To those in the Purdue family who know Randy Woodson, his recent selection as the next chancellor of N.C. State comes as no surprise.

I first met Woodson in 2007 when I was a staff reporter for The Exponent, Purdue’s independent student daily. At the time he was in his third year as the dean of Purdue’s College of Agriculture.

But you can’t keep a man like Randy Woodson in one place for long. Within four years of his appointment as agriculture dean, Woodson was named provost and on May 1, 2008, Woodson took office as Purdue’s chief academic officer. With a background grounded in research, Woodson possessed an insight and understanding that helped him relate to the needs of the Purdue faculty members he oversaw.

As such, Woodson’s appointment was met with acclaim, especially among Woodson’s contemporaries in the College of Agriculture who soon began to hope that Woodson’s charismatic and enthusiastic leadership would position Woodson as Purdue’s next president — the first Purdue president from an agricultural background.

During the provost selection process, Purdue President France Córdova received an onslaught of e-mails voicing support for each candidate but those regarding Woodson held a common theme: Trust.

“They trust him and trust is everything in a leadership position,” Córdova said at the time. “You have to trust a leader. You have to be able to work with them. They have to be on your side.” And he was on Purdue’s side — if only for too short a time.

I served The Exponent as editor-in-chief for the 2009 calendar year during which time my interaction with Woodson increased understandably. I’d see him at events — retirement receptions, presidential forums and the like — and one of the things that always impressed me about Woodson was his ability to enter a crowd and instantly relate to every person in it.

Public speaking is where Woodson really shined. When called to give updates to the Board of Trustees, Woodson owned the room with a down home charm and sense of humor that drew people to him. Not even a PETA protester who entered the room and interrupted him during one such presentation could faze him. When the protester was escorted away, Woodson merely laughed it off and kept going without breaking stride.

After those receptions and meetings, he would move from person to person, easily remembering every person’s name as if each name was as important as the next. It gave the impression that he was genuinely interested in what was going on in that person’s work and even their life — I believe he was.

Woodson received more attention last summer when Purdue, along with a 5 percent tuition increase, passed a $500 new student fee to fund strategic plan improvements. This new fee made an 11.5 percent tuition increase for new students, well over the 5 percent recommended by stage legislators and the state’s advisory body, the Indiana Commission for Higher Education.

Indiana legislators were less than pleased and the increase set off a tumultuous summer of public hearings and closed-door meetings during which legislators and Purdue officials fought to broker some sort of compromise. Woodson bore much of the brunt of that, standing toe-to-toe with several hostile state senators and a state budget committee that threatened to withhold project funding if Purdue did not rethink the increase.

With the integral role Woodson played, it’s no surprise the Purdue trustees, Córdova and even Indiana governor Mitch Daniels tried to keep him at Purdue.

With that said, I don’t think Woodson is finished climbing. It’s possible he could return to Purdue in the future as its president — following his time at NCSU — or get an even better offer. Either way, like I said, you can’t keep a man like Randy Woodson in one place for long.