Randy Woodson

Last updated
Randy Woodson
Born
William Randolph Woodson

(1957-04-20) April 20, 1957 (age 66)
NationalityAmerican
Education University of Arkansas (BS)
Cornell University (MS, PhD)
Occupation Chancellor
Employer North Carolina State University
Known for14th Chancellor of North Carolina State University
Website www.ncsu.edu/about/chancellor/

William Randolph Woodson (born 1957) is an American plant physiologist and university administrator. He is the fourteenth and current chancellor of North Carolina State University.

Contents

Personal life and education

Woodson was raised in Fordyce, Arkansas. He is married to Susan Wynne Woodson, and they have three adult children.

Woodson received his B.S. in horticulture from the University of Arkansas and then earned his M.S. in horticulture and Ph.D. in horticulture and plant physiology at Cornell University.

Career

Woodson began his teaching career as an assistant professor at Louisiana State University in 1983. He was on the faculty at Louisiana State until 1985, when he joined the faculty at Purdue University. At Purdue, Woodson served as both the director of the plant biology program and as the head of the Department of Horticulture and Landscape Architecture from 1995 to 1998. Then he became the associate dean of the College of Agriculture and director of the Office of Agricultural Research Programs. He served in that position until 2004 when he was made the Glenn W. Sample Dean of Agriculture. In 2008, Woodson was named Purdue's provost and executive vice president for academic affairs. [1] [2]

In 2010, Woodson succeeded Interim Chancellor James H. Woodward to become the fourteenth chancellor of North Carolina State University, the largest university in North Carolina. One of Woodson's first acts at NC State was to initiate the formulation of a ten-year strategic plan for the university. The result – The Pathway to the Future: NC State's 2011-2020 Strategic Plan – is the framework that guides university administrators in long- and short-term decision-making. It was approved by the NC State Board of Trustees on April 22, 2011.

As part of this plan, Woodson led efforts to expand interdisciplinary research at NC State through programs such as the Chancellor's Faculty Excellence Program, which centers on hiring clusters of faculty to collaborate in addressing global challenges from different perspectives, and the University Faculty Scholars program, which recognizes the university's leaders in academics and research.

Under Woodson, NC State received the two largest gifts in its history. In 2010, Lonnie C. Poole Jr. and his wife, Carol Johnson Poole, gave the university $40 million, which increased NC State's endowment by 10 percent. The majority of the gift was designated for what is now the Poole College of Management. Support was also designated for the College of Humanities and Social Sciences and for the construction of a clubhouse at NC State's golf course on Centennial Campus. [3] In 2013, the Park Foundation donated $50 million to begin an endowment that will provide permanent funding for the university's existing Park Scholarships program. [4]

Woodson was elected chairman of the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities for the 2013-2014 year. [5]

Research

Woodson's research focuses on the biochemical and molecular bases of plant aging and the role that ethylene plays in these processes. His research has resulted in the development of molecular approaches to improve post-harvest storage and shipping of horticultural products. [1]

Awards [1]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">North Carolina State University</span> Public university in Raleigh, North Carolina, US

North Carolina State University is a public land-grant research university in Raleigh, North Carolina, United States. Founded in 1887 and part of the University of North Carolina system, it is the largest university in the Carolinas. The university forms one of the corners of the Research Triangle together with Duke University in Durham and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. It is classified among "R1: Doctoral Universities – Very high research activity".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Arkansas State University</span> Public university in Jonesboro, Arkansas, U.S.

Arkansas State University is a public research university in Jonesboro, Arkansas. It is the flagship campus of the Arkansas State University System and the second largest university in the state. The university was founded in 1909 and is located atop 1,376 acres on Crowley's Ridge.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Marye Anne Fox</span> American academic administrator (1947–2021)

Marye Anne Payne Fox was an American physical organic chemist and university administrator. She was the first female chief executive of North Carolina State University in Raleigh, North Carolina. In April 2004, Fox was named chancellor of the University of California, San Diego. In 2010 Fox received the National Medal of Science.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">North Carolina A&T State University</span> Historically black university in Greensboro, North Carolina, US

North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University is a public, historically black, land-grant research university in Greensboro, North Carolina. It is a constituent institution of the University of North Carolina System. Founded by the North Carolina General Assembly on March 9, 1891, as the Agricultural and Mechanical College for the Colored Race, it was the second college established under the provisions of the Morrill Act of 1890, as well as the first for people of color in the State of North Carolina. Initially, the college offered instruction in agriculture, English, horticulture and mathematics. In 1967, the college was designated a Regional University by the North Carolina General Assembly and renamed North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bangladesh Agricultural University</span> Agricultural university in Mymensingh, Bangladesh

Bangladesh Agricultural University, abbreviated as BAU, was established in 1961. It is the first agricultural university and also the second largest public university of Bangladesh. This university is located in Mymensingh city. The university has 44 departments.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rausser College of Natural Resources</span>

The Rausser College of Natural Resources (RCNR), or Rausser College, is the oldest college at the University of California, Berkeley and in the University of California system. Established in 1868 as the College of Agriculture under the federal Morrill Land-Grant Acts, CNR is the first state-run agricultural experiment station. The college is home to four internationally top-ranked academic departments: Agriculture and Resource Economics; Environmental Science, Policy, and Management; Nutritional Sciences and Toxicology; and Plant and Microbial Biology, and one interdisciplinary program, Energy and Resources Group. Since February 2020, it is named after former dean and distinguished professor emeritus Gordon Rausser after his landmark $50 million naming gift to the college.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Arthur G. Hansen</span> American academic administrator

Arthur Gene "Art" Hansen was a philanthropist and former chancellor of several American universities.

