Dr. Patricia Mitchell, CEcD  joined the Department of Government and Justice Studies in January 2017 after several years with local and state government. She previously was the Assistant Secretary for Rural Development at the NC Department of Commerce where she managed a number of state and federal incentive grant programs and planning initiatives. While at Commerce, Dr. Mitchell was the Secretary’s designee on the State Water Infrastructure Authority at the Department of Environmental Quality and was the Governor’s Alternate on the Appalachian Regional Commission, a 13-state/federal partnership. Prior to her work at Commerce, she served nine years as the Director of Economic Development in Ashe County NC with two of those years as the Ashe County Manager. She was an Assistant Professor in East Carolina University’s Master of Public Administration program and an Adjunct Professor in Appalachian State’s MPA program 2005-2014. Dr. Mitchell earned her DPA and MPA degrees from the University of Georgia and holds the Certified Economic Developer (CEcD) distinction from the International