Missouri State University President Clif Smart issued the following statement on Aug. 18.

The Missouri State University faculty and staff today are mourning the loss of Dr. Marc Cooper, emeriti history professor.

Edward Gutting, instructor of modern and classical languages, has been arrested in Cooper’s death. A news release from the Springfield Police Department provides more details on this incident. Missouri State University is cooperating fully in the police investigation.

Pending the outcome of this investigation, Gutting has been placed on administrative leave. There is no known threat to campus.

Cooper was long-time member of history department

“During his nearly 35 years on faculty, Dr. Cooper was an active scholar, publishing several articles on the cuneiform tablets of ancient Iraq, and his teaching specialty area was in the history of the Ancient Near East,” said Dr. Victor Matthews, dean of the College of Humanities and Public Affairs.

Cooper received his PhD from the department of history at the University of Minnesota in 1979, then served in Missouri State’s history department from 1980-2014.

Cooper served as department head in history from 1997-2003. Over the course of his career, he was a visiting professor at Hebrew University in 1987 and a Fellow for Imagining America in 2010-11.

After retirement he continued to serve the university as the managing editor of the eJournal in Public Affairs. He was active in developing blended and online courses and in promoting engaged scholarship.