M.P.P.A. (Master's degree in Public Policy and Administration), Mississippi State University. 1992. Master's Paper: Teenage Pregnancy in Mississippi: Prevention and Policy.

Ronald E. McNair Achievement Program, University of Tennessee-Knoxville. Summer 1992.

B.A. in Political Science, Mississippi State University. 1990.

Dr. Menifield joined the Division as an Associate Professor in Fall 2003.  He comes to us from the Congressional Budget Office in Washington, D.C. where he was a visiting scholar conducting budget analysis on federal health care programs and an adjunct professor at Howard University where he taught budgeting and public finance. Previously he was an Associate Professor of political science and public administration at Mississippi State University and an Assistant Professor at Murray State University. He has received three teaching awards during his academic career.  His research interests lie primarily in the area of voting behavior, minority group behavior, PAC contributions, public administration and budgeting and financial management. His research has appeared in a wide variety of journals. In addition, he has edited three books: Politics in the New South: Representation of African Americans in State Legislatures (2005), (with Stephen Shaffer); Representation of Minority Groups in the U.S.: Implications for the Twenty-First Century (2001), and MS Votes (2002). He is currently working on A Beginners Guide to Practical Budgeting in State and Local Government. Dr. Menifield received his Ph. D. from the University of Missouri-Columbia in 1996.