Ms. Symone Bounds – a doctoral student at PPAD program – is the recipient of the Graduate Student Research Award from the 2018 annual conference of the Mississippi Political Science Association, which was held in Jackson, MS, Feb. 9-10th, 2018 (Advisor: Dr. Jae-Young Ko). She was one of six PPAD students attending the annual research event. Ms. Bounds presented her research on training on the reduction of inconsistencies in the State of Mississippi small purchase program. The utilization of Purchasing/Procurement cards (P-cards) in federal, state and local governments has been expanded across the nation. The procurement card programs reduces times and efforts required in purchasing processes significantly, compared with the traditional procure to pay (P2P) process. However, the new P-cards are also subject to misuse and abuse. She has analyzed the impacts of training program by conducting a before-and-after analysis of P-cards use patterns in the State of Mississippi, showing the positive results of the training program in implementing the P-cards program. Congratulations, Ms. Bounds!
Last year, Ms. Debra Monroe-Lax, another PhD student doctoral student at PPAD program, was the recipient of the award (Advisor: Dr. Jae-Young Ko). The continuous recognitions from the academic organization is a convincing evidence, showing that the PPAD program is moving forward as a productive research institution for the Greater Mississippi.
