Virginia Gray, Robert Watson Winston Distinguished Professor of Political Science, was educated at Hendrix College (B.A. with honors) and Washington University (M.A., Ph.D.) in St. Louis. Her teaching experience includes a variety of American politics courses, such as interest groups, state politics, fieldwork in the legislature and public policy. She and Prof. David Lowery, now at Penn State University, have collaborated on numerous research projects on state interest groups; their publications include The Population Ecology of Interest Representation: Lobbying Communities in the American States (University of Michigan Press, 1996) and most recently Interest Groups and Health Care Reform across the United States (Georgetown University Press, 2013). Also they have published numerous articles in theAmerican Political Science Review, American Journal of Political Science, The Journal of Politics, Social Science Quarterly, International Political Science Review, Legislative Studies Quarterly, Political Research Quarterly, Public Choice, American Politics Quarterly, Publius, State Politics and Policy Quarterly, Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, Journal of Public Policy, Journal of Theoretical Politics, Journal of Health Politics, Policy and Law, Party Politics, and Business and Politics. Their research has been funded by a four-year grant from the National Science Foundation and a three-year grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation on health policy. In addition, Professor Gray is the coeditor of the leading textbook on state government, Politics in the American States, now in its tenth edition. She taught at the University of Minnesota for over 25 years and has been a visiting professor at universities in Canada, Norway, and the People’s Republic of China. During 2003-04 she was president of the Midwest Political Science Association, and in August 2007 she received a Career Achievement Award from the State Politics and Policy Section of the American Political Science Association. In 2013 the State Politics and Policy Section created the “Virginia Gray Award” in her honor to be given to an outstanding book in the field. In 2014, the Public Policy Section of the American Political Science Association presented her with its Excellence in Mentoring Award. Professor Gray is an ardent Tar Heel fan.