Susan T. Gooden has been named dean of the L. Douglas Wilder School of Government and Public Affairs at Virginia Commonwealth University. Dr. Gooden has served as interim dean at the Wilder School since May 2018.
“I am honored to continue my service to VCU as dean of the Wilder School,” Dean Gooden said. “I am dedicated to advancing the Wilder School’s critical role in engaging, teaching, and inspiring our students and our leaders to solve challenges in our world through research and collaboration.”
Professor Gooden joined the faculty at Virginia Commonwealth University in 2004. Earlier, she was an assistant and associate professor in the Center for Public Administration and Policy at Virginia Tech. Professor Gooden is the author of Race and Social Equity: A Nervous Area of Government (Routledge, 2014). She is a past president of the American Society of Public Administration and was the first African American woman to hold the position.
Dr. Gooden holds a bachelor’s degree in English and a master’s degree in political science from Virginia Tech. She earned a Ph.D. in political science at Syracuse University in New York.
