Randy Woodson is a most fortunate fellow, and he seems to know it. The new chancellor at N.C. State University included in his remarks upon confirmation by the UNC system's Board of Governors some gratitude and some humor. It was a polite, gracious and low-key beginning.
Given that Woodson, currently the provost at Purdue University in central Indiana, is taking over after a rather tumultuous time at State, he set the right tone and managed to single out various constituencies with which a university chancellor has to connect ... students, faculty, athletics boosters. He also doffed the hat to one attendee at the announcement of his hiring who deserved the recognition, and that was William Friday, president emeritus of the UNC system.
In Friday and in former Gov. Jim Hunt (two of N.C. State's most prominent alumni), Woodson has himself two capable advisers he'd be wise to call upon as he learns to navigate the politics in both higher education (which sometimes makes regular ol' politics seem tame) and down on Jones Street, where the university system's budget is combed, sprayed and approved.
But back to this thing about Woodson being a lucky guy. For all of the storms that have circled the administration building off Hillsborough Street these last months, the new chancellor has saddled one of the fastest horses in higher education. He's also connected with a university that has personally touched the lives of tens of thousands of North Carolina citizens in a multitude of personal ways, from the folks on campus in various divisions of a large agricultural education enterprise that deals with the state's farmers, or the continuing education programs that reach students, mid-career or elderly, or a marvelous vet school that helps with large animals or the family cat. This is a people's university, in every sense of the word.
And on the occasions I've had a chance to interact with students, faculty and administrators, including my own certification as an alum ... three summer school sessions that were of considerable assistance in finishing up at Chapel Hill ... I've been impressed with a modesty that's sometimes uncommon in higher education. The university community wears its excellence well, it might be said.
Every day one moves a few blocks in any direction in Raleigh, the Triangle and North Carolina, N.C. State's contributions are visible, tangible. It might be a building that came out of the School of Design. It might be software that was developed by a State alum. It might be a teacher schooled in the liberal arts or writing in Tompkins Hall. It might be a student working part-time in a bookstore or as a nanny. It might a piece of art standing in the sun outside a corporate headquarters. Or it might be through a conversation with one of the thousands of alums in these parts.
Chancellor-elect Woodson, who was capably preceded by interim Chancellor James Woodward, doubtless has been briefed about the university's problems, which are in fact mostly related to individuals and not to the institution's reputation at all. And there is a perception on the part of some inside that campus that NCSU doesn't get enough moments in the sun because of the shadow cast from Chapel Hill.
But if this alum might offer a friendly thought or two, he might begin with suggesting as watchwords: Go from here.
First, alert the trustees and the boosters and the faculty who may be feeling wounded or resentful because of recent and even not-so-recent events that the campus needs to just move ahead from where it is. All of these great things are going on, the forecast on the Centennial Campus is terrific and there's much on which to build without worrying about the immediate past.
Second, talk more about the good stuff, and don't hide bright lights under a bushel. People who know students and faculty members are well-aware of a lot of ground-breaking scientific things now in progress, and there are authors among us with N.C. State connections, but the university doesn't seem to toot its own horn very much. Tune up.
Third, when bad things happen, embarrassing things or just goofs of one kind or another, talk about them, too, right away and with total candor.
Finally, seek and follow the counsel of people such as Friday and Hunt, who are (justifiably) much-admired, and who on a personal level are possessed of an uncommon measure of good sense.
Go from here.
