting the audience to relax. Bags of popcorn passed out during lecture sometimes did the trick. Halloween and Christmas were obvious times to take advantage of the holiday spirit with a chemistry slant.

“His enthusiasm for teaching was infectious.”

Cordes was a charter member and past president of the U of A Teaching Academy and was co-founder and two-time director of the Teaching and Faculty Support Center, which in 2002 was renamed in his honor as The Wally Cordes Center for Teaching and Faculty Support.

During his time at the university he earned the Arkansas Alumni Association Faculty Award for Teaching and Research, the Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences Master Teacher Award, the Burlington Award for Teaching, the C.A.S.E. Arkansas Professor of the Year, the Carnegie Foundation Arkansas Professor of the Year, and the Innovative Excellence in Teaching Award from the International Conference on Teaching and Learning. 

In his remembrance Durham also wrote “System President Don Bobbitt [former dean of the J. William Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences] had a description to which faculty should aspire while he was on this campus. He called these faculty teacher-scholars. They are faculty that are well recognized for their research but can also relate to the undergraduate population in the classroom. Professor Cordes was an outstanding teacher-scholar.

“If it were possible, the periodic tables in the chemistry building would be at half- mast this week as a display of sadness,” Durham wrote.

Plans are being made for a memorial service on campus for Wally Cordes. Details will be announced.

Remembrances and condolences can be left online at www.nelsonberna.com. 
Memorials may be made to the A.W. Cordes Chemistry Fund, which provides teaching awards to graduate students in the department of chemistry and biochemistry.