Randy Woodson's been busy.

Since leaving Purdue University and becoming N.C. State's chancellor in April, he's barnstormed the state and beyond to introduce himself to alumni groups. He's slogged through his legislative season - where public universities lobby for funding - and he's made his first high-profile hire - new athletic director Debbie Yow.

On Tuesday, Woodson will be installed as NCSU's chancellor,  a formal ceremony highlighting a week of events. He spoke to the News & Observer about his early