Dr. Benny L Gooden Service Center

Dr. Benny Gooden retired as superintendent of schools in Fort Smith, Arkansas in 2016 after holding this position since 1986.His active service in public education spans fifty years--41 as a local school superintendent. Prior to coming to Fort Smith, Dr. Gooden held superintendent's positions in Boonville and Crawford County, Missouri. He has also served as an assistant superintendent, high school principal, assistant principal, and secondary vocal and instrumental music instructor. Since his retirement from the superintendency, Dr. Gooden has been associated with the Arkansas Colleges of Health Education in Fort Smith where he currently serves as Senior Executive Assistant to the Provost. 

Dr. Gooden’s academic training includes a Bachelor of Arts degree from Harding University, a Master of Education degree from the University of Arkansas-Fayetteville and a Doctor of Education degree from the University of Missouri-Columbia. He has taught at the graduate level for Arkansas Tech University, the University of Central Arkansas and Southeast Missouri State University in addition to teaching for the University of Arkansas-Fayetteville for more than 25 years.   

Benny Gooden has been active in school leadership organizations in both Missouri and Arkansas as well as at the national level. He has served on the Federal Policy and Legislation Committee of the American Association of School Administrators and was its chair in 2001-2002. He served on the Executive Committee of the AASA and was President of the American Association of School Administrators in 2012-2013. Dr. Gooden was president of the Arkansas Association of School Administrators in 1998-1999 and served as president of the Arkansas Association of Educational Administrators in 2007-2008. He is past-chair of the Board of Trustees of AdvancED, the national accrediting agency formed by merger of the North Central Association/Commission on Accreditation and School Improvement and the Southern Association.   He is a frequent presenter at educational conferences on topics related to governance and school finance.

He was named Arkansas Superintendent of the Year in 1992, recipient of the Dr. Dan Pilkington Award by the Arkansas School Boards Association in 2000 and the Phoebe Apperson Hearst Award by the National PTA in 1999. He was presented the Citation of Merit by the University of Missouri College of Education Alumni Association in 2010, the Outstanding Education Alumnus award by Harding University in 1990 and the Distinguished Alumnus Award by Clinton High School in 1991. He received the Distinguished Service Award by the American Association of School Administrators in 2014. In 2014 he was named Administrator of the Year by the Arkansas School Band and Orchestra Association and he received the Educational Excellence Award from AdvancED in 2015. The Arkansas Teachers for National Board Certification presented Gooden with its Advocate for Education Award in 2014.

Returning to his musical roots, Dr. Gooden continues as a member of the River Valley Community Band.  He was director of the AASA Singing Superintendents of the American Association of School Administrators for more than 20 years.  

Dr. Gooden is married, and he and his wife, Martha, are the parents of three children -- all graduates of Northside High School in Fort Smith.  Michael is a 1995 graduate of the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences and following service as a LTC General Surgeon in Fort Bragg, NC is associated with Mercy Health--Fort Smith.  Marcus is a product and packaging designer in Redlands, CA and Leigh Ann is a graduate of the Oklahoma State University College of Osteopathic Medicine in Tulsa, OK and practices emergency medicine at Mayo Clinic in LaCrosse, WI.  He has seven grandchildren.