 As dean, he realized that there would soon be a much greater role in American business management for African-Americans, and worked to increase African-American representation within the school.In 1975, Harvard University hired Cooper away from CMU to become the Dickinson Professor of Accounting, and in 1980 he moved again, to the University of Texas at Austin, where he became the Foster Parker Professor of Management, Finance and Accounting.He retired in 1993, but continued to be active in research until his death on June 20, 2012.