Jeff Waddoups (Economics) won the Labor and Employment Relations Association (LERA) 2021 Susan C. Eaton Outstanding Scholar-Practitioner Award. The Eaton award is given annually to a member of LERA for achievements of distinction as both an academic and practitioner in the field of economics.

Waddoups was selected because of his scholarship in the areas of labor economics and industrial relations. Specifically, he has published widely on such topics as collective bargaining in the hospitality and gaming industries, the incidence and determinants of job training, the impact of responsible contracting policies on construction costs, and public subsidies to low-wage employers through uncompensated medical care costs. In addition, he has a long record of working with various labor and community groups on policy work. The result has been numerous policy reports on safety and health in the construction industry, the economic status of workers in Las Vegas, and the impact of unions on wages and working conditions in the casino industry.