Chancellor Howell’s Why

There’s a question that needs to be answered about new Chancellor Kevin Howell: Why does he keep coming back to NC State?

Including his matriculation in the summer of 1983 as a freshman studying political science, Howell now has enrolled or onboarded at the state’s largest university on four occasions, in between his time in law school at UNC-Chapel Hill and public- and private-sector positions in his home state.

The pull is strong — but why?

It was never his dream to return twice — first as assistant to the chancellor for external affairs and then in an expanded role to lead external affairs, partnerships and economic development as that office’s first vice chancellor — or to become the university’s 15th chief executive, which was announced on March 18. His first official day on the job was May 5.

Yet this is the place where he first began his journey to follow the philosophy expressed in a saying attributed to Pablo Picasso, which now hangs in Howell’s Holladay Hall office: “The meaning of life is to find your gift; the purpose of life is to give it away.”

Howell’s gift has been to use his life experiences to advance NC State, with its well-defined land-grant mission; to use the university’s research and partnerships to improve the lives of every citizen of his home state; and to educate students who will drive the engine of the state economy from the day they leave campus.

When he was a student — and NC State’s student body president — classmates had high expectations for his future. Perhaps a run at the White House or the North Carolina Executive Mansion? The idea of such aspirations seems funny to Howell now, even as he and his wife, Aleta, move into The Point on Centennial Campus. Living in a house that has a name wasn’t part of his life’s dream.

I never grew up thinking I wanted to become chancellor of NC State. But I know that NC State prepares us for our future.

“I never grew up thinking I wanted to become chancellor of NC State,” Howell said. “But I know that NC State prepares us for our future. We may not know what that future is, or what we are going to be when we grow up.”

There was only one thing he was sure he wanted to be: prepared for every challenge.

So when it was time for him to leave his Cleveland County hometown of Shelby — where he had been a celebrated football player, a ranked wrestler and president of every school class since seventh grade — he chose a place that he thought would best shape his future.

Time and time again, Howell’s alma mater has been rated high as a return on investment, most recently coming in at No. 9 in Princeton Review’s list of the best-value schools in the nation. It’s also a place that the Wall Street Journal has ranked among the best in the nation for producing prepared graduates — a critical trait for students who may never travel a straight professional path.

“[Former NC State] Chancellor Larry Monteith once told me that when you choose to go down one road, you can always pivot and go down another,” Howell says. “Our parents’ generation mostly stuck to the same path. Students today say, ‘Hey, I’m going to do something else.’ Their dreams evolve, just as my dreams evolved.”

Howell’s What

Just two months into what is likely his final position at NC State, Howell has visited with North Carolina’s congressional delegation in Washington, D.C.; twice met with fellow presidents of the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities in New York City and Washington; and traveled to Charlotte for Atlantic Coast Conference athletics meetings.

He’s been to the familiar site at 16 W. Jones Street — home of the North Carolina General Assembly, where he spent much of his 15-year academic career as the university’s primary legislative liaison and strategist.

Developing and maintaining those bipartisan relationships is part of Howell’s foundation, a gift of comfort that has served him — and the university — well throughout his career.

“The first time we met, I walked away feeling like we were parting as old friends,” says Julie Smith, who succeeded Howell as the university’s vice chancellor for external affairs, partnerships and economic development. “He has this innate ability to forge a deep personal connection to everyone he interacts with.”

He has this innate ability to forge a deep personal connection.

That was evident on the day he was introduced to campus as the university’s next chancellor, when friends from all over the state and every corner of the academic world gathered with NC State students, faculty and staff at Talley Student Union to celebrate the announcement.

“There were so many people that attended who just had to be there to say both ‘This is my friend’ and ‘This is my chancellor,’” Smith says.

Since then, Howell has met with his leadership cabinet and is beginning to work through a calendar full of appointments with faculty, staff and student leaders. This summer, he will join Garey Fox, dean of the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, on part of Fox’s tour of 102 extension centers throughout the state so he can hear about NC State’s outreach and engagement away from the center of Raleigh’s main campus.

Mostly, he’s been listening, ready to adapt to whatever greets him when he arrives at Holladay Hall early each morning to get a jump on the day ahead.

He knows there are daunting internal and external challenges to resolve: federal research reductions, ongoing state funding debates and facility issues on campus. He’s concerned not only about funding for research grants from the National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation, but also for Pell Grants, the federal subsidies for students from low-income families that are awarded to almost a quarter of NC State students.

He’s formulating his vision, filling out his C-suite staff and trying to get things in place for the start of the fall semester in mid-August, knowing that much will change between now and his formal installation later this year.

He’s deliberate enough to make sure his vision aligns with the university’s needs, contemplating a researcher’s constant quandary: “Did you ask anybody if that is what they wanted?”

Howell also sees reasons to be optimistic. With a record-high number of students, NC State is poised to improve the state’s ever-growing economic sectors in agriculture and manufacturing, as new companies arrive with new ideas that directly support the university’s land-grant mission. He proudly boasts that NC State research doesn’t just end up on a library shelf without implementation.

“We put what we do here to use,” he says. “It saves lives. It develops the state’s economy. It is critically important to our military. We have made such a great impact, not only in the state, but nationally and globally.”

We put what we do here to use. It saves lives. It develops the state’s economy.

His experience with state thought leaders affirms the Think and Do brand that the university has embraced for more than a decade. He’s certain that the nearly 6,000 students who received their diplomas this spring were ready to join the workforce or take their next steps in education and military service.

For example, he attended a recent announcement by a California aviation company of its first commercial aviation manufacturing facility in Greensboro, a $4.7 billion investment that will bring 14,500 jobs to the Triad, all of which will require well-trained college graduates.

