UIS Emeritus Computer Science Professor Ted Mims inducted into Louisiana Parish Hall of Fame

Ted Mims, emeritus professor and former head of the Computer Science Department at the University of Illinois Springfield, has been honored with the 2019 achievement award from the Sabine Parish, Louisiana Hall of Fame.

Mims, a native of Many, Louisiana, was inducted into the Hall of Fame in March 2019.

According to the Sabine Index newspaper, Mims started his teaching career in 1969 as a junior high and high school teacher. In 1966, he took his first computer science class at Northwestern State University in Natchitoches, Louisiana and started to learn computer coding.

Mims later earned a master’s degree from Louisiana State University and his Ph.D. from the University of North Texas.

In 1978, Mims officially made his transition to higher education as a computer science instructor at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge. He went on to become an assistant professor of computer science at Nicholls State University in Thibodaux, Louisiana.

In 1990, he officially moved to Springfield, Illinois to begin teaching at Sangamon State University, now the University of Illinois Springfield.

At UIS, Mims grew the Computer Science Department from 70 students to 1,300 majors in 2017. He also helped the department become a National Security Agency (NSA) National Center of Academic Excellence in Information Assurance Education. He helped obtain federal and foundation grants to purchase cutting-edge technology and served as co-principle investigator on two National Science Foundation grants totaling $5 million.

In 2010, Mims was honored with the Spencer Faculty Service Award by the University of Illinois Springfield. The award recognizes faculty who best exemplify the ideal of the “professor-citizen” through public service and service to the academic community.

Now retired, Mims lives in Normal, Illinois where he is active in his church and enjoys spending time with his daughter and grandchildren.