Lynne E. Ford is Associate Provost for Curriculum and Academic Administration and professor of political science at the College of Charleston in Charleston, South Carolina. She received her B.A. from The Pennsylvania State University and her M.A. and Ph.D. in government and political behavior from the University of Maryland-College Park. Ford's teaching and research interests include women and politics, elections and voting behavior, political psychology, and civic engagement. She has written articles on women in state legislatures, the under-representation of women in political office in the American South, and work-family policy in the United States. She has also authored WOMEN AND POLITICS: THE PURSUIT OF EQUALITY and THE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF WOMEN AND AMERICAN POLITICS. Ford served as department chair for eight years and she has led a number of campus-wide initiatives including general education reform, faculty compensation, and civic engagement.