Byron E. Price is an Associate Professor of Political Science in the Barbara Jordan-Mickey Leland School of Public Affairs at Texas Southern University (TSU) in Houston, Texas. He also serves as the Interim Director of the Barbara Jordan Institute for Policy Research.
Dr. Price assumed this position in 2008 after spending five years at Rutgers University-Newark at the School of Public Affairs and Administration where he served as an Assistant Professor and Director of the MPA and Executive MPA Programs. He has shown distinction in a number of other leadership positions which has included serving as the Associate Director of the National Center for Public Productivity and Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Public Management and Social Policy.
A leading scholar in the field of prison privatization, he is the author of the book, Merchandizing Prisoners: Who Really Pays for Prison Privatization published by Praeger Publishers in March 2006. Dr. Price has also published in the American Review of Public Administration; the International Review of Public Administration, Public Productivity and Management Review; and the Personnel Mix Journal (which was translated into Russian and the PA Times.)
An active and industrious researcher and public intellectual, his current work includes prisoner reentry, prison privatization, violence prevention, race, gender, politics and public policy, civil rights, social justice and educational reform. He is acutely aware of the balance between utilizing the theory of academia and its application to solving real world problems.
During his time at Rutgers University, he was responsible for the creation of the Diversity Fund in 2004, which enabled disadvantaged minority students an opportunity to continue their studies. He also taught in the Executive MPA program where leading local and state officials were able to bridge theory and practice. For his work, he was awarded in 2006 the Human Dignity Award; one of the highest honors Rutgers bestows on individuals dedicated to promoting a culturally enriching environment at Rutgers and the surrounding community.
