Watch the L. Douglas Wilder School of Government and Public Affairs 2024 Wilder Symposium, “Elections 2024: The Importance of Listening to the People.” 66th governor of Virginia, L. Douglas Wilder, the nation’s first elected African-American governor, discusses the critical importance of leadership by listening and responding to the needs of the people and explores the importance of strengthening people-first democracy.
Joining him as panelists are Virginia’s leading political analysts, Dr. Bob Holsworth, managing partner of the consulting firm DecideSmart and founding director of the Wilder School; Dr. Larry Sabato, founder and director of the University of Virginia Center for Politics; Dr. Susan Gooden, dean of the Wilder School; and Dr. Robyn McDougle, associate dean of research and outreach at the Wilder School.
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L. Douglas Wilder is the 66th Governor of Virginia and the nation’s first elected African American governor, serving from 1990 to 1994. Governor Wilder graduated from Virginia Union University and Howard University School of Law, and afterward established a legal practice in Richmond. He served five terms in the Virginia Senate before taking office as the Lieutenant Governor of Virginia. In 2005, he became the first directly elected mayor of Richmond in decades.
Bob Holsworth, Ph,D., is a frequently called upon and referenced political analyst. He is the managing partner of DecideSmart and the founding director of the Wilder School. His comments on Virginia and national politics have appeared in The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, The Washington Post and in newspapers throughout the nation. He has appeared on the major American TV networks and on the BBC. He was named one of the 100 Influentials in Virginia Politics by Campaigns and Elections magazine.
Larry J. Sabato, Ph.D., is a highly respected political analyst. Leading Sabato’s Crystal Ball, ranked by Pew as the No. 1 leader in the field of political prediction, Dr. Sabato is the founder and director of the University of Virginia’s Center for Politics, and is the author or editor of two dozen books on American politics. Teaching over 20,000 students in his career, Sabato celebrated his 50th year of association with the University of Virginia in 2021.
Susan T. Gooden, Ph.D., is dean of the L. Douglas Wilder School of Government and Public Affairs at VCU. She is an elected fellow of the congressionally chartered National Academy of Public Administration. Gooden is a past-president of the American Society for Public Administration and a past-president of the Network of Schools of Public Policy, Affairs, and Administration.
Robyn Diehl McDougle, Ph.D., is the associate dean of research and outreach at the Wilder School. Under Governor Wilder’s leadership, McDougle has established the Wilder School’s Commonwealth Poll as an esteemed polling operation not only in Virginia but nationally, including as an approved CNN Presidential Poll in 2020. The Commonwealth Poll provides current voter opinions on current election forecasts as well as both domestic and foreign policy issues across a wide spectrum of areas.
66th Governor of Virginia L. Douglas Wilder hosted a panel discussion with Dr. Wayne A.I. Frederick, President of Howard University, Dr. Nakeina E. Douglas-Glenn, director of the Wilder School Research Institute for Social Equity, the Honorable Roger L. Gregory, Judge, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit and the Honorable Jason Miyares, Attorney General of the Commonwealth of Virginia. The event was moderated by Dr. Bob Holsworth, political analyst and managing partner of the consulting firm DecideSmart.
The year was 1968. At the Medical College of Virginia, (today a part of Virginia Commonwealth University) Bruce Tucker, a Black man, had his heart transplanted — without his family’s consent — into a white businessman. Tucker’s family sought legal justice and the attorney who represented them was L. Douglas Wilder, who went on to become the first elected African-American governor in the United States. The case exemplified a journey to fight racism and demand accountability for a gross violation of human rights.
Governor L. Douglas Wilder traced the role of institutionalized racism to the ongoing battle for healthcare equity and access. He also fielded questions from moderator Wilder School Dean Susan Gooden and audience members. Hosted by the Wilder School and VCU University College, this symposium is part of a larger series based on the 2022-2023 VCU Common Book, "The Organ Thieves: The Shocking Story of the First Heart Transplant in the Segregated South" by Chip Jones. The book follows a long legacy of inhumane treatment of African Americans for unethical medical advancement in the segregated south.
Based on a volume of the same name, "The Triple Pandemic" examines the convergence of major threats to public health, economic livelihood and access to justice during the COVID-19 pandemic. Multifaceted approaches examine racial equity through existing public policy as well as explore new ideas to transform change across communities. The speakers explore racial equity and public policy in three key areas with the following presenters: PUBLIC HEALTH - Nakeina Douglas-Glenn, Ph.D., Hans Louis-Charles, Ph.D., and Jacqueline Smith-Mason, Ph.D.; JUSTICE - Chernoh Wurie, Ph.D., Christina Mancini, Ph,D., and Steven Keener, Ph.D. (Christopher Newport University); ECONOMICS - Elsie Harper-Anderson, Ph.D., Benjamin Teresa, Ph.D., and Grant Rissler, Ph.D.