He obtained his PhD from the University of Waterloo in 1979 under the supervision of David M. Jackson.
His PhD thesis was titled Combinatorial Decompositions in the Theory of Algebraic Enumeration.
Goulden is well known for his contributions in enumerative combinatorics such as the Goulden-Jackson cluster method.
Goulden was the dean at the University of Waterloo Faculty of Mathematics[1][2] from 2010 to 2015 and served as chair of the Department of Combinatorics and Optimization three times.
In 2009 received the University of Waterloo Faculty of Mathematics Award for Distinction in Teaching,[3] and in 1976 he received the Alumni Gold Medal for highest academic achievement[4] at the University of Waterloo.