Thomas James Cogdell began his career in 1966 as an Assistant Professor in the Chemistry Department of Arlington State College and retired in 1999 as Associate Professor at The University of Texas at Arlington.

He was born in Quanah, Texas and attended public schools in Electra, Texas. Academic training included a B. A. at Midwestern University, Wichita Falls, Texas, in 1955; M. A. at The University of Texas at Austin, 1962; and Ph. D. at Harvard University, Cambridge, MA in 1965. His research was in the laboratory of William Shive at Texas and Paul D. Bartlett at Harvard.

He was employed as a chemist at the Dow Chemical Company, Freeport, Texas from 1955 to 1958, working in processes for the production of organic fluorine compounds, before entering graduate study. During that period he also served in the U. S. Army Reserve with six months active duty at Fort Bliss and Fort Sam Houston. After earning the doctorate, he joined Bell Telephone Laboratories at Murray Hill, New Jersey from 1965 to 1966 and worked on syntheses of compounds containing the nitroxide free radical group that are stable in air. His publications include one patent assigned to the Dow Chemical Company, four research papers, and a solutions manual for a standard organic chemistry textbook by Weininger and Stermitz.

His research at The University of Texas at Arlington was supported by the Robert A. Welch Foundation from 1969 to 1972. That work led to the publication of a Master’s thesis by Grace Leong in 1973. His teaching included general chemistry, organic chemistry, chemistry for nursing majors, some graduate level organic courses, and laboratory sections. He served as liaison from the chemistry department to the UTA library for many years.

He was a member of the American Chemical Society from 1956 to 1999 and served as Chairman of the Dallas-Fort Worth Section in 1989. He belongs to other fraternal organizations and since retirement has participated in activities of the Arlington Historical Society, the Texas State Historical Association, the Texas Map Society, the Friends of the UTA Library, the Arlington Genealogical Society and other activities in the community.

Tom and Elena Cogdell were married in 1961 and have four children and two grandchildren.