Our People
Dr. Eric Scorsone is the founding director of the MSU Extension Center for Local Government, Finance and Policy. Dr. Scorsone is an MSU Extension specialist, and a professor of economics in the Department of Agricultural, Food, And Resource Economics. He worked as senior economist at the Michigan Senate Fiscal Agency in 2010 and returned to Michigan State University in 2011. He also worked at MSU from 2005 to 2010. Prior to working at MSU in 2005, Dr. Scorsone developed award-winning Extension programs as an assistant professor in the Department of Agricultural Economics at the University of Kentucky in the areas of rural health economics and economic development. He also served as an Economist for the Colorado Governor’s Office of State Planning and Budget and as a Senior Economist for the City of Aurora, Colorado.
He received his Ph.D. from Colorado State University, where his dissertation focused on economic models of growth in the Denver housing and labor markets. He received his Master’s degree from Michigan State University and a B.B.A. from Loyola University of Chicago. He has also worked on international development projects in Thailand, Macedonia and Indonesia and has taught at the taught at the University of Bologna, Italy and University of Valencia, Spain in public performance management. He has published in State and Local Government Review, Growth and Change, Journal of Appalachian Studies, Economic Development Quarterly, Journal of Federal Studies, Public Money and Management, and International Review of Administrative Sciences. Dr. Scorsone is from Saginaw, Michigan and currently resides in DeWitt, Michigan.
Mary Schulz is the associate director for the MSU Extension Center for Local Government, Finance and Policy. Prior to that she served as project director for the Michigan Local Government Benchmarking Consortium (MLGBC). Ms. Schulz has been a Visiting Specialist in the Agricultural, Food, and Resource Economics Department at Michigan State University since 1997. Prior to joining the faculty at MSU, Ms. Schulz was a Federal Affairs Representative for the National Association of Mutual Insurance Companies (NAMIC) & Crop Insurance Research Bureau (CIRB), and she was a Legislative Assistant to Congressman Nick Smith, in Washington, DC. Ms. Schulz received her B.A. in Economic and M.S. in Agricultural Economics from Michigan State University.
Samantha Zinnes is the MSU Law Fellow for the MSU Extension Center for Local Government Finance and Policy. She graduated from Michigan State University College of Law in 2016. Ms. Zinnes is an attorney and licensed to practice law in the state of Michigan. In 2012, Ms. Zinnes graduated from the University of Florida with a Bachelor of Arts in Classical Studies, with a focus on ancient Greco-Roman history and culture. Prior to joining the Center’s team, Ms. Zinnes worked at the Michigan Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs as well as the Resolution Services Center as a restorative justice facilitator.
Fellows:
Natalie Pruett is a Research Fellow with the MSU Extension Center for Local Government Finance and Policy. She is an Urban Strategist with experience in urban planning, policy, research, and communications. She works largely with government and nonprofit organizations that have included the City of Flint, Genesee County Land Bank Authority, Community Foundation of Greater Flint, and Center for Community Progress. Her work blends statistical analysis, institutional insights, and community input with the aim of improving the impact and transparency of governments and nonprofit organizations. Ms. Pruett holds a M.S. from the London School of Economics and Political Science as well as a B.S. in Economics and a B.A. in Political Theory from the James Madison College at Michigan State University.
Patrick Levine Rose has practiced as an appellate litigator since 1993 in state and federal courts representing municipalities, businesses and individuals in civil and criminal cases. Mr. Rose served recently as Special Prosecutor in the Flint water cases at the Genesee County Prosecutor’s office (2016-2017). Mr. Rose has lectured the Michigan Association of Municipal Attorneys and represented the Michigan Municipal League on appeal. Patrick holds a B.A. with honors (cum laude) from Harvard University and a J.D. from Georgetown University Law School. Mr. Rose served as a law clerk for Michigan Supreme Court Justice Michael F. Cavanagh, 1988-1990 and for US Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit for Collins M. Seitz in Delaware. His work focuses on municipal finance issues, the Emergency Manager Law and on State and local government legal issues.
Dr. Steven Miller is Assistant Professor and Director of the Center for Economic Analysis in the MSU Department of Agricultural, Food and Resource Economics, where he specializes in economic modeling for policy, environmental, economic impact assessments, and program evaluations. His evaluation studies are directed at developing approaches for simulating economic development, environmental, and tax policies as well as around public funded programs around health, nutrition, and nutrition education for economic impact. Dr. Miller also developed and maintains Michigan’s only open-access and comprehensive state and regional economic forecast model. He received his Ph.D. in Economics from Oklahoma State University in 2005, with a focus on Urban-Regional Economics and Econometrics and has over 15 years of experience in economic modeling and survey development.
Sarah Klammer is a Specialist for the MSU Extension Center for Local Government Finance and Policy. She is an Economist who received her graduate degree (M.S.) in Agricultural, Food, and Resource Economics at MSU in 2017. While at MSU, she worked on a Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center project, specializing in bioenergy feedstocks and timber markets in Michigan's Upper Peninsula. Prior to and following graduation, Ms. Klammer worked as a Research Analyst for the international food safety and quality scheme GLOBALG.A.P. in Cologne, Germany. She then returned to the United States to work as an economist cooperator for USDA-APHIS's Plant Epidemiology and Risk Analysis Laboratory through North Carolina State University. Ms. Klammer is also adjunct faculty in economics at Delta College in mid-Michigan, close to where she grew up in the city of Frankenmuth.
Affiliates
Janice Beecher (Director, Institute of Public Utilities Policy Research and Education)
Joshua Sapotichne (Political Science)
Mark Skidmore (Morris Chair in State and Local Government Finance and Policy)
Simone Valle de Souza (Product Center Food-Ag-Bio)
Arnold Weinfield (Urban Policy Initiatives)
Shu Wang (Public Finance, Agriculture, Food, and Resource Economics)
Good Governance Extension Educators
John Amrhein (Government Public Policy)
Joe Bixler (Government/Public Policy)
Terry Gibb (Public Policy, Water Resources)
Bradley Neumann (Land Use)
Emily Proctor (Public Policy, Native American, Community Engagement/Leadership)
Bethany Prykucki (Public Policy, Community Engagement/Leadership)
Mary Reilly (Government and Public Policy Educator)
David S. Rowley (Government Finance)
Eric Walcott (State Specialist: Government and Public Policy)
Crystal Wilson (Governance, Land Use)