Cockrell School of Engineering
Previously known as the College of Engineering, on July 11, 2007, the University of Texas at Austin renamed the College after 1936 graduate Ernest Cockrell Jr., whose family has over the past 30 years helped to build a $140 million endowment for the College.
Stuart R. Bell
A 30-year veteran of higher education, Bell started his career as an assistant senior engineer for Mobil Research and Development Corp. in Dallas. First joining The University of Alabama in 1986 as an assistant professor in the College of Engineering's department of mechanical engineering, Bell was named department head nine years later. With research interest in combustion engines, Bell has expertise in alternative fuels for engines, innovative engine designs and modeling of engine and engine processes. He directed UA's Center for Advanced Vehicle Technologies from 1998-2002. Immediately prior to becoming UA's president, Bell was executive vice president and provost at Louisiana State University. During Bell's tenure there and earlier at the University of Kansas, where he served as dean of its College of Engineering, those institutions opened new facilities, and student recruitment, retention and success were emphasized. Bell was awarded the Society of Automotive Engineers' Ralph Teetor Award for Outstanding Contributions to Research and Teaching in 1988. He was presented the T. Morris Hackney Faculty Leadership Award for the UA College of Engineering in 2001, and, in 2005, he received the Richard S. Woodbury Award from the American Society of Mechanical Engineers.