Chancellor Randy Woodson addressed faculty, staff, students and alumni Friday at the biannual “State of NC State” address, speaking on the university’s accomplishments and achievements over the past year. Hosted in Talley Student Union’s Stewart Theatre, the chancellor’s address came near the end of Red and White Week, NC State’s homecoming celebration.

While many alumni, faculty and staff members sat in the crowd, few students populated the theater. The theater was packed, however, and the audience clapped loudly as Woodson entered, giving him standing ovation. Woodson, NC State’s 14th chancellor, has more than 30 years of experience in higher education.

Woodson started his speech by welcoming everyone and showing his appreciation for everyone who worked toward making the university a better place in the past year, including the trustees, students, faculty and staff.

“I just want to start by saying how much I appreciate our students and how they represented themselves,” Woodson said. “Thank you for joining us today. We are here after all to celebrate and applaud you for your achievements. I appreciate the partnership with the administration, with the faculty, with the staff as we all work to build our community. Together we are are taking action to become a better community.”

In light of recent events, Woodson renewed his commitment to making NC State as welcoming as possible to everyone, adding that these were “challenging times” and to accomplish our goals the Wolfpack had to come together.

“Equality, inclusion, diversity — they are all of our responsibilities,” Woodson said. “You have my commitment as chancellor and another commitment by my colleagues, the administration and our faculty and staff to work hard everyday to make this campus inclusive and diverse. So I hope and expect that you will all join me in this endeavor.”

Woodson acknowledged wolfpack students, faculty and alumni from across the globe that were making a difference and embodying NC State’s hard work attitude, including olympic swimmer Ryan Held, a junior studying fisheries and wildlife sciences.

“I meet amazing people like Ryan on campus everyday, who live by NC State University’s ‘never give up’ mantra,” Woodson said. “They might not all win gold medals, but each embodies NC State’s ‘think and do’ spirit.”

The audience responded positively to Woodson’s speech, including Karen Sandler, the director of the Intensive English Program at NC State. She said that she tries to go to the chancellor’s address every year, adding that it was always informative to learn what is going on around campus.

“I thought it was very inspiring,” Sandler said. “It’s always a great pleasure hearing about all the great accomplishments that the students the faculty, the dedication NC State has toward education, toward research, and becoming an elite university in the world. It makes me really proud to work here.”

Kate Madden, a staff member at NC State, agreed that the chancellor’s address was something more people should attend. The information the chancellor gave made her proud to be a part of NC State.

“It really is a great opportunity for us to learn what’s happening outside of our department and to hear how great we are,” Madden said. “It really makes me kind of puff up as I leave. It’s very nice to work here.”

While Sandler thought that NC State had accomplished a lot in the past few years and was doing a great job, whether with education, technology or research, she always feels that there is room for more improvement.

“I think that NC State is on a good trajectory,” Sandler said. “I feel like we’re going forward, moving up. There’s a lot of possibility here. That’s what makes it fun and exciting to work here.”