Laura A. Reese is professor of political science and director of the Global Urban Studies Program at Michigan State University. Her research on economic development, public finance, civic culture and workplace harassment has been published in Regional Science and Urban Economics, Economic Development Quarterly, Journal of Urban Affairs, American Review of Public Administration, Public Administration Review, Public Personnel Management, Review of Public Personnel Administration, and many other journals. She has written 10 books of which three, including Comparative Civic Culture, were published in 2012. She received her Ph.D. in political science from Wayne State University in 1985.