Susan T. Gooden, Ph.D., is a Professor and Director of Graduate Programs in the L. Douglas Wilder School of Government and Public Affairs at Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU).  She is also the Executive Director of the Grace E. Harris Leadership Institute at VCU.    She has published numerous scholarly articles and book chapters in the areas of social equity, welfare policy and post-secondary education. She has conducted several research studies for MDRC, as well as for other national research organizations.   She teaches courses in Public Policy and Administration, Social Equity and Public Policy Analysis, Research Methods, and Social Welfare Policy.   She serves as an associate member of the Standing Panel on Social Equity in Governance of the National Academy of Public Administration, a member of the Academic Advisory Council for the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation, and she is an elected to the national policy council of the Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management (APPAM) and the executive council of the National Association of Schools of Public Affairs and Administration (NASPAA). Prior to her current academic appointment, Dr. Gooden was a Professor at the Center for Public Administration and Policy at Virginia Tech, where she received early promotion and tenure and served as Founder and Director of the Race and Social Policy Research Center .    She has served as a visiting scholar-in-residence at the Institute for Research on Poverty (IRP) at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. A native of Martinsville Virginia , she received her Ph.D. from the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University.