NC State Chancellor Randy Woodson announces his retirement after nearly 15 years in the role

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Another chancellor in North Carolina’s public university system has announced plans to step down — this time at the state’s largest university by enrollment.

North Carolina State University Chancellor Randy Woodson declared his retirement plans at the university’s trustees meeting Thursday, capping off nearly 15 years in his role. His term will officially end June 30, 2025, Woodson said.

His departure marks yet another chancellor vacancy in the University of North Carolina system that is in the process of filling three other openings, including the state’s flagship campus, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Seventeen schools are members of the system.

“I feel good about leaving the institution better than I found it, but I also feel good that the next leader has plenty to do at NC State,” Woodson said during the meeting. “This is a great place.”

With his contract ending next June, Woodson told reporters it was “just a good time” for him to step away from being chancellor. Retirement was something the 67-year-old said he considered for a while.

Woodson received a two-year contract extension in 2021 that allowed him to serve until 2025 — something UNC System President Peter Hans said he “twisted his arm at the time to stay.”

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“When I think about where NC State was 15 years and where NC State is now, it’s an extraordinary testament to this man’s leadership and the team he has built around him,” Hans told reporters after the meeting.

Woodson started in his role as NC State chancellor in 2010. He previously came from Purdue University, where he served as provost, dean of the agriculture college and in various other leadership positions.

Under his long tenure at NC State, Woodson led the university in increasing graduation and retention rates and research funding. The university’s enrollment also has grown to more than 37,000 students as of Fall 2023.

His term included radical changes in the college athletics landscape, including the Atlantic Coast Conference adding the University of Pittsburgh and Syracuse University in all sports, adding the University of Notre Dame in all non-football league sports, as well as the league’s move to add Stanford University, the University of California, Berkeley, and Southern Methodist University this year.

He is the university’s third longest-serving chancellor and one of the longest currently serving in the university system.

Although he doesn’t have immediate plans for what’s next after his chancellorship, Woodson said he intends to stay in Raleigh.

Woodson’s announcement means yet another chancellor search for the UNC system to embark on after filling four openings in the last year. Those new chancellors now lead four universities: James Martin at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University, Karrie Dixon at North Carolina Central University, Bonita Brown at Winston-Salem State University and Kimberly van Noort at UNC-Asheville.

Three other universities currently have chancellor openings: Appalachian State University, Elizabeth City State University and UNC-Chapel Hill. Appalachian State’s former Chancellor Sheri Everts was the most recent chancellor to step down in April.

The search for UNC-Chapel Hill’s new chancellor — a position opened after former Chancellor Kevin Guskiewicz left in January — progressed further on Wednesday when search committee members started considering candidates. The chancellorship is currently held by Interim Chancellor Lee Roberts, who GOP legislative leaders have signaled support in becoming the next chancellor.

The search committee has been “aggressively in the market” for several weeks to find suitable candidates, but competition with other universities conducting chancellor searches has presented challenges, said Laurie Wilder, head of search firm Parker Executive Search, during the meeting.

Hans told reporters after the meeting that he thought the high turnover of chancellors could be partly attributed to university leaders postponing their departures to ensure administrations ran smoothly during the COVID-19 pandemic.

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Associated Press writer Aaron Beard in Raleigh contributed to this report.