Dr. Cory Gooding

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Born and raised in Brooklyn, New York to first generation immigrants from the Caribbean, Cory has dedicated his career to serving community needs in collaboration with educational institutions, nonprofit and for profit organizations. Dr. Gooding has spent more than 15 years working to produce positive outcomes for young adults through teaching, mentorship, youth development programming and political advocacy. Dr. Gooding structured and evaluated restorative justice efforts with Los Angeles-based youth-serving organizations. He also served as the The California Endowment’s Building Healthy Communities Hub Manager in South Los Angeles, convening and facilitating monthly meetings of more than 40 nonprofit organizations, service providers, system leaders and community members. 

Dr. Gooding’s work with community stakeholders has advanced political and community action for improved school discipline policies, community safety, food equity and economic development in South Los Angeles. This work also challenged Dr. Gooding to keep his research and teaching grounded with an eye towards the communities that experience theory and policy in concrete ways. Dr. Gooding’s academic research focuses on the intersection of race, ethnicity and politics. Specifically, his work explores the role that identity plays in the political engagement of immigrant and disempowered communities. The research agenda explores the traditional forms of political activity (i.e., voting, protests, etc.), while also recognizing a range of behaviors and symbols that also define inclusion and exclusion from a group, polity or public sphere. 

Earning his bachelor’s in political science form Haverford College, his master’s in Afro-American Studies from UCLA, and his PhD in political science, also from UCLA, Dr. Gooding is currently an Assistant Professor of Political Science at the University of San Diego. He is a contributing author to several edited volumes including, Black Politics in Transition: Immigration, Suburbanization, and Gentrification (2018), The Gendered Executive: A Comparative Analysis of Presidents, Prime Ministers, and Chief Executives, (2016) and A Companion to Sport, (2013). Currently, Dr. Gooding is developing a book manuscript that examines the relationship between identity, political attitudes and political engagement among Afro-Caribbeans in the United States during the Barack Obama and Donald Trump administrations.