{"id":5905,"date":"2024-09-06T10:45:36","date_gmt":"2024-09-06T14:45:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/magazine.ncsu.edu\/?p=5905"},"modified":"2024-09-06T10:45:38","modified_gmt":"2024-09-06T14:45:38","slug":"time-well-spent","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/magazine.ncsu.edu\/2024\/time-well-spent\/","title":{"rendered":"Time Well Spent"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n\n\n

When Randy Woodson arrived at NC State in April 2010 to take over as chancellor, the university\u2019s endowment was just a little over $500 million. A plan to move the College of Engineering to Centennial Campus had stalled. The student center in the middle of campus was shopworn and dreary. And the iconic symbol of the university, the Memorial Belltower, was badly in need of a facelift as it chimed out the hours from a set of speakers in the belfry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today, the endowment\u2009\u2014\u2009a fund of investments whose returns are used for operating money\u2009\u2014\u2009is over $2 billion, a sign of a healthy future. Instead of solely relying on state money for facilities, the university now raises money from donors to help pay for new buildings. Engineering has moved into its new home in Fitts-Woolard Hall next to the new Hunt Library. The faces of Centennial Campus and Main Campus have changed, and the Talley Student Center is now a bustling hub of activity. By nearly every metric, NC State\u2019s profile has ascended. Rankings have improved. Enrollment has grown. The university is more selective. And students are succeeding more than ever before.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And the Belltower? A 2021 renovation included the tower\u2019s first-ever set of bronze bells to keep time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Here’s the cover of our Fall 2024 issue. The Belltower only turns red for special occasions, and we think a tribute to Chancellor Randy Woodson counts. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Woodson came to NC State after a 25-year stint at Purdue where he had worked his way up from professor to dean to provost. NC State was his first chancellor\u2019s job, and it was to be his last. Woodson\u2019s tenure of nearly 15 years is highly unusual among public university leaders at a time when shifting political forces can end careers and well-regarded leaders are wooed to other jobs. Among all colleges and universities in the nation, the average tenure is less than six years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Woodson announced this summer that he would be retiring when his contract expires in June 2025. The search for the next chancellor is underway.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cTonight, we will officially launch the public phase of the largest fundraising campaign in NC State history, one that will shape our university for generations to come. This campaign will offer our 34,000-plus students more high-impact educational opportunities. …It will help ensure that NC State remains accessible and affordable so we can enroll the brightest students \u2014 regardless of their economic status. And the campaign
will provide us a much more robust endowment to better support NC State for generations.\u201d
\u2014<\/strong>Randy Woodson, Fall Address
Oct. 28, 2016<\/p><\/div><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Looking Back<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

In a wide-ranging interview, Woodson and his wife, Susan, sat down with NC State<\/em> magazine at the Gregg Museum of Art & Design, the site of their first home in Raleigh. The cover of the spring 2010 issue of NC State<\/em> depicts the couple just after he accepted the job. What would he tell the slightly more fresh-faced Randy Woodson, who was just beginning this journey?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Woodson pauses. And then, \u201cEnjoy the ride,\u201d he says. It\u2019s important, he says, to not have all the answers in the beginning. \u201cBut there\u2019s one thing a new chancellor has to know,\u201d he says. \u201cYou\u2019ve got to learn the history, the culture of the place very quickly. Everybody will expect you to know it \u2014\u2009and to embody it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n