North Carolina State University was founded by the North Carolina General Assembly in 1887 as a land-grant college under the name North Carolina College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts. As a land-grant college, NC State would provide a "liberal and practical education" while focusing on military tactics, agriculture and the mechanical arts without excluding classical studies. Since its founding, the university has maintained these objectives while building on them.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bidhan Chandra Krishi Viswavidyalaya</span> Public Agricultural University in Mohanpur, West bengal

Bidhan Chandra Krishi Viswavidyalaya (BCKV), also known as Bidhan Chandra Agricultural University, is an agricultural university in West Bengal, India. The university aims to provide higher education in theoretical and technical fields of Agriculture, Horticulture and Agricultural Engineering. It grants Bachelor of Science, Master of Science, Bachelor of Technology, Master of Technology and Doctorate degrees.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">E. T. York</span> American university administrator, professor, agronomist

E. Travis York, Jr. was an American agronomist, professor, university administrator, agricultural extension administrator, and U.S. presidential adviser. York was a native of Alabama, and earned his bachelor's, master's and doctorate degrees in agricultural sciences. He served as the director of the Alabama Cooperative Extension Service, the administrator of the federal Extension Service, the interim president of the University of Florida, and the chancellor of the State University System of Florida.

John T. Wolfe Jr. is an American higher education consultant and retired administrator. He served as president of Kentucky State University from 1990 to 1991; and president of Savannah State College from 1993 until 1997.

James Carmichael Renick was an American academic, who served as Chancellor of University of Michigan–Dearborn and North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University. Renick served also as the Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs at Jackson State University in Jackson Mississippi. He resigned this position on October 5, 2015.

Mary Ann Lila is the director of N.C. State University's Plants for Human Health Institute (PHHI) located at the North Carolina Research Campus in Kannapolis, North Carolina. The institute is part of N.C. State's College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. In her role with PHHI, Lila is a David H. Murdock Distinguished Professor and part of N.C. State's Department of Food, Bioprocessing and Nutrition Sciences. She is a researcher and has been called "the rock star of blueberry research."

North Carolina State University's College of Agriculture and Life Sciences (CALS) is the fourth largest college in the university and one of the largest colleges of its kind in the nation, with nearly 3,400 students pursuing associate, bachelor's, master's and doctoral degrees and 1,300 on-campus and 700 off-campus faculty and staff members.

The Plants for Human Health Institute (PHHI) is a North Carolina State University research and education organization located at the North Carolina Research Campus in Kannapolis, North Carolina, United States. The PHHI researches food crops, like fruits and vegetables, and the potential health-promoting properties they may convey when consumed.

The history of North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University, the first land grant college for people of color in the state of North Carolina, can be traced back to 1890, when the United States Congress enacted the Second Morrill Act which mandated that states provide separate colleges for the colored race. The "Agricultural and Mechanical College for the Colored Race" was established On March 9, 1891 by an act of the General Assembly of North Carolina and began in Raleigh, North Carolina as an annex to Shaw University. The college made a permanent home in Greensboro with the help of monetary and land donation by local citizens. The college granted admission to both men and women from 1893 to 1901, when the board of trustees voted to restrict admission to males only. This policy would remain until 1928, when female students were once again allowed to be admitted.

Lonnie Poole Jr. is the founder of Waste Industries, one of the largest waste and recycling companies in the Southeast United States with approximately 2 million service points. Poole is also known as the largest contributor of all time to North Carolina State University.

The Poole College of Management is the business school of the North Carolina State University in Raleigh, North Carolina, United States. The college, accredited by the AACSB in 2000, currently enrolls more than 3,500 students across its undergraduate and graduate academic programs. The college employs around 100 full-time faculty members across its four academic departments: Accounting, Business Management, Economics, and Management, Innovation and Entrepreneurship.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gregg Museum of Art & Design</span> Art Museum in Hillsborough Street Raleigh, NC

The Gregg Museum of Art & Design is the art museum of North Carolina State University and is located near NC State's main campus in Raleigh, North Carolina. To current NC State chancellor Randy Woodson, the Gregg is "an opportunity to not only celebrate the arts and design at NC State, but to welcome the community onto our campus in a new way." The Gregg holds exhibitions, lectures, workshops, film screenings, and other educational activities; admission to the Gregg is free.

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Randy Woodson Bio".
  2. "Randy Woodson: Full Biography".
  3. "N.C. State receives $40 million gift - Education - NewsObserver.com". Archived from the original on 2010-12-20.
  4. "Park Promise".
  5. NCSU Press Release