Mark Benton received his Master's in Public Administration from St. Louis University, where he was also a member of Americorps VISTA, before joining the Truman School. His dissertation research focuses on police-race relationships from the client perspective. In addition to his desire to improve police community relationships, he is also interested in general public administration theory and mixed methods research. He has published in the journals Public Integrity, The Journal of Planning Education and Research, and Starting Points from the University of Missouri's own Kinder Institute, among others.