A Man on the Move
Chancellor Kevin Howell ’88 is already a familiar face around NC State’s campus.
In his first five months on the job, Chancellor Kevin Howell ’88 has been a man in motion. He has traveled around the state for visits with NC State Extension offices. He has buzzed around North Carolina cities, celebrating economic development wins, like the JetZero announcement to build a multibillion-dollar manufacturing facility at Piedmont Triad International Airport in Greensboro, N.C. He has flown to Washington, D.C., numerous times to advocate for the university’s interests, meeting with both elected officials and other higher education leaders. And he has even addressed the Wolfpack football team to encourage them for the season ahead.
There’s no place better to see Howell move about than the place that has been special to him since he first arrived in Raleigh in 1983 as a freshman from Shelby, N.C.: NC State’s campus.
“Why did I come to NC State? First, there were a number of individuals who I respected and admired that were coming,” he says. “Then I looked at this university and saw what it means to the people of North Carolina, the contributions that this university made throughout the state of North Carolina. We could see the presence of NC State in Shelby, N.C., in Cleveland County, and it was something I wanted to be a part of.”
Howell has certainly become a part of NC State, as a student leader in the late-1980s, in various roles working for the university over 30 years of his professional life and now as the university’s 15th chancellor. So with that in mind, NC State magazine took advantage of Howell’s kinetic energy and spent a morning strolling around campus with him to get a perspective on how iconic spots serve as an integral part of his story and represent his vision of what NC State can and will be under his leadership.
HOLLADAY HALL
Even before taking over in Holladay Hall, Howell was familiar with the chancellor’s office. After being elected student body president in 1987, he spent a lot of time in that office and remembers many conversations with then-Chancellor Bruce Poulton. It’s a time that helped form a tenant of his leadership: viewing an issue from different perspectives.
“It forces you as a student leader to look at issues differently and to know that your voice represents the entire student body, from undergraduate students to graduate students,” he says. And that understanding is still a part of him today, as Howell is more than equipped to work with students, faculty, staff, alumni, industry, the Board of Governors and the Board of Trustees. “As chancellor, I represent the voice of many, and that’s why it’s important that we do everything we can to get it right.”
As chancellor, I represent the voice of many, and that’s why it’s important that we do everything we can to get it right.
When you spend time with Howell in his office, if he’s not in a meeting with any number of NC State stakeholders, you might see him deep in thought as he looks at the Belltower from Holladay Hall. For him, it’s a symbol of NC State’s military legacy — and the university’s fortitude. “No matter whether it’s storming or snowing, it’s still standing tall,” he says. “No matter what we’re facing in 2025, every now and then, just look at the Belltower.”
But one sentiment you’re certain to hear is the serious weight he gives to carrying out his charge as chancellor. “What I find amazing is that this building [completed in 1889] is still here,” he says. “What it represents to me is all these leaders who walked through that door at one point in time. I follow in their footsteps. Being the 15th chancellor to me means 14 other people walked through that door and said, ‘This is how we’re going to change. This is how we’re going to make NC State better.’ Not for themselves, but for the people of North Carolina. Everything we do ought to be about the people of North Carolina.”
REYNOLDS COLISEUM
The stroll with Chancellor Howell is on an early July day, and he stumbles upon a group of families outside Reynolds Coliseum taking a tour of campus. Howell shows no hesitation and asks the Wolfpack student giving the tour if he can offer a few words. And in those words, Howell’s innate ability to connect in meaningful ways with others is on full display. He greets the crowd with not only a smile and a listening ear but with empathy and generosity, too. He tells the prospective students and parents about NC State’s current rise into the top 10 of the Princeton Review’s rankings of best-value public institutions. He promises the parents that their students will get jobs with an NC State education, something he understands keenly as a father of a recent Wolfpack graduate. And he asks them not to be overwhelmed by NC State’s size of some 39,000 students. “Don’t be intimidated by how large we are,” he says, “because, as a university, we do try to make it feel smaller, especially within your college.”
It’s fitting that Howell is recruiting these students and families — he’s emphatic that it’s a choice for both — on the steps of Reynolds, a place he calls “the heartbeat of campus.” It’s a place where he remembers wrestling as a student athlete and registering for classes in the 1980s. “All of us would come and get in line,” he says, laughing. “We’ve long since changed that process.” It’s a place he calls “historic,” and he feels a certain kinship with that history since his favorite player and fellow Cleveland County, N.C., native has a statue soaring above the sacred ground outside of Reynolds. “My favorite player in NC State history has to be from Cleveland County. Has to be from Shelby, N.C. Has to be the greatest college basketball player ever to play the game. David Thompson.”
Howell remembers some of the wins he saw as a student in Reynolds. So what does winning look like for the university in 2025 and beyond? “Beating our rivals is always fun,” he says. “But the wins are so much more at this university, recruiting companies and good-paying jobs to our state. That’s a win. Students graduating who never thought that they would have an opportunity to attend a university like this, lifting up their entire families in the process. Witnessing and assisting our faculty members in reaching their pinnacle. That’s a win. It’s our staff doing some incredible things.”
