When Edwin Cohen began his undergraduate studies at DePaul University in 1946, he met many students who, like him, were the first in their families to attend college.

“DePaul catered to first-generation college students,” he said. “It was the school under the El tracks that welcomed everyone.”

That welcoming atmosphere brought Cohen back to the Chicago university as an accounting faculty member in 1956, and 50 years and 15,000 students later, the 78-year-old professor from Skokie is still going strong as DePaul’s longest-serving current faculty member. This steadfast dedication to teaching generation after generation of accountants will be honored June 6 when Cohen receives a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Illinois CPA Society.

Cohen grew up in the Garfield Park neighborhood on the West Side of Chicago, where he attended Gregory Elementary School and Marshall High School. When it came time to apply for college, he brought his father along for the interview at DePaul with then-dean of the College of Commerce, the Rev. Edward J. Kammer, C.M. “My father had one question: would I graduate a more knowledgeable and better person than I was that day?,” Cohen recalled. “Father Kammer assured him I would. Father Kammer and I later became lifelong friends.”

As promised, Cohen did well in his studies, completing his bachelor’s of science degree in accounting and passing the CPA exam in 1950. He earned a master’s in accountancy from Michigan State University the following year and had begun his doctoral studies there when he was drafted into the U.S. Army. He served from 1954-1956 in the army’s audit unit in Europe.

Upon his return to the States, Cohen joined DePaul’s faculty as an accounting instructor while he completed his doctoral degree at Michigan State. He became a full professor at DePaul in 1965 and served terms as director of the graduate school of business and chair of the accounting departments at DePaul and the University of Illinois at Chicago before returning to the classroom full time in 1981. Cohen continued to teach at DePaul part time even while he headed UIC’s accounting program. Along the way he earned a number of honors, including an award for Outstanding Contributions to Accounting Education from the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and an Outstanding Accounting Educator Award from the Illinois CPA Society. DePaul gave him special recognition at its Faculty and Staff Distinguished Service Awards last spring, where he was honored for his 50 years on the faculty.

Reflecting on his half-century in academia and accounting, Cohen said, “the biggest changes I’ve seen have been the introduction of technology and greater focus on ethics.” Technology has allowed accounting professionals to expand their role from just bookkeeping to influencing the strategic direction of organizations today, he observed. And in the wake of accounting-related scandals at Enron and elsewhere, Cohen said he has used his expertise in financial accounting, ethics and professional liability issues to help prepare students to reach the highest ethical standards. “These failures have made people aware that finance and accounting people need to know more than just the technical aspects of their profession,” he said. “We teach the right way to do things, not just technically but morally.”

During his tenure, Cohen also has witnessed – and had a hand in – the transformation of DePaul and its accountancy school. While the focus on first-generation students remains, DePaul is no longer the little school under the elevated tracks – it is now the largest Catholic university in the nation and the biggest, private nonprofit university in the Midwest. Its accounting program has grown from a department to the School of Accountancy and Management Information Systems with an expanding global reputation.

The school boasts internationally known faculty across a wide range of professional areas, collaborates with university programs overseas, incorporates international business content in courses and actively recruits students from abroad. “As a result, graduates who were always in demand at Chicago-area accounting firms and businesses are now sought globally,” Cohen said. “Accounting is a global enterprise, and our students are prepared to succeed.”

Cohen can count his own two children among students who have succeeded. Both earned undergraduate degrees at DePaul. His daughter, Susan, is now an assistant professor of accountancy at the Harvard Business School and his son, Michael, is a hand surgeon at Provena St. Joseph Medical Center in Joliet, Ill. Cohen, his children, and wife, Harlene, a retired school teacher, are fixtures at DePaul Blue Demons men’s basketball home games. Cohen has been an avid fan and ticket-holder since 1946.

“My greatest accomplishment has been to see my students do well,” Cohen said, adding that he has seen many graduates find jobs, earn CPAs, make partner in accounting firms and become executives. “I can tell you that I’ve enjoyed it, because it doesn’t seem like 60 years since I started my affiliation with DePaul. If it seemed I had been at it this long, I’d be ready to retire. However, I still have the desire to keep teaching and learning from my students.”

After all these years, Cohen could take the summer off, but he isn’t. Come mid-June, he will be back in the classroom, teaching financial accounting.