For release August 8, 2006

UTSI PROFESSORS HAILEY, KIMBLE, RETIRE;
HONORED AT LUNCHEON FOR LONG CAREERS

Two professors with a total of 54 years at The University of Tennessee Space Institute were honored with a retirement luncheon Aug. 2.

Drs. Kenneth R. Kimble of Manchester and Max L. Hailey of Tullahoma retired as associate professors on June 30. Kimble, who taught mathematics for 37 years at the Institute, also helped establish the UTSI Computer Center.

Hailey joined UTSI’s faculty in 1989 and helped grow its distance learning and Industrial Engineering (Engineering Management concentration) program, which Dr. Jerry Westbrook and the late Dr. Merritt A. Williamson had established six years earlier. After Westbrook retired in 1992, Hailey was named head of the department and served until his retirement. Dr. Donald C. Daniel then named Dr. Gregory Sedrick as UTSI Program Chair for the program.

Kimble, born in Lima, Ohio, held several instructorships while earning three degrees from Ohio State University. He received his undergraduate degree in mathematics and physics in 1962, and his master’s in math in 1964.

Soon after getting his doctorate in math in 1969, Kimble moved south and on Sept. 1 of that year, signed on as assistant professor of math at UTSI. He headed UTSI’s Computer Center for 10 years, including when UTSI installed two VAX computer systems in 1979 to replace the existing dial-up system. Funds from UTSI’s MHD program helped finance the project.

Ken and his wife Marie have two children, Stephen and Debbi, and four grandchildren, including identical twin girls. The Haileys have two daughters, Andrea and Heather, and five grandchildren including a set of fraternal, boy and girl twins, and a stepson, Louis.

Both families like traveling and photography. Max is a sailor, and Ken is known as a builder, cook, and for many years has been a member of the Manchester Rotarians’ Christmas concert choir (as well as First United Methodist’s choir in Manchester.)

Hailey, born in Jackson, Tenn., three months before Kimble, earned a bachelor’s in Electrical Engineering in 1964 from The University of Tennessee then went to Texas Tech University for a Ph.D. in Industrial Engineering, which he received in 1972.

As an undergraduate student, Hailey worked as a “co-op” engineer with Southern Bell Telephone Co. and after graduating from UT worked another year as an engineer with Southern Bell. From 1966 to 1969, Hailey was a full-time instructor with Mississippi State University and then until 1972, he was a part-time instructor at Texas Tech.

Graduating with a Ph.D., Hailey taught at West Virginia University as an assistant professor from 1972 to 1975. For the next four years, he taught as an assistant professor (promoted to associate in 1977) and was coordinator of Industrial Engineering at UT in Nashville. From 1979 to 1981, he was an associate professor at Tennessee State University and was coordinator of TSU’s evening engineering program in 1979-80.

A Professional Engineer, Hailey left teaching to serve as a senior consultant with the ORU Group from 1981 to 1983, then was consultant for a year to the New York LaJet Engineering Co. in Abilene, Texas, and San Diego.

He was drawn back to the classroom in 1984 as associate professor in the School of Engineering at UT-Chattanooga, where he taught through July, 1989. On Aug. 21 of that year, Hailey became a member of UTSI’s Engineering Management (EM) faculty.

He and his wife Sarah like traveling and recently joined his colleague, Dr. Atul Sheth and his wife on a visit to Switzerland.

Dr. Donald C. Daniel, UT associate vice president and chief operating officer of UTSI, presided at the luncheon. Noting that retirement luncheons are “bittersweet occasions,” he said, “On the one hand we hate to lose experience and talent like that of Drs. Kimble and Hailey. On the other hand, we have nothing but gratitude for their service to UTSI, our state and our nation, and we wish them all the very best as they enter this next stage of their lives.”

Dr. George Garrison, emeritus professor and Hailey’s long-time colleague, who headed the EM program for two years, said, “Max was dedicated to the values of the program, to the welfare of the students, and to teaching them what they need in order to hold full-time professions in industry. He saw Engineering Management as a real world program, not a theoretical program. We were always in agreement that the program should accommodate working adults, and that it be current, not canned.”

At the luncheon, which filled UTSI’s cafeteria, Garrison presented a nautical signal flag to Hailey, a sailing enthusiast.

Dr. Bruce Whitehead, associate professor of Computer Science, said, “Many of us have forgotten that Dr. Kimble dragged UTSI kicking and screaming into the modern era of networked computing. I recall that he originally proposed the design of UTSI’s computer network to our former Vice President Wes Harris in the early 1990’s. We will probably find out and appreciate how much Dr. Kimble has done for us only after he has left and is no longer doing it.”
(Kimble is continuing on “for awhile” as a part-time basis at UTSI.)

Dr. K.C. Reddy, acting academic dean and long-time mathematics professor, presented plaques from the UT Support Council on behalf of Dick Farrar, chairman of the Council, who arrived a short time later.

“I have known and worked with both of these professors ever since they joined UTSI as faculty members,” Reddy said. “A lot of our graduates have taken Dr. Kimble’s math courses over the years and have benefited immensely. Dr. Hailey has had faculty careers at three UT campuses – his career at UTSI being the longest. As the program chair for our Engineering Management graduate program, he has worked with hundreds of our students from around the state and beyond. He has contributed immensely to the success of that program over the years.”

Drs. Max Hailey and Kenneth Kimble are joined by their wives, Sarah Hailey, left, and Marie Kimble, after the UTSI professors received plaques at a retirement luncheon.
- UTSI Photo by Laura Horton
 

Dick Farrar of Fayetteville, chairman of the UTSI Support Council, stands with Drs. Max Hailey, left, and Ken Kimble
during a luncheon honoring the retiring professors.
- UTSI Photo by Laura Horton

Dr. Donald C. Daniel, center, who presided at the luncheon, visits with Drs. Max Hailey, left, and Ken Kimble.
- UTSI Photo by Laura Horton

 

Writer: Weldon Payne (931) 393-7222
wpayne@utsi.edu