Teresa Cordova is Chair and Associate Professor of The Community and Regional Planning Program at The University of New Mexico. She received her Master's and Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley and her undergraduate degree from the University of Denver. Among her awards and fellowships, she was a National Research Council Fellow and a National Science Foundation trainee.
Professor Cordova teaches Foundations of Community Development, The Political Economy of Urban Development, Community Economics for Planners, and Introduction to Community and Regional Planning.
Professor Cordova is currently a member of the Board of Directors of The Praxis Project, a national, nonprofit organization that provides research, technical assistance and financial support to tackle issues impacting the well being of communities.
Dr. Cordova is founder and former Director of the Resource Center for Raza Planning, a Center within the School of Architecture and Planning whose mission is to promote the sustainability and survivability of traditional communities in New Mexico. Dr. Cordova and her students were instrumental in the development of the South Valley Economic Development Center. While Director, The Center engaged students in research, policy writing and analysis, public participation, design, strategic and sector planning, and curriculum development related to economic development, infrastructure (water, sewer, drainage, road improvement), land use, neighborhood development, agricultural preservation, and youth development. Students involved in the Center have gone on to become successful professionals in the field of community development.
Professor Cordova is a Former Bernalillo County Commissioner, when she also served on the Bernalillo County Board of Finance, The Albuquerque Bernalillo County Water Utility Authority, The Albuquerque Bernalillo County Government Commission and the Mid-Region Council of Government Metropolitan Transportation Board. While an elected commissioner she brought needed infrastructure projects and improvements, economic development, amenities such as open space, parks, a medical clinic, youth facilities, and services to her district. She initiated several long range planning projects.
She has sat on numerous national and local boards and steering committees of community development corporations, planning organizations, policy groups, and campus committees. Teresa served for several years as President of the Board of the Rio Grande Community Development Corporation, which serves the South Valley. She was a also member of the New Mexico Endowment for the Humanities,
Professor Cordova is an invited speaker and participant at numerous universities, policy meetings, and conferences. For several months in 2009, as a panelist on KNME TV (PBS) New Mexico in Focus, she discussed current local, regional, and national issues. Her research interests include community-based practice, university- community partnerships and service learning, economic development, local governance, global/local dynamics and public infrastructure. She publishes in the fields of Community Development and Chicano and Chicana Studies.
She is a recent recipient of the Sarah Belle Brown Community Service Award for Faculty and The Mid-Region Council of Government Leadership Award. In 2003, she was awarded the YWCA Women on The Move Award and was also awarded the Outstanding South Valley Citizen Award. In 2000 she received the Student Service Award for Faculty, and in 1999 was awarded the Hyde Chair of Excellence from the University of Nebraska.