William W. Cotterman

William Woods Cotterman, Ph.D., worked in many countries in the Middle East over the past forty years and lived in the area for a total of three years. First full-time chairman of the Computer Information Systems Department at Georgia State University, he wrote seven books and a number of articles on information systems–related subjects. In 1973, he took a leave of absence to work in Kuwait on an input-output analysis of the economy that led eventually to the establishment of Kuwait’s national accounts. Subsequent assignments in the Middle East came from USIA , United Nations Development Programme, National Science Foundation, and American University in Beirut Services Corporation, in addition to private companies. President Carter appointed him to a Committee on White House Information Systems to analyze and make recommendations on the use of computers and information technology within the Executive Office of the President.

Bill lives in Norcross, Georgia, with his wife, Kennethe. He is now Professor and Chair Emeritus of Computer Information Systems at Georgia State University. He continues to study Arabic and remains an ardent traveler: most recently as the only passenger on the Motor Vessel Hanjin -Boston on a five-week voyage from Long Beach, California, to Korea, China, Taiwan, and back. In the course of the voyage they sailed through a typhoon in the East China Sea.