I've been teaching at UMBC since 1990. From 1981-1990, I was an analyst at the Congressional Budget Office (CBO). I took graduate courses in political science at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor from 1976-1980, and finished my Michigan PhD in 1988 while at CBO. My dissertation won the 1989 L.D. White Dissertation Award from the American Political Science Association. I graduated in 1976 with a degree in government from Colby College, which is located in Waterville, Maine. I was born and raised in New Jersey.