Edwin-Michael Cortez

Cortez was a professor at University of Wisconsin–Madison for 17 years and was acting dean of Catholic University of America. He joined the University of Tennessee faculty in 2005 where he served as professor and Director for 11 years, retiring at the end of 2016.^[3]

He was an early automation consultant, helping library systems such as Ann Arbor Public Library, California State Library and the Connecticut State University System, evaluate and implement circulation, database and online catalog systems in the 1980s.^[4]

Cortez worked on the overlapping of information technology, organizational communication, and organizational effectiveness. He used ethnographic and social network theories to inform information technology design and management. He was the principal investigator for three years on the USDA's project, the REEIS initiative (Research, Education & Economic Information Systems) which aimed to "build a comprehensive web-based information system in the field of agriculture."^[1]