Howell knows where the company should look.

Howell’s Who

The first time Ed Stack met Howell was during freshman orientation in 1987, shortly after Stack graduated from China Grove’s South Rowan High School.

“Everyone was just sitting around in shorts and T-shirts or whatever and he came walking in as NC State’s student body president,” Stack says. “He was wearing a suit and tie; he was buttoned up and sharp. He just looked like he was in charge.”

Stack later was twice elected student body president and embarked on a career that included 16 years at the NC State Student Aid Association (known as the Wolfpack Club), private business leadership and volunteering for various NC State boards and foundations. He was named to the NC State Board of Trustees in 2019 and is now the vice chair. Last summer, Stack was chosen as the chair of the chancellor’s search advisory committee, leading the nationwide effort to find NC State’s newest leader.

More than most, Stack saw that Howell’s communication skills, his knowledge of the school and the state, and his vision were just what NC State needed at this time in its history.

“We did several research studies, and overwhelmingly what people wanted in the next chancellor was a communicator,” Stack says, “someone who could talk to people at all levels of education, the legislature and business leaders across the country.”

Yet, while Howell’s familiarity with NC State’s infrastructure, mission and personnel was important, the committee’s decision and prior relationship should not be considered evidence of inertia.

“We didn’t want anybody to come in here and say, ‘We can keep things going, we just need to keep the train on the track,’” Stack says. “That’s not what anybody in that room wanted. That’s not what anybody associated with the top leadership of the system wanted.

“What we want is to continue to strive to be the best, and with Kevin as our chancellor, I think we can do great things.”

In Howell’s student era, the university celebrated its 100th anniversary, began the development of what is now known as Centennial Campus and kicked off its successful model for public-private partnerships.

At the time, the student body needed a strong leader. That’s when Howell, the first lawyer to lead the university since inaugural president Alexander Q. Holladay in 1889, began honing his skills as a future political liaison.

“There are two models of student leaders: the activist model and the diplomatic model,” says Gary Mauney, a Charlotte attorney who preceded Howell as student body president. “I was more the activist, and Kevin has always been the diplomat. As a student body president, you have just a year to get things done, to state your agenda and get going.

“What I appreciate about Kevin is that he has always been levelheaded enough to give calm, reasoned guidance. He’s so good at it. He could get along with everybody while at the same time advancing an agenda about the things he cared about without offending people.”

Howell’s experience working in higher education runs deep, including working in advancement, alumni affairs, the University of North Carolina System Office and almost two decades of administration at NC State.

We are very lucky that his love for this university is unmatched.

“What he brings to NC State is experience in knowing how the world works and how to navigate it,” says Smith, a native of rural Bladen County. “His training and skill set give him the ability to analyze issues in a certain way. He’s not afraid to ask why things are the way they are. He understands how to advocate for the things he believes in.

“We are very lucky that his love for this university is unmatched.”

Newly elected student body president Isaac Carreno, a Park Scholar from Goldsboro, stood in line for more than 45 minutes to introduce himself on the day Howell was announced. Carreno was eager to tell the leader he will work closely with over the next year that he had made an immediate impression on students, the university’s most important constituents.

“There was a moment during his speech where he was looking up at the third, fourth and fifth levels of Talley Student Union, not where the various dignitaries and the Board of Trustees were sitting, but where the students were pressed up against the rails,” says Carreno, who ran on a platform of enhancing students’ academic experience, especially for the 30% who deal with food insecurity while enrolled in school. “He was looking into the eyes of the students, making a direct connection.

“I knew right then that he was passionate about hearing the voices and addressing the needs of the students.”

Those who have worked with Howell outside of academics, within the realm of economic development, laud his understanding of NC State’s place in the community and the unflappable demeanor he maintains at all times.

“One of my favorite things to say is that you can fake sincerity, but you can’t fake showing up,” says Adrienne Cole, chief executive officer of the Greater Raleigh Chamber of Commerce, where Howell has served in a leadership role throughout his career, including a term as chair. “Kevin always shows up. We facilitate a lot of meetings with community and business leaders, and what Kevin prioritized was building relationships with those leaders.

“He is uniquely positioned to take NC State forward and navigate any challenges that may be ahead, because those relationships are long established.”

Howell’s place as just the third alum and eighth North Carolinian to lead the university goes deeper than demographics. Perhaps that’s why he doesn’t think of himself as a pioneer, even if others appreciate his unique role in university history.

“My experience when I was at NC State says that this is such a positive step for the university,” says Durham’s Irwin Holmes, who was one of the first four Black students to enroll at the school in 1956 and the first to receive an undergraduate degree. “NC State, in my life, is an example of how America should be, not always how it is.

“What Chancellor Howell should do is keep moving the university forward. He’s been doing so many things right since he’s been there; he just needs to keep doing it. He’s in a position to keep driving NC State down the road.”

With the option to pivot when necessary.

Howell’s Why

The question remains, however: Why does Howell keep coming back to the place he first attended at the age of 18?

“NC State, and the opportunities it gave to a young man from Shelby, made me better, as a person and as a leader,” Howell says. “In return, I want to help make NC State better. We are in great shape in so many ways, but we can always be better.

“We can always do more.”

I want to help make NC State better. We are in great shape in so many ways, but we can always be better.

That is his mission for the largest school in the UNC System, charging hard toward 40,000 total enrolled students.

“I walk out the door of Holladay Hall and by the Belltower every day I am on campus,” Howell says. “I see our students out there, visiting campus for the first time or gathering for morning devotions or taking pictures before graduation. I often go over to talk to them, to hear their stories.

“I always come away thinking, ‘We’re going to be all right.’”

And that’s why he keeps coming back: to do all he can to make sure that’s the case.