Erskine Bowles, president of the University of North Carolina System, officially announced Randy Woodson as the pick of the Board of Governors to become the 14th chancellor of N.C. State on Jan. 8.
Prior to this decision, Woodson was confronted with a number of pleas to stay at Purdue, including a lucrative salary increase and even the possibility of becoming the university’s president. In the end, however, Woodson decided to make the move to NCSU.
Regarding why he chose to make the switch to State, Woodson offered the same reason that he became a faculty member at Purdue in the ’80s.
“I’m going to N.C. State because of the quality of faculty and students,” Woodson said. “N.C. State is an outstanding institution. It’s very similar to Purdue in terms of the degree programs offered, the faculty and the disciplines that are a part of the University. Culturally, there are a lot of similarities that I’ve had at Purdue.”
Despite Woodson’s track record, however, some have questioned whether Woodson is ready to lead the state’s largest University – but not Woodson.
“The myriad of experiences have a different impact on your job as chancellor,” Woodson said. “The job as dean, particularly dean of a college like agriculture, has a lot of stakeholders. A lot of people feel connected to the college. So you spend a lot of time externally with the groups that feel very connected to what you’re doing in the college.”
With a looming budget crisis affecting North Carolina universities and causing a push to cut costs wherever possible, Woodson will definitely have to draw on many past experiences.
“Fundraising is a big part of what you do as the dean, [along with] working with the legislature, working with the General Assembly,” Woodson said. “All of those things were partial to my job as Dean of Agriculture and are, of course, a big part of the responsibility as chancellor.”
This isn’t the only thing that Woodson will be faced with when he takes the reins of chancellor.
Another issue Woodson will face is a rebranding of the University after a year filled with controversy and ethics violations.
“Early in my tenure, what I want to do, as much as humanly possible, is reassure all the stake holders – the students, faculty, staff, alumni and the industry groups that work wi t h NCSU – that the University is on the right track, that their leader is accessible and transparent and that N.C. State moving forward positively,” Woodson said.
The controversy revolving around former Chancellor James Oblinger and a few other administrators never caused Woodson to question whether or not he would accept the post at N.C. State.
“I wanted to make sure I understood what had happened, so that I felt confident that it wasn’t an endemic issue for the institution,” Woodson said. “Once that was clear, that this is not something that frequently occurs, I felt like this was a very easy decision.”
As a part of this rebranding, Woodson hope s to continue bringing in world-class educators, which will in return attract the world’s best students. \
“The heart of any university – and N.C. State is a great example of this – starts with the quality of the faculty,” Woodson said. “Students want to be educated by the best professors. The best professors are the ones that are generating the knowledge to move the economy forward, so recruiting them will be a very high priority.”
As many students might agree, athletics are also a large part of University life. This is a point that Woodson understands just as well as anyone.
“I love college athletics, and I know that at Division I athletic universities, like N.C. State, there’s a lot of interest among the alumni and the state in seeing the athletic teams perform at the highest level,” Woodson said. “What I’m a big fan of is athletics that performs at the highest levels, both academically and athletically.”
Extending from this is the notion that athletics play a large role in the decision making process of a lot of future students.
“An athletic program, if successful, can do a lot to enhance the brand of N.C State,” Woodson said. “It brings alumni back to campus. It brings students to the University. A successful athletic program is a huge part of enhancing the academic brand of the institution.”
Regarding criticism of the current state of N.C. State athletics, Woodson said he simply wants to take every possible measure to ensure that the athletic program is successful – both on and off the court.
“Alumni like to win … and I like to win also,” Woodson said. “One of the things that I want to do is do everything possible to support the athletic program so that it can reach the highest levels both athletically and academically. At the end of the day, the chancellor has the ultimate responsibility over a lot of the programs, but you need to have great coaches and great athletic administrators to make it all happen.”
“It’s not like I’m not coming from a basketball state,” he said. “Indiana has its share of rivalries in basketball, and the folks at this institution would be up in arms if we lost year in and year out to Indiana University. I get it.”
These are just a few of the issues that Woodson will face when he is officially installed as the University’s 14th chancellor. If his track record is any indicator of what’s to come, N.C. State should be in for an interesting ride.
