Dr. Goodsell was named to the National Academy of Public Administration in 1994. He was also the recipient of the Waldo Award through the American Society of Public Administration.
BLACKSBURG, VA, December 06, 2016 /24-7PressRelease/ -- Charles T. Goodsell, Ph.D., has been included in Marquis Who's Who. As in all Marquis Who's Who biographical volumes, individuals profiled are selected on the basis of current reference value. Factors such as position, noteworthy accomplishments, visibility, and prominence in a field are all taken into account during the selection process.
Drawing on more than half a century of experience in academia, Dr. Goodsell is widely regarded for his knowledge and skill in the areas of public administration, political economy and public architecture. He has done this while holding the active or emeritus faculty positions in three universities: Puerto Rico (1961-1964); Southern Illinois (1966-1978); and Virginia Tech (1978-present).
He began his career upon receiving a Bachelor of Arts from Kalamazoo College in 1954. After two years in the U.S. Army Counter Intelligence Corps stationed in Berlin, he attended Harvard University. There he completed a Master of Public Administration in 1958, a Master of Arts in political science in 1959 and a Ph.D. in political science in 1961.
Upon departing from Harvard, Dr. Goodsell accepted an assistant professor position at the School of Public Administration at the University of Puerto Rico. During his three years there he studied how during World War II the last appointed governor Rexford Guy Tugwell joined forces with the new ruling politician Luis Muñoz Marin to launch the island's abrupt turn toward progressive governance and economic development. The result was his book Administration of A Revolution: Executive Reform In Puerto Rico under Governor Tugwell, 1941-1946 (Harvard, 1965).
Dr. Goodsell's next project was to analyze how global business in the developing world affects the local society. In American Corporations and Peruvian Politics (Harvard, 1974) he examined the conduct of the 12 largest U.S. investments in Peru. He found that neither the neo-Marxist anticipation of a "colonial" predator nor a pro-capitalist "developer" hold in general; instead, a wide continuum of political and societal behaviors obtain, depending upon the originating time period of investment.
Another research area of the author is the political meanings of public buildings. Comparative field study was employed to test the multiplicity of deductive theories available on the subject, most of which are critical of their intimidating effect. In The Social Meaning of Civic Space: Studying Political Authority through Architecture (Kansas, 1988), Dr. Goodsell uncovered in the design of city council chambers three successive patterns of implicit meaning over time: in the19th and early 20th centuries, the frank imposition of power; the mid 20th century period, an opposition between officials and citizens; and in the late 20th century, a circular formation expressing joint community.
In The American Statehouse: Interpreting Democracy's Temples (Kansas, 2001), subsequent attention to public architecture addressed the fifty state capitols. Here, the variable of time was less important than the model of a basic building type he constructed. In essence it consists of circular rotunda centered on a cruciform base placed on an isolated stage set. The most interesting aspect of the type is that its design and decor carry not only the assertion of authoritative legitimacy but also the celebration of each state's cultural and historical distinctiveness.
The most enduring theme in Dr. Goodsell's research career has been within the domain of public administration per se. Here the prime aim has been to bring to the American public's attention the unusually high quality of its public service, not only at the federal level but in the states and localities as well.
For over thirty years he published successive editions of what was originally called The Case for Bureaucracy: A Public Administration Polemic (Chatham House, 1983, 1985, 1994; CQ Press, 2004). In these volumes he presented explicit empirical evidence in an emphatic manner to argue that American public administration institutions and their employees succeed far more than they fail--and thus are among the best in the world.
Then, most recently, the tone of this advocacy became less assertive and more conversational in a subsequent volume, The New Case for Bureaucracy (Sage, 2015). It included an indictment of the deadlocked governance in Washington then existing. Any future edition of "new case" material will be under this title and will assess the impact of the Trump presidency on the public service.
In a related work, Mission Mystique: Belief Systems in Public Agencies (Sage, 2011), the quality of public service was dealt with at the institutional level. In it, the culture, record and ethos of six public organizations are analyzed: The National Park Service, National Weather Service, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Mecklenburg Department of Social Services, Virginia State Police and the Peace Corps. An overarching framework of nine favorable "mystique" traits was developed to evaluate these entities comparatively.
A book currently being prepared extends the unit of analysis one more step deeper to the individual public servant. It will be called Public Servants Studied in Image and Essay: A Fanfare for the Common Bureaucrat and will be published by Sage in 2018. Lengthy personal interviews are being conducted with twelve select men and women employed by organizations at all three levels of the federal system. The persons vary greatly in job and mission, but in all cases are presented to the reader in the form of an essay-profile, a still photo and 20-minute video. Hence readers will be able to assess these individuals and their work from not merely the author's written words but also by watching them in person on camera. A central purpose of the project is to encourage young people to consider careers in government.
In recognition of his contributions to public administration education, Dr. Goodsell was named to the National Academy of Public Administration in 1994. He was also the recipient of the Waldo Award through the American Society of Public Administration in 2003. Throughout the course of his career, Dr. Goodsell has been featured in a wide variety of honors publications, including Who's Who in America, Who's Who in the South and Southwest, and Who's Who in the World. In addition, he has been included in the 36th and 37th editions of Who's Who in Finance and Business, as well as the 7th and 8th editions of Who's Who in American Education.
To learn more about Dr. Goodsell and his academic career, please visit https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Charles_Goodsell2. His books may be purchased by visiting https://www.amazon.com/Charles-T.-Goodsell/e/B001HP3IQ0.
Also visit his Industry Leader profile: http://whoswhoindustryleaders.com/2016/11/charles-true-goodsell/.
About Marquis Who's Who :
Since 1899, when A. N. Marquis printed the First Edition of Who's Who in America , Marquis Who's Who has chronicled the lives of the most accomplished individuals and innovators from every significant field of endeavor, including politics, business, medicine, law, education, art, religion and entertainment. Today, Who's Who in America remains an essential biographical source for thousands of researchers, journalists, librarians and executive search firms around the world. Marquis now publishes many Who's Who titles, including Who's Who in America , Who's Who in the World , Who's Who in American Law , Who's Who in Medicine and Healthcare , Who's Who in Science and Engineering , and Who's Who in Asia . Marquis publications may be visited at the official Marquis Who's Who website at www.marquiswhoswho.com.
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