Michael A. Pagano a former Dean (2007-2021, emeritus) and professor of public administration, and founding director of the Government Finance Research Center at the University of Illinois Chicago, is a scholar of urban development and finance. His B.A. is from Pennsylvania State University and his Ph.D. in government is from the University of Texas at Austin (1980) before gaining faculty rank at Miami University (1980-2001) and then UIC (2001-2022, emeritus). His earlier positions included research positions with the Pittsburgh Regional Study Group (1977) and a private research firm (1978-1980). Between 1991 and 2021, he wrote the annual City Fiscal Conditions report for the National League of Cities. In addition to numerous articles, his books include Cityscapes and Capital (1995), Terra Incognita (2004), The Dynamics of Federalism (2007), and The People’s Money (2019). He is a former editor of Urban Affairs Review (2001-2014), a NAPA fellow (2006), a former nonresident senior fellow at Brookings, and he received ASPA’s Stone distinguished scholar award for intergovernmental management, ASPA’s Elazar distinguished scholar of federalism award, and APSA’s Agranoff award for federalism public engagement.