Naming Our Way Into the Future

There’s a Latin proverb that reads, “From our ancestors come our names, but from our virtues come our honors.” For Randy Woodson, the 14th chancellor of NC State, the honor and the name are one and the same.

Woodson Hall, being built on the Brickyard where Harrelson Hall once stood, is the latest in a long line of cutting-edge campus facilities. Set to open in early 2027, this 153,000-square-foot academic building will serve as a hub for the university’s STEM interdisciplinary teaching and research efforts. Scholars including chemists, biologists, physicists, engineers and mathematicians will be able to work together under one roof thanks to this truly collaborative space.

Woodson Hall was originally named the Integrative Sciences Building, but in 2024, with Woodson’s retirement approaching, the university’s Board of Trustees voted to rename the building as a tribute to his outstanding leadership. Woodson officially retired following the university’s May 2025 commencement ceremony, having left his mark on campus in countless ways during 15 years as chancellor.

Recognizing Woodson in this way has had the added benefit of rallying Pack members to the building’s cause. While the state of North Carolina has supplied half of the $180 million in funding for Woodson Hall, the university is raising private support for the remainder. A number of donors have stepped forward to help, inspired by Woodson’s legacy to make naming gifts of their own.

The Board of Trustees approved eight more of these naming gifts during its September meeting. One is especially significant because it establishes the third named space in Woodson Hall to pay tribute to the memory of an NC State faculty member.

Dellaine Risley has made a gift naming Room 271 as the Risley Teaching Lab for her late husband, John. The Risleys became passionate members of the university family when John joined the faculty of the Department of Physics in 1976. In the years that followed, they created and supported various funds benefiting students — undergraduate and graduate — as well as other faculty members in the department.

John’s research also led him to create WebAssign, an online homework and assessment tool that has been used by countless students around the world since its launch in 1997. The company moved to Centennial Campus in 2003 and continues to be an important corporate partner of the university.

Risley said her gift is a tribute to John as well as to Woodson’s indelible mark on NC State’s scientific efforts.

“When the building was named after Chancellor Woodson, I was really happy that something as innovative and forward-thinking as this has his name on it, because of all that he’s done to make the university what it is today,” Risley said.

Risley was particularly impressed by Woodson’s championing of the sciences during his time as chancellor, including the way he fostered an atmosphere of collaboration and exploration across campus. That atmosphere will infuse Woodson Hall, which is designed to give many other professors the tools and opportunities they need in order to follow in John’s creative footsteps.

“You meet at the water cooler, and great ideas might pop up just because two different disciplines are in the same space,” Risley said. “The goal of Woodson Hall is to keep people from having to go all across campus to connect.”

For more information on Woodson Hall and the Integrative Sciences Initiative, including how you can be part of the remaining naming opportunities, visit go.ncsu.edu/woodsonhall.

This post was originally published in Giving News.