Expertise

• State and local government finance
• Public and nonprofit financial management
• Social equity and workforce diversity

Education

B.S., Physics, Berea College, Kentucky, 1961
M.G.A., Governmental Administration, University of Pennsylvania, 1968
M.P.A., Public Administration, University of Southern California, 1972
D.P.A., University of Southern California, 1993

Teaching

Wooldridge teaches courses in public and nonprofit management and organizational behavior in the Ph.D. program, including governmental financial management, human resource management, principles of public administration, public administration theory, public policy analysis, and formulation and implementation.

Research interests

Identifying and overcoming barriers to the success of programs designed to promote social equity, strategies for increasing the effectiveness of management education and training, issues in privatization, trends in local government revenues, procedures and content of local government budgets, strategies used to improve productivity, obstacles to the implementation of innovations in public organizations, learning styles of international and U.S. public managers, the implications for public managers of the increased diversity of the workforce, attributes of high performing organizations, organizational behavior issues within symphony orchestras, development of diversity competencies by public affairs professionals

Accomplishments

During his career, Wooldridge has served as extension professor at the Institute of Public Service International at the University of Connecticut; director of the graduate program in urban affairs (Northern Virginia) at Virginia Tech; director of the Urban Management Curriculum Development project and training association with the National Training and Development Service; coordinator of federal programs and budget analyst for the U.S. Virgin Islands; and Peace Corps volunteer and senior science master in secondary schools in Nigeria.

Wooldridge received the Teaching Excellence Award given by the College of Architecture and Urban Studies at Virginia Tech and twice received the School of Community and Public Affairs’ Excellence in University and Community Service Award at VCU. He also received the College of Humanities and Sciences Distinguished Service Award in 1999.

Wooldridge has authored or coauthored more than 150 papers, presentations, professional reports and training modules on such topics as public budgeting, revenue management, productivity improvement and public sector training and education. His publications have or are scheduled to appear in International Review of Administrative Sciences, Journal of Budgeting, Accounting and Financial Management and many others. Portions of his works have been translated into Czech, Hungarian, Bulgarian, Danish, Italian, Russian, Macedonian, French, Lithuanian and Georgian.