Dr. Chris Thornhill was born on 24 April 1936. He obtained his DPhil from the University of Pretoria in 1973. He established and was the first head of the Department of Public Administration at the University of Port Elizabeth (1976-1982). He joined the public service in 1983 and served in the senior management echelon as deputy director-general until December 1992. He established School of Public Management and Administration at the University of Pretoria on 1 January 1993 and was appointed as Dean of the Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences on 1 January 1996 and retired on 30 April 2000. He is professor emeritus at the University of Pretoria and honorary professor at the University of Johannesburg. He is author, co author and contributor to 22 books. He has published ± 70 articles has also delivered ± 180 papers at various conferences. He has travelled for study purposes to the United States of America, England, France, Belgium, Germany, Canada, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Zimbabwe, Malta, Ghana and Hungary. Prof Thornhill was awarded the Stals prize for Political Science and Development Administration from the South African Academy for Science and Arts. He was awarded the South African Association of Public Administration and Management’s award for his lifelong contribution to the study of Public Administration and in 2005 the South African Association of Public Administration and Management award: Distinguished Academic. In 2007 he received the Laudation from the Association of Southern African Schools and Departments of Public Management and Administration (ASSADPAM). He was the editor of the Journal of Public Administration from September 2000 to December 2009, an IBSS accredited Journal and since 2008 the deputy editor of the African Journal of Public Affairs, which is also an IBSS accredited Journal.

Local government; Public administration in Africa; Public Administration Theory; Political-administrative interface.