Dr. P. Edward French is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Political Science and Public Administration at Mississippi State University where he primarily teaches graduate classes in the Ph.D. and M.P.P.A. programs. He is the co-author of three books and has published more than twenty-five peer reviewed journal articles on topics dealing with local government administration, human resource law, education policy, and risk management for local governments. Dr. French was a local government administrator in the State of Virginia before becoming a professor.