McCombs TODAY

William W. Cooper, Foster Parker Centennial Professor Emeritus of Finance and Management in the Department of Information, Risk, and Operations Management will receive the prestigious Presidential Citation for 2008. William Powers Jr., president of The University of Texas at Austin, will present the Presidential Citation and other major university awards to recipients in a ceremony later in the academic year.

In his long, distinguished career, Cooper has been an innovator in building bridges between theory and data, using the foundations of accounting and new methods of analysis to find solutions to complex economic and managerial problems. He is the co-author of 27 books and more than 500 scientific professional articles, ranging across the disciplines of information systems, management science, business management and information technology.

Cooper arrived at The University of Texas at Austin in 1980, at an age when most are contemplating retirement, and his scholarly output has increased since his arrival. He held posts previously at Harvard University, Carnegie Mellon University and the University of Chicago. Cooper was co-recipient of the 1982 John Von Neumann Theory Prize, was given the 1986 U.S. Comptroller General Award for Significant Contributions to the U.S. General Accounting Office and was inducted in 1991 into the Accounting Hall of Fame.