David L. Cooper

President-Elect/Vice President 2026

David L. Cooper is Professor of Slavic Languages and Literatures at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. He earned a B.A. in English and Mathematics from Goshen College, an M.A. in Comparative Literature at Penn State University, and a Ph.D. in Czech and Russian Literatures at Columbia University. Cooper’s research is in the areas of nationalism in literature, forgery and mystification, translation history and translation studies, and history of criticism. His published research examines the paradoxical aspect of the creation of national cultures, where forgery and translation play prominent roles in pursuit of the new values of national originality and authenticity. 

Cooper’s first book, Creating the Nation: Identity and Aesthetics in Early Nineteenth-century Russia and Bohemia, was published by Northern Illinois University Press in 2010. His translated editions include Traditional Slovak Folktales, Collected by Pavol Dobšinský (M.E. Sharpe, 2001) and The Queen’s Court and Green Mountain Manuscripts, with Other Forgeries of the Czech Revival (Michigan Slavic Publications, 2018), the latter of which won the AATSEEL Book Award for Best Scholarly Translation in 2019. Cooper’s second monograph, The Czech Manuscripts: Forgery, Translation, and National Myth, was published by Cornell University Press/Northern Illinois University Press in 2023. He has published articles in Slavic Review, Russian Review, SEEJ, Folklorica, and Oral Tradition.  

Cooper has received research grants from NCEEER and the University of Illinois National Center for Supercomputing Applications. He previously served as Director of the Russian, East European, and Eurasian Center at the University of Illinois and currently is Head of the Slavic Department. He has also served as Vice President of AATSEEL and Vice President of the Czechoslovak Studies Association. He is on the editorial boards of SEEJ and Czech Language News. Cooper teaches a broad variety of courses on Russian and Slavic literatures at the University of Illinois and has developed and taught courses for both undergraduates and graduate students focused on career planning. 

Cooper served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Czechoslovakia and Slovakia from 1992–94, where he caught the bug for Slavic languages and cultures. He has long advocated for and practiced the decentering of Slavic literary studies from its Russian focus, teaching a variety of comparative courses and courses on other Slavic literatures that are “second” only in an outdated naming practice. As Head of Slavic, he has successfully advocated for the expansion of Ukrainian Studies opportunities at the University of Illinois. As ASEEES President, Cooper would pursue opportunities to build on current efforts to expand and diversify the field, making it more inclusive, balanced, and critically engaged.