William Copeland (historian)

William Randolph Copeland (before 1955 Veikko Vilhelmi Kopra; 4 June 1936 – 13 December 2023) was a Finnish-American historian.

Kopra was born in Kannus, but also spent his childhood in Helsinki. He immigrated from Finland to the United States in 1949 and changed his name to Copeland when he became a U.S. citizen in 1955. Copeland studied at the University of Maryland, Georgetown University, and the University of Helsinki, where he received his doctorate in political history. Copeland served as the head of the Fulbright Program and later taught Russian and Chinese history. Copeland was a docent at the universities of Helsinki and Joensuu.