Wilder School in Action

Pelfrey joins board of Crime and Justice Research Alliance

William Pelfrey, Ph.D., professor and program chair of homeland security and emergency preparedness at the Wilder School, was invited to join the board of the Crime and Justice Research Alliance (CJRA), a research advisory group that serves the two major criminology/criminal justice associations, the American Society of Criminology (ASC) and Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences (ACJS). CJRA is the research and lobbying arm of ASC and ACJS. As one of the 10 CJRA board members, Pelfrey will review policy proposals, offer recommendations for legislative initiatives and assist in identifying the trajectory of scholarship.

“This is a three-year appointment, and I’m honored to be on the board with some highly respected researchers. I’ll do my best to represent the Wilder School,” said Pelfrey.

Cleary’s interrogation bill signed by Gov. Northam

For the past year and a half, Hayley Cleary, Ph.D., an associate professor of criminal justice and public policy at the Wilder School, has worked with Virginia State Senator Jennifer McClellan to gain support for a bill that would mandate all Virginia state law enforcement agencies to electronically record custodial interrogations conducted in a place of detention. Cleary’s bill, HB1023, passed the House, and on April 11, Gov. Ralph Northam signed it into law.

“I am elated,” said Cleary. “It’s exciting to see Virginia do the right thing. Other states are moving in this direction. The great thing about this legislation — and what makes it different from a lot of other policy initiatives — is that stakeholders all agreed that recording is a good idea.

“I’m enormously grateful to Sen. McClellan, Del. Adams and their staff for seeing this issue to the finish line.”

Liebert becomes chair-elect of ASPA’s Section on Personnel Administration and Labor Relations (SPALR)

Wilder School associate professor Saltanat “Salta” Liebert, Ph.D., is chair-elect for ASPA’s Section on Personnel Administration and Labor Relations.

Created in 1979, the Section on Personnel Administration and Labor Relations (SPALR) of the American Society for Public Administration (ASPA) promotes the importance of human resource management and labor relations in public service organizations. The section sponsors two prominent peer-reviewed journals: Review of Public Personnel Administration and Public Personnel Management.

Leibert will assume the role of chair in 2022 for a two-year term. “I’m very excited about serving ASPA and our larger public administration community in the role of the chair-elect (and then chair) of the Section of Personnel Administration and Labor Relations,” shared Leibert.

Herbert Simon Best Book Award goes to Dean Gooden

In June, Wilder School Dean Susan Gooden, Ph.D.’s book, “Race and Social Equity: A Nervous Area of Government,” was selected as the winner of the Herbert Simon Best Book Award from the Public Administration section of the American Political Science Association. The Simon Award recognizes a text that has had an enduring impact on the public administration community within the past five years.

“The selection committee was impressed at how ‘Race and Social Equity’ has influenced subsequent scholarship,” said Award Committee Chairman Don Moynihan, Ph.D. “Even as the field of public administration and social science more broadly has struggled with the challenge, Gooden reframes how issues of race and inequality are negotiated in government settings.”

In the book published in 2014, Gooden contends that social equity — specifically, racial equity — is a nervous area of government which has stifled individuals and organizations, leading to an inability to reduce racial inequities in government.

In July 2020, Gooden published a new volume, “Global Equity in Administration: Nervous Areas of Governments,” that explores the concept of equity and nervousness around the world.