the Founding Father of IS Discipline: Gordon Davis

Gordon Davis is internationally known as one of the principal founders and intellectual architects of the academic field of information systems.æ In 1967, he and colleagues at the University of Minnesota initiated the first academic degree programs in management information systems and established the Management Information Systems Research Center (MISRC). These initiatives subsequently became models for education and research in information systems worldwide. Gordon‘s research specialties include IS planning, information requirements determination, management of knowledge work, and conceptual foundations for information systems. His book, Management Information Systems: Conceptual Foundations, Structure, and Development (1974; 1985, McGraw-Hill), is recognized as a foundational classic in the field. He has published 19 other textbooks and over 200 journal articles. He is the Executive Editor of MIS Quarterly and is on the editorial boards of numerous other journals. He serves as the USA Representative to the International Federation for Information Processing (IFIP) Technical Committee 8 (Information Systems) and has been the chairman of TC8. He has also been an active supporter of IFIP Working Group[ 8.2., "Information Systems and Organizations." He has been involved in nearly all of the major developments in the information systems segment of the computing community, including the founding of the principal conference, the International Conference on Information Systems, and the formation of the Association for Information Systems. He was the 1998 AIS President.
Gordon received his Ph.D. in business administration from Stanford University in 1959 and has been a member of the faculty of the University of Minnesota for more than 40 years. He is widely known as a pioneer for initiatives relating to information systems and as a persistent advocate for the global involvement of academics in the study of IT-related phenomena and issues. Throughout his career, he has reached out to students and scholars from all over the world and multiple disciplines in matters relating to information technology and its use in business and society. He is the Honeywell Professor of Management Information Systems, an endowed chair at Minnesota‘s Carlson School of Management.æ He holds honorary doctorates from the University of Zurich, the University of Lyon III, and the Stockholm School of Economics and has been named a Fellow of the Association for Computing Machinery.
Gordon embodies academic leadership in the fullest sense of the word. He has produceed an outstanding record of scholarship, provided service contributions to very major professional society in the discipline, initiated numerous innovations in teaching and community outreach and served as a mentor to hundreds of Ph.D. students and junior faculty. He is a thoughtful, dedicated academic who was a global thinker before global was "cool." He is regarded as colleague and friend by all who have worked with him. The community of IS scholars and educators worldwide is proud to honor Professor Davis with the Leo Award for the Year 2000.