Specifically, Howell homes in on how those big wins are realized. It means being determined to maintain NC State’s research funding, despite an uncertain fiscal climate. It means the university’s Office of External Affairs, Partnerships and Economic Development working with entities, like the state’s Department of Commerce, the governor’s office and local chambers of commerce, to be a visible part of the recruiting efforts to bring companies and their jobs to the state and to campus. It means NC State taking the lead in fields like biotechnology, artificial intelligence, quantum computing and nuclear energy. And that means continuing to emphasize NC State’s legacy in agriculture to farmers around the state through interdisciplinary science. “There is a need for research to make sure our farmers’ crops are resilient, making sure we’re doing everything we can to protect our farmers,” he says. “We welcome that responsibility. How are we going to feed the millions of people, not only in North Carolina, but in our world? That’s the research and part of what we’re doing in our College of Agriculture and Life Sciences and our Plant Sciences Initiative.”
TALLEY STUDENT UNION
Howell makes no bones about it. Talley Student Union has long been one of his favorite places on campus because he had his own parking spot nearby when he served as student body president. It’s the place where he remembers having student government meetings. And he’s the only former student body president to sign the president’s desk twice, though he can’t remember why he would have. “It’s where every group came together,” he says of the old Talley.
It’s a building, Howell says, that is emblematic of his and NC State’s continued commitment to student success. With more than 700 student activities and groups, he believes the university offers something for everyone. That is a standard Howell wants to ensure. “I encourage students to get involved,” he says. “That’s how you meet people and build relationships. That’s something I did as a student.”
I encourage students to get involved. That’s how you meet people and build relationships. That’s something I did as a student.
That outside-of-the-classroom experience is just as vital a part of what Howell calls a first-class student experience as what goes on in any classroom or lab on campus. Those experiences, he says, enable students to encounter other students from different backgrounds. And, he believes, those experiences can lead to NC State students discovering the value of service and volunteer activities. “I remember volunteering with our food bank [on campus],” he says. “You learn early how to give back to others.”
So, it should be no surprise this fall and winter if you should see Howell in Talley talking to students and encouraging them to get involved. It’s a place that really showcases NC State. “You get one chance to make a first impression, and I’ve always reminded myself of that,” he says. “How people see NC State is always based on that first interaction that they have with the university. Our team works hard to make sure it’s a positive one.”
CENTENNIAL CAMPUS
It takes Howell just one word to describe how he saw Centennial Campus when he was an NC State student. “Kudzu,” he says bluntly. “It was all kudzu back then.”
And it’s for that reason that Howell sees Centennial Campus as a place that personifies the Wolfpack spirit. “It’s all about vision,” he says. “I look at the vision that they had in developing this campus.”
That vision, Howell says, has resulted in more than 70 partnerships with companies, government agencies and nonprofits on Centennial, a place where students can live, go to school and have a job, all on that very campus. It’s a vision that’s resulted in cutting-edge research leaving a real imprint on the world. “NC State is ranked second nationally in technology transfer and commercialization among public universities without a medical school and number six with research expenditures [at institutions] without a medical school,” he says. “The research that happens on this campus not only improves lives but saves lives, too.”
And it’s a vision that’s resulted in buildings whose construction Howell helped advocate for when he served as NC State’s assistant to the chancellor for external affairs from 2006 to 2016 and vice chancellor for external affairs, partnerships and economic development from 2018 to 2023. Buildings like the James B. Hunt Jr. Library, whose bookBot Howell marvels at every time he sees it. “I grew up during the time when we had a card-catalog system,” he says, laughing. “We had Dewey decimal, and you’d go pull out a card, and you’d go to that place where the book is located, so I think about the innovation.”
It’s that same innovation Howell soaks up when he encounters engineers on Centennial Campus. And he stresses the Engineering North Carolina’s Future initiative, a commitment from the legislature to bring the best engineering faculty, facilities and technology to campus aimed at growing the College of Engineering by 4,000 students.
“We’re halfway there now, with 12,000, but jobs are continuously announced,” he says. “These companies the state attracts are looking for engineers, and NC State is proud to make that contribution to the workforce and send our graduates to the different companies that are already in this area, as well as the companies that are looking to join our ecosystem.”
Howell sees Centennial and all of NC State as a place of momentum, a good match for his own locomotion. So as his first year continues, if you blink, you may miss him darting by as he vows to stay on the go.
It’s not a time for slowing down. We have so much more to do to serve our state and world, and to ensure our students fulfill their highest potential.
“This university continues to grow,” he says. “It’s not a time for slowing down. We have so much more to do to serve our state and world, and to ensure our students fulfill their highest potential.”
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