Mississippian, Time 'Person of the Year' to speak at MSU

Contact: Maridith Geuder

A 1986 Mississippi State accounting graduate who was one of three 2002 Time Magazine "Persons of the Year" speaks Monday [Nov. 17] at the university.

Cynthia N. Cooper of Brandon, credited with exposing the financial problems of Clinton-based telecommunications giant WorldCom--now MCI--will be the featured speaker for the School of Accountancy's Fall Convocation.

Her one-hour public presentation begins at 3:30 p.m. in the Swalm Chemical Engineering Building auditorium.

Cooper remains as MCI's vice president of internal audit, a position she has held for a decade. She previously worked for public accounting firms PricewaterhouseCoopers and Deloitte & Touche.

In addition to the Time honor shared with Colleen Rowley of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Sherron Watkins of Enron, Cooper recently received the Accounting Exemplar Award of the American Accounting Association. She now is one of only 10 persons honored by the organization for promoting professionalism and ethics in the accounting profession.

MSU accounting professor John Rigsby nominated Cooper for the AAA award.

The accounting school is a major unit of the College of Business and Industry.

For more about Cooper's MSU visit, telephone school director Danny P. Hollingsworth at (662) 325-3710.