A native of Missouri, Dr. Grimes earned his B.S. and M.S. degrees in economics from Pittsburg State University in Pittsburg, Kansas. In 1984 he received his Ph.D. in economics from Oklahoma State University. Dr. Grimes specializes in the areas of labor economics and the economics of public policy. During the past ten years, Dr. Grimes has also been heavily involved in the field of economic education. He has served as a project consultant and program evaluator for the National Council on Economic Education, and conducted the effectiveness review for The Annenberg/Corporation for Public Broadcasting's national telecourse, Economics U$A. Closer to home, Dr. Grimes has worked with the Mississippi Department of Education to train public school teachers across the state how to utilize new multimedia resources to integrate economics into the K-12 curriculum. To date, this work has resulted in the distribution of more than one million dollars worth of curriculum materials to the public schools of our state.

Dr. Grimes has authored more than fifty scholarly research articles, notes, and book reviews. He has been recognized for his work by being named a Visiting Fellow by Princeton University and a Senior Evaluation Scholar by the National Council on Economic Education. Furthermore, Dr. Grimes received the Outstanding Young Business Alumni award presented by the Gladys A. Kelce School of Business and Economics at Pittsburg State University and is listed in Who's Who in Finance and Industry.