Just two months ago it was announced that North Carolina State University’s (“NCSU”) Chancellor Randy Woodson would retire on June 30th, 2025.
The announcement came several months after widespread news broke out about Poe Hall’s toxic PCB levels having allegedly caused cancer for some former students and faculty members that have allegedly studied and worked in the building.
See here for our previous articles on the ongoing Poe Hall story: A, B, C
The Chancellor, in layman terms, is practically the “CEO” or “boss” of NCSU. The chancellor serves as NCSU’s main point of contact with the Board of Trustees, the University of North Carolina System Office and the University of North Carolina Board of Governors. The Chancellor also works with its aides on driving the university’s “educational, research and engagement missions.”
Woodson’s tenure is legendary: having served as NCSU’s Chancellor since April 2010, a span that according to NCSU is “nearly three times longer than that of most university leaders.”
NCSU has dedicated a website to the Chancellor to commemorate the achievements of the NCSU administration under his leadership, which are aplenty:
His time has been marked by the physical transformation of our campus: the futuristic James B. Hunt Jr. Library, a reimagined Talley Student Union, the expanded Wellness and Recreation Center and Carmichael Gym, and, after a century’s wait, our completed Memorial Belltower.
The construction of Fitts-Woolard Hall helped cement the College of Engineering on Centennial Campus, right next door to a world-leading Plant Sciences Building where teaching and problem-solving flourish. And the renewal of NC State will continue after the chancellor’s departure: With the ongoing support of donors, a new $180 million Integrative Sciences Building will soon grace the Brickyard.
Under Woodson’s leadership, we’ve added more than 500 faculty members collaborating in clusters that bypass traditional academic boundaries. Through private support, we’ve increased our number of endowed faculty positions — and the number of donor-funded student scholarships, which now stands at 4,500.
With the backing of a state legislative initiative, we’re also enrolling thousands more students to meet North Carolina’s need for skilled STEM graduates. That growth will bring the student population of our world-renowned College of Engineering to around 14,000 and NC State’s total enrollment to more than 40,000.
We’ve done all this while raising our graduation and retention rates, awarding more degrees, and being honored, time and again, as one of the best-value public universities in the nation.
Achievements aside, certain readers and members of the community will remember being evicted or knowing someone personally that was evicted by the university administration under Woodson’s leadership during peak COVID-19 season in the Fall of 2020 as well as finding out that the Chancellor failed to adhere to COVID-19 guidelines that his community was expected to follow covered exclusively by The Free Pack.
Now that the Chancellor’s retirement date has been made public, the UNC System President Peter Hans has announced the formation of the Chancellor Search Advisory Committee, chaired by Ed Stack, vice chair of the NC State Board of Trustees.
Following UNC System policy, the committee comprises 13 voting members, including representatives of the trustees, faculty, staff, students and alumni. The policy also calls for a current or former chancellor of a UNC System institution to serve, as well as members of the UNC Board of Governors and the president or his designee.
Members of the NCSU community are invited to partake in the search by offering their input via a survey that can be clicked HERE. With this brief anonymous survey, you can share your preferred priorities for NC State, its mission and the traits you’d like to see in the next chancellor.
If you have questions about the survey or trouble accessing it, email ncsusurveys@ncsu.edu.
