Godby received his formal economics training in Canada, graduating with his PhD from McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario. He also chaired the Department of Economics and Finance at the University of Wyoming from 2005 to 2010. In 2010, the National Research Council (NRC) ranked the department as the nation’s leader in faculty research output and eighth overall in research productivity out of 120 U.S. PhD programs. During the five years the department has also been ranked among the 10 best environmental and resource economics departments in the world (econPhD.net) and one of the top three public research departments in environment economics (Southern Economic Journal).