Fall 2009

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Ready To Lead: NC State Welcomes Chancellor Jim Woodward
Dave Pond, News Services

When UNC system president Erskine Bowles called upon Jim Woodward to serve as NC State University’s Chancellor, Woodward – an Air Force veteran who served as an assistant professor in NC State’s College of Engineering from 1968-69 – recalled it was the only position capable of luring him out of retirement.

Woodward has the experience of a long and distinguished career in higher education that will help him lead NC State through a turbulent economy and intense media scrutiny of former administrators. He previously served as the chancellor of the University of North Carolina at Charlotte from 1989 to 2005 overseeing the significant expansion of the school to more than 19,000 students, the awarding of the school’s first doctoral degrees, and the largest fundraising campaign in the school’s history.

Prior to serving at UNC Charlotte, Woodward, an aerospace engineer, had been dean of engineering and senior vice president of academic affairs at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB).
NC State University, Woodward said, is of pivotal importance to the future economic well-being of the state and will continue to extend its legacy of success, academic excellence and scientific discovery in spite of the tough times, spurring future growth in North Carolina and beyond.

Within two days on the job, Woodward had already 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.

“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.”

The key to the University’s ongoing successes, he said, are the members of NC State’s faculty and staff.

“…The people who really count are the people who are on the front line, doing what universities do,” Woodward said. “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.”

“I would hope that my reputation as someone who served successfully as a chancellor for many years and also someone who operated with a high degree of integrity would carry over into the position” he said.”

Jim Woodward took office of the Chancellor following the resignation of Chancellor Jim Oblinger in June. Go to www.ncsu.edu to learn more about Chancellor Woodward.

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