Below is the roundtable discussion and Q&A with Chancellor Jim Woodward from the Autumn 2009 issue of NC State magazine. A pdf version is also available.
Taking a Hard Look A conversation about NC State’s culture
Three top university officials step down in May and June, after an investigation of a former governor raises questions about a job created for his wife. The chancellor in the interim pledges to create a culture of openness and transparency. The chair of the Board of Trustees appoints a committee to review what happened. Alumni send in letters from all over the world, expressing disappointment and support and asking questions.
Time for some soul-searching.
We asked Chancellor Jim Woodward about his perceptions of the university and plans for moving forward. (See end.) We also asked a group of six people—each with a unique perspective on the events of this summer—to come together in the Park Alumni Center for a freewheeling discussion about the university’s culture, media relations, governance and more.
The participants were: William C. Friday ’41, president emeritus of the UNC System; Suzanne Gordon ’75, chief information officer of SAS and former second vice chair of the NC State Board of Trustees; Dwuan June ’90, assistant news editor at The Washington Post and former editor of Technician; Billy Maddalon ’90, co-owner of Unique Southern Properties and former chair of the Alumni Association Board of Directors; Jim Martin, a chemistry professor and former chair of the NC State Faculty Senate;and Art Padilla ’69, ’71 MS, an expert on leadership in higher education and head of NC State’s Department of Management, Innovation and Entrepreneurship. An edited transcript of their Aug. 4 conversation follows.
—Rebecca Morphis
NC State: Does what happened here recently indicate something about our culture at NC State?
Friday: [I] think what we’ve been going through is a phenomenon that has happened across the country. I mean by that, the intrusion of politics into the life of an academic enterprise. For example, in the state of Illinois this very week, the Board of Trustees there is being asked to resign. Some of them [were appointed] by a previous governor who is now in prison, and [his successor], who is going to go to prison, apparently. The whole thing shows you what politics can do when you get to tampering with the administrative structure of an institution.
I’m not alleging anything here in North Carolina. I don’t know what the true facts will turn out to be. But we do know that rigidity on this point is very critical to the life of a university. A public institution is of the public process, to be sure. We are a creature of the state. We are financed by the state. We serve the state. But that is far and away a role quite different from being in the political life of the state. [Y]ou step across the line once in any substantive way and you’re in trouble, because there’s always the second time, and a third time, and a fourth time, as Illinois is showing you right now. [There are all kinds of questions that remain to be resolved.] So that’s the role of the trustees. Their job is to maintain that posture of open, free inquiry and involvement. (more…)
N.C. State University’s interim chancellor has fired the head of the alumni association, saying the group was struggling financially and its membership had been stagnant for years.
Interim Chancellor James Woodward told the association’s board of directors Friday afternoon about his decision to fire Dr. Lennie Barton, an associate vice chancellor.
As some of you have perhaps heard by now, a change in the position of Associate Vice Chancellor for Alumni Relations/Executive Director of the Alumni Association will take place immediately. The decision to make this change was made by me following extensive discussions with our Trustees and others and based on a careful and thorough evaluation of the organization and especially the trends, financial and otherwise, now underway. I firmly believe that new leadership is needed if the defined mission and purpose of the Alumni Association are to be successfully pursued in the years ahead.
Like many of you, I appreciate the many contributions that Lennie Barton ’77, ’81 MS, ’87 DED has made to NC State and the Alumni Association during his long career at NC State, and wish him well as he pursues future endeavors.
NC State’s best years are ahead, and I invite all alumni to help build a stronger and more vibrant Alumni Relations program and Alumni Association in support of your university. Thank you.
Over the next two months, the Alumni Association will host six receptions with Chancellor Jim Woodward. He’ll take your questions about recent events at NC State, the transition to new leadership and the future of the university.
