Susan Gooden, dean of the L. Douglas Wilder School of Government and Public Affairs at Virginia Commonwealth University, has received the 2025 Dwight Waldo Award from the American Society for Public Administration. The annual award recognizes an individual whose career contributions have influenced scholarship in public administration. Dr. Gooden is the first Black person to receive the Waldo Award in its 45-year history.
Throughout her career, Dr. Gooden has advanced the field of social equity in government. She has conducted extensive research on several issues in public administration, including welfare reform, racial disparities in healthcare, vaccine equity, and census participation. She has published nearly 100 scholarly articles and authored six books, including Race and Social Equity: A Nervous Area of Government (Routledge, 2014), which received the Herbert A. Simon Best Book Award from the American Political Science Association.
In addition to her deanship at Virginia Commonwealth University, Dr. Gooden serves as co-founder of the university’s Research Institute for Social Equity. She is also the co-founder of the Journal of Social Equity and Public Administration. She previously served as president of the American Society of Public Administration and the Network of Schools of Public Policy, Affairs, and Administration.
A graduate of Patrick Henry Community College, Dr. Gooden received her bachelor’s degree and master’s degree in political science from Virginia Tech. She holds a second master’s degree and a Ph.D. in political science from Syracuse University in New York.