Professor Cooper earned his MA and PhD in Linguistics at Cornell University, where he centered his attention on the intersection of phonological theory and historical linguistics, with a focus on the sound systems of Indo-European languages and their reconstructed parent language, Proto-Indo-European. He currently enjoys teaching courses that revolve around these topics, including Phonology, History of English, and Historical Linguistics, in addition to Introduction to Language and Linguistics and Linguistic Analysis, the gateway courses for all majors and minors in Linguistics.

Professor Cooper has also had the pleasure of developing and offering courses at Northeastern outside of the Linguistics Program. Most recently, for the Honors Program he has taught a first-year seminar on the subject of constructed languages, or conlangs, which addresses their (surprisingly long) history, structure, and success as manufactured languages – and is also an opportunity for students to actively engage in the creation of languages of their very own.

Beyond teaching, Professor Cooper is also the Linguistics Program’s director, an administrative role which allows him to engage with all participants in the program – students, faculty, and staff – to effectively realize its ongoing goal of providing deeply enriching and fulfilling academic experiences, both in and out of the classroom.