A Lesson in Leadership: How Dr. Woodson Quietly Transformed NCSU into a National Powerhouse

Thank you for joining us this Saturday morning.

The list of notable names to come out of Fordyce, Arkansas (population: 4,300) is what one might expect from a small town in the rural south: war heroes and ball players.

But nestled in after Ray Porter (World War II general) and Kevin Williams (defensive tackle for the Minnesota Vikings) is a name with a different sort of resume attached to it: Dr. William “Randy” Woodson, plant scientist and former chancellor, N.C. State University.

Randy Woodson, 4th Grade, note on report card, 1966-1967 (obtained from NC State website)

When Dr. Woodson left a provost job at Purdue University to take the helm at NC State in 2010, U.S. News & World Report ranked the university No. 111 in the country. 

By the time he left this year, North Carolina’s premier land-grant institution had climbed to No. 58.

By some of the most important measures, NC State is a powerhouse. During Dr. Woodson’s tenure, the university’s graduation rate is up; its applicant pool is up; its graduate indebtedness is down; its endowment swelled from $450 million to $2.4 billion; and its engineering programs rank among the best in the country.

Students at NC State have access to real-world partnerships with some of the leading technology and engineering firms in the world. For example, in 2018 NC State became “the first university in North America to establish an IBM Q Hub,” providing students with early access to quantum computing systems. And last year, the university announced a new semiconductor project in partnership with the U.S. Department of Defense.

NC State’s prominent climb, coupled with Dr. Woodson’s sheer longevity in a challenging job, places him among the most successful and respected chancellors in the UNC System. His steady-handed leadership, in an era of increased politicization around higher education and calls to cut university funding, is remarkable, serving as a template for the UNC System chancellors that follow him. 

Dr. Woodson recently delivered extended remarks at a private event, and we’re summarizing some of his insights today with his permission. 

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Dr. Woodson attributes his 15 successful years as NC State chancellor to clarity of vision. The state and national political mood swung wildly during his tenure. The economy went up, and it went down. Universities grappled with turmoil (some better than others). 

“I came here in 2010,” Dr. Woodson said. “We were coming out of the worst recession we’d had since the Great Depression. Our budget was down 15%, so we had to make some really important and strategic decisions.” 

But through it all, a laser focus on affordability, workforce readiness, and intellectual property generation kept NC State on track. 

This shouldn’t seem all that radical – isn’t that what universities are supposed to focus on, after all? But surveying the higher education landscape today, it becomes clear just how deftly Dr. Woodson navigated his ship. 

Dr. Woodson likened a chancellor to a mayor, which seems apt. Universities have multiple constituencies that are often in competition with one another. A chancellor must take care to manage the various interests, both on campus and off, while maintaining both authority and buy-in. And he must tend to the short-term fires that arise while still making headway towards the long-term vision.

“I attribute a lot of my ability to keep the university between the ditches, as I describe it politically, to keeping the focus on the mission,” Dr. Woodson said. “Don’t get distracted by the noise and stay focused, because there are a lot of squirrels for the dogs to chase in this kind of environment. And if you have clarity on what you are, who you are, and what you’ve tried to accomplish, you can get a lot done.”

Dr. Woodson is a plant scientist by trade. If that background doesn’t register on the list of jobs one would expect to find sophisticated political know-how, then perhaps it should now. 

As a native of rural Arkansas, Dr. Woodson’s STEM education enabled him to advance to heights beyond many other Fordyce residents. Before his time in university administration, Dr. Woodson served in different faculty positions at Louisiana State University, Purdue, and as a visiting professor at an agricultural institution in France, publishing dozens of research articles along the way. 

Professor Woodson, at Purdue, explains synergid cell death, the death of flowers that is triggered by pollination

In his time as chancellor, Dr. Woodson observed many students begin college with the intention to become a STEM educator, similar to himself, only to later choose a career in the private sector with a much higher salary.

This is a major challenge for universities with education colleges, according to Dr. Woodson. It’s getting harder to attract students who want to be the type of civic leader that many communities need most – teachers. He explained, “There’s only one college at NC State where the number of applicants is insufficient to give rise to the number of students that we need. And that’s the College of Education.”

Looking toward the future, it’s clear that American higher education is under a microscope. There are a lot of reasons for that – some of them self-inflicted by particular universities, and others not.

But Dr. Woodson offered a compelling defense of where universities fit into the American economy and culture: “Remind people of how important these universities are to create and add momentum to this economy. And it’s not just the degrees we produce, it’s the intellectual property we produce through research. We spin out typically 15 companies a year from NC State, and generate about $10 million every year in revenue back to the university through patents.”

Dr. Randy Woodson’s story is a reminder that leadership rooted in clarity, discipline, and purpose can yield extraordinary results, even in a landscape as complex and politicized as American higher education. His success at NC State wasn’t born of flashy rhetoric or headline-chasing reforms, but from a steady commitment to affordability, innovation, and workforce relevance. 

From a small town in Arkansas to the helm of one of the nation’s top public universities, Dr. Woodson’s journey reflects personal accomplishment and the enduring power of institutions that stay true to their mission.