The first is Tuesday, Sept. 22, from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. at The Matthews House in Cary. The others are:
Winston-Salem, Thursday, Oct. 1, from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. at Ryan’s Restaurant
Raleigh, Tuesday, Oct. 6, from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. at the Dorothy and Roy Park Alumni Center
Greensboro, Tuesday, Oct. 20, from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. in the Magnolia Room at the Emerald Event Center
Charlotte, Monday, Nov. 2, at 12 p.m. at the Morehead Inn
Huntersville, Monday, Nov. 2, from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. at the Northstone Country Club
On Aug. 18 nearly 700 first-year students and their family members attended the Alumni Association’s 13th annual Legacy Luncheon. This morning NC State’s Web communications team posted video from the event, which featured the NC State Marching Band and a pinning ceremony to celebrate multi-generational ties to the university. Chancellor Jim Woodward said that he met a couple at the event who has 12 relatives who attended NC State and whose great-grandson began school here this semester:
“It is heart warming,” Woodward said. “You know they had a wonderful experience at the institution, and you know they encouraged their kids, and their kid’s kids, and their kid’s kid’s kids in this case.”
Are you a legacy, too? Did you grandparents attend NC State? How many of your relatives have attended the school? What are some of the traditions they passed on to you? What are the stories they told you about their time at NC State? Did their experience influence you to come to NC State? Tell us about your family ties to NC State by leaving a comment or posting a response on our Facebook page.
Former N.C. State University Chancellor James Oblinger just got a pay cut.
Oblinger, who resigned in early June amid revelations over his role in the hiring of former First Lady Mary Easley, had until today been earning his full administrative salary - $420,000 annually, or $35,000 a month.
Under an agreement he forged with UNC system President Erskine Bowles when he resigned, he was to receive that full salary for six months before returning to the faculty at a lower wage.
The UNC system’s Board of Governors voted Friday to scale his pay back immediately. He will now earn $173,000 annually, a salary commensurate with other members of the NCSU faculty. He will teach food science.
“This is absolutely an appropriate salary, and after such a careful process I am completely comfortable with it,” said James Woodward, NCSU’s interim chancellor.
On its Budget Central Web site, NC State has posted a memo and a 15-page document from Chancellor Jim Woodward that summarizes — in very specific details — how the 10-percent budget reductions, which total about $53 million, will impact campus. Some examples:
These reductions result in the elimination of nearly 300 class sections and 9,750 seats as well as 440 FTE faculty and staff positions, of which 176 are currently filled.
This reduction will require cancellation of 1,000 journal subscription (a 20% decline), loss of online access to an additional 750 journals, cancellation of 17 electronic databases, and the purchase of 15,000 fewer books than last year (a 50% decline).
Overall, the University has eliminated 7 academic advising positions and 15 tutors.
In addition to five programs eliminated in early 2009 (MS in Agricultural and Resource Economics, BA in Health Occupations Education, and three bachelor’s degrees in special education), Agriculture and Life Sciences will delay implementation of the new genetics program and Textiles will delay development of four graduate courses in medical textiles needed to support one of the University’s strategic focus areas.
Without question, the impact of these reductions is significant. We allocated smaller reductions to academic units, yet we are still losing enough teaching positions that our instructional capacity will drop by about 3 percent. Low- enrollment programs are being eliminated, and new programs are being put on hold. We have protected General Education to a very large degree, but students’ opportunities to participate in academic enrichment and co-curricular programs — such as study abroad, leadership programs, service learning, and research — will diminish, thereby lessening their collegiate experience.
08.13.2009 | by Chris Richter | Filed under Sports | Comments: 2 responses |
NC State Chancellor Jim Woodward stopped in at football practice recently to talk with the players and coaches. In our “Seven Questions with Jim Woodward” post from July, he said something to us that he repeats here: “[An athletics program] is a window through which so many of the public sees the university.”
News Services just sent us this short video from Friday’s grand opening of the Lonnie Poole Golf Course. Good stuff from Arnold Palmer, Lonnie Poole ’59 and Chancellor Jim Woodward.
NC State will lose 440 faculty and staff positions under the $53 million budget reduction plan submitted to the University of North Carolina system last week. The positions include 117 EPA faculty, 117 EPA professional and 206 SPA jobs. Forty percent of the jobs that will be eliminated — 176 — are currently filled. . . .
While the overall budget reflects a 10 percent reduction in state funding, colleges took smaller cuts, ranging from 3.36 percent for Humanities and Social Sciences to 8.55 percent for Textiles, [NC State Chancellor Jim] Woodward said.
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