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ADMINISTRATION<br />
DR. RANDY WOODSON<br />
CHA<strong>NC</strong>ELLOR<br />
Dr. Randy Woodson was appointed the 14th chancellor<br />
of North Carolina State University on April 1,<br />
2010. He brought to <strong>NC</strong> State more than 25 years<br />
of experience as an internationally renowned plant<br />
scientist and academic leader.<br />
Under his leadership, <strong>NC</strong> State has built upon its<br />
reputation as a pre-eminent research institution. It<br />
is a time marked by many transformative changes<br />
— the opening of the James B. Hunt Jr. Library on Centennial Campus, the launch<br />
of the College of Sciences and the completion of the Lonnie Poole Golf Course.<br />
Woodson also guided the university in securing leadership roles in groundbreaking<br />
research projects, such as the Next Generation Power Electronics National<br />
Manufacturing Innovation Institute, the Consortium for Nonproliferation Enabling<br />
Capabilities and the Laboratory for Analytic Sciences. During his time at <strong>NC</strong><br />
State, the university’s two National Science Foundation Engineering Research<br />
Centers — FREEDM and ASSIST — have gone from strength to strength.<br />
Even in the face of unprecedented financial challenges, these advances were<br />
made possible thanks to Woodson’s strategic plan and the accompanying Strategic<br />
Resource Management initiative, which aligned the university for greater<br />
effectiveness, efficiency and — most importantly — student success.<br />
At <strong>NC</strong> State, Woodson has solidified the spirit of the land-grant university and its<br />
hallmarks of commitment and service by spearheading efforts to increase college<br />
access. As the landscape of funding for public universities continues to change,<br />
<strong>NC</strong> State consistently ranks in the top five best values among public universities<br />
in the U.S., according to U.S. News and World Report and Princeton Review.<br />
During his tenure, Woodson has overseen two of the largest private gifts in<br />
university history. Additionally, the university’s endowment nearly doubled and<br />
currently stands at $885 million.<br />
Woodson arrived at <strong>NC</strong> State from Purdue University, where he served as executive<br />
vice president for academic affairs and provost. He also served as the Glenn<br />
W. Sample Dean of Agriculture, associate dean of agriculture and director of the<br />
Office of Agricultural Research Programs at Purdue.<br />
Woodson grew up in Fordyce, Ark., and attended the University of Arkansas,<br />
receiving a B.S. in horticulture. He received his M.S. and Ph.D. in plant physiology<br />
from Cornell University. He joined the Louisiana State University faculty in 1983,<br />
moving to Purdue University as an assistant professor of horticulture in 1985.<br />
Prior to his administrative<br />
appointments, Woodson<br />
also served as head of<br />
the Department of Horticulture<br />
and Landscape<br />
Architecture at Purdue<br />
and was a visiting scholar<br />
at the École Nationale<br />
Supérieure Agronomique<br />
de Toulouse in France.<br />
Over his decades-long<br />
career in higher education,<br />
Woodson has<br />
contributed a substantial<br />
body of knowledge to<br />
the field of plant science,<br />
which has been published<br />
in more than 100<br />
journal articles and book<br />
chapters. His research<br />
has covered topics such<br />
as plant genetics, molecular<br />
biology, biotechnology<br />
and sustainable bioproducts development, spanning the gap between<br />
the detailed science of plant physiology and the practical application of this<br />
knowledge in the field of horticulture. His research has been featured in stories<br />
published in BusinessWeek, The Futurist and Discover.<br />
Woodson has received a number of professional honors during his career, including<br />
the Purdue University Agriculture Research Award, the American Society for<br />
Horticultural Science Outstanding Researcher Career Award and the Sagamore of<br />
the Wabash Award, the highest award presented by the governor of Indiana for<br />
service. He is a fellow of the American Society for Horticultural Science.<br />
He and his wife, Susan, an accomplished artist, have three adult children: Samantha,<br />
a librarian at Central Carolina Community College; Patrick, an agricultural<br />
engineer at RTI International; and Chloe, a care provider and educator in the<br />
TEACCH Autism Program at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The<br />
Woodsons have one granddaughter.<br />
DEBORAH A. YOW<br />
DIRECTOR OF ATHLETICS<br />
When Deborah A. Yow was hired to be <strong>NC</strong> State’s director of athletics on June<br />
25, 2010, her goal was to make the department she inherited one of the best<br />
in the nation.<br />
In five years, she has taken many steps to accomplish<br />
that goal by recalibrating competitive<br />
and academic expectations. Working closely with<br />
her senior staff, she has ensured that financial<br />
resources for teams have improved dramatically<br />
and that coaches are encouraged to recruit the<br />
best prospects available – in both character and<br />
competitive achievement.<br />
The Wolfpack’s program of 23 varsity sports has<br />
made remarkable improvement in its national<br />
standing in the NACDA Director’s Cup, a measure<br />
of competitive accomplishments for all <strong>NC</strong>AA varsity sports. From 2010-12, the<br />
school made the biggest single jump of any ACC school in the 20-year history<br />
of the rankings, improving from No. 89 to No. 37.<br />
Five years to the day she was hired, the improvement was marked by a No. 27<br />
finish in the Directors’ Cup, the best in school history, capping a remarkable<br />
<strong>2014</strong>-15 academic year that saw the Wolfpack reach new heights. During her<br />
time in Raleigh, <strong>NC</strong> State has climbed a remarkable 62 spots in the Directors’<br />
Cup.<br />
The <strong>2014</strong>-15 academic year was one of accomplishment, as nine teams finished<br />
in the Top 25 in the nation in their respective sports, including six in the Top<br />
20. <strong>NC</strong> State was one of only three schools to win a football bowl game, reach<br />
the Sweet Sixteen in men’s basketball, and earn an <strong>NC</strong>AA Baseball Regional<br />
bid.<br />
In the classroom, <strong>NC</strong> State athletes excelled. A program-record five teams<br />
earned multi-year APR recognition among the top 10 percent in their respective<br />
sports, while 14 of 23 programs earned perfect single-year APR scores.<br />
Additionally, Wolfpack student-athletes registered a program-best Federal<br />
Graduation Rate of 71 percent, and an 81 percent Graduation Success Rate, the<br />
second-highest figure in school history.<br />
In the 2012-13 academic year, <strong>NC</strong> State moved up to No. 34 in the Director’s<br />
Cup, as a record 18 sports were represented in postseason play. <strong>NC</strong> State was<br />
one of only three <strong>NC</strong>AA institutions in the nation to have their football team<br />
play in a bowl game, their men’s basketball team play in the <strong>NC</strong>AA Tournament,<br />
and their baseball team participate in the College World Series. UCLA<br />
and Louisville were the others.<br />
The Wolfpack clearly has embraced Yow’s comprehensive and energized<br />
vision for the future of the department, which has rallied under its trademark<br />
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