Gordon B. Davis
Gordon B. Davis is known internationally as a principal founder and intellectual architect of the academic field of information systems. In 1967, along with his colleagues at the University of Minnesota, he initiated the first academic degree programs in management information systems and established the Management Information Systems Research Center. These initiatives became worldwide models for education and research in IS.
His research specialties include IS planning, information requirements determination, knowledge work management, and IS conceptual foundations. His book, Management Information Systems: Conceptual Foundations, Structure, and Development (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1974, 1985), is recognized as a foundational classic in the field. He has published 19 other textbooks and more than 200 journal articles.
In addition to serving as executive editor of MIS Quarterly from 1997 - 2004, he was the USA representative to the International Federation for Information Processing Technical Committee 8 (Information Systems) and the chairman of TC8. He has also supported IFIP working groups 8.2, “Information Systems and Organizations,” and 8.6, “Transfer and Diffusion of Information Technology.”
Davis has been involved in most major developments in IS computing, including the founding of the principal conference, the International Conference on Information Systems, and the formation of the Association for Information Systems. In 1998, he served as president of AIS.
He received his PhD in business administration from Stanford University in 1959 and has been a faculty member of the University of Minnesota for more than 40 years. Widely known as a pioneer for IS initiatives and as an advocate for the global involvement of academics in the study of IT-related phenomena and issues, he continues to reach out to students and scholars around the world in matters relating to the use of information technology in business and society.
Currently, he is the Honeywell Professor of Management Information Systems Emeritus at the Carlson School. He holds honorary doctorates from the University of Lyon III, University of Zurich, and the Stockholm School of Economics, and he has been named a Fellow of the Association for Computing Machinery.
Davis has produced an outstanding record of scholarship, contributed to every major professional society in the discipline, initiated numerous innovations in teaching and community outreach, and mentored hundreds of PhD students and junior faculty. As a thoughtful, dedicated academic who was a global thinker before global was “cool,” all who have worked with him regard him as a colleague and friend.
In 2000, a worldwide community of IS scholars and educators honored him with the Leo Award for Lifetime Exceptional Achievement in Information Systems and elected him a Fellow of the Association for Information Systems, which recognizes outstanding contributions to the IS discipline.
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