Woodward's Back at NC State

By Dave Pond

Less than 36 hours after he agreed to become chancellor at NC State, Jim Woodward was back on campus, where he began his public teaching career 41 years ago. 

A new landscape and new faces greeted Woodward as he traveled through main campus, but one thing remained the same. Just as it was four decades ago, the chancellor found members of NC State's faculty and staff to be colleagues of the highest caliber, dedicated employees with an eye on shaping a better education for our students in times of shrinking state and university budgets.

"I have always thought that committing one's professional life to education is committing one's life to a high calling, when you think about the impact of the work that you do," Woodward said in addressing NC State's faculty and staff members. "You do a really good job in providing education to our students, and there's a ripple effect of that for the remainder of their lives. The ripple effect does not just reside with that one person - it impacts their family, their children, their grandchildren and so forth.

"Anyone who has worked in this type of position understands that good universities are good because they hire and keep good staff and faculty," Woodward said. "NC State is not just a good university - it is a great university, because it has been successful in doing that."

Chancellor Woodward (right) shares a light moment with NC State Board of Trustees President Bob Jordan.

Admittedly, part of Woodward's new role is also to help calm a campus that has faced intense media scrutiny in recent months.

"I may be naïve, but I think we will work ourselves out of this in short order," he said. "The people who really count are the people who are on the front line, doing what universities do.

"They are outstanding people today, they were outstanding people a month ago, and they will be outstanding a year, two, three or four years from now."

To that end, Woodward spent his first afternoon back on campus participating in the university's annual employee recognition ceremony.

"When I have an opportunity to thank our staff I'll do it, because I recognize the special role they play," Woodward said. "It was a heartwarming experience for me in that it reinforced what I already believed – that this campus is served by marvelous people. And, it gave them an opportunity to see the 'new guy' on campus."

As chancellor, Woodward hopes to be seen as a decisive leader, but one who welcomes both advice and disagreement. Furthermore, he said that the sharing of why certain decisions are made is just as important as sharing what those decisions are.

"I have long believed that the best way to manage a complicated organization is to ensure that the people in the organization understand the purpose – in this case, of the university and the direction we're taking the university – and then to delegate as much authority as you can down into the organization, to good people to do good work.

"To the extent I can influence the way in which we can manage what has been a well-managed university, I will do it through pushing more authority, responsibility and accountability down into the university."

As Woodward moved up through the ranks at The University of Alabama at Birmingham and The University of North Carolina at Charlotte, where he served as chancellor from 1989 to 2005, he watched as NC State flourished as a cutting-edge research university able to keep its roots in a mission to serve the public as a land-grant institution.

That mission, he said, is even more critical in shaky economic times.

"I believe deeply that public universities have to support public needs – economic and otherwise – and the founder of this university understood that from day one," he said.

Dr. Woodward meets with students after a rally in the Talley Student Center.

Woodward has immersed himself in the university's ongoing budget process, reviewing what has been done to date and ensuring that principles that undergird the process are appropriate in advance of any potential cuts. In addition, he has spoken to N.C. governor Bev Purdue and a number of the state's legislative leaders in hopes of minimizing budget cuts at NC State, the state's largest university.

"Our state is obviously in some difficult financial times that will impact our budgets, but in talking with the legislative leadership, they have committed to us their continued support of this university," Woodward said. "Our budget will not have an extra cut because of the difficulties we have had over the last several months.

"They wouldn't do that – they know how important our faculty and staff's work is to the rest of the state," he said. "It's ultimately my responsibility to ensure that we handle budget cuts in a way that protects to the fullest extent the core purposes of this university, and I intend to do that."

The university's research and educational programs are right at the point of where the new nationwide – and global – economy will be, Woodward said, and NC State is ideally positioned to educate its students to work this new industry and to do the research that supports it in a way that no other institution is.

"There is no other institution in the state that has the responsibility that NC State does," Woodward said. "In my view, at this point in time, NC State is the most important university in the state of North Carolina."

Faculty and staff play a pivotal role in the ongoing successes we've had on campus, Woodward said, and tasks NC State employees with just one assignment as he fills the role of the university's chief executive officer.

"Continue to do your good work," Woodward said. "What I will attempt to do is provide – as best I can – protection, and the environment to support your efforts.

"Get up in the morning and think about what you can do each day to make this campus better, and go do it," he said. "At the end of the day, know that that's what really counts, and the person in this office recognizes and appreciates your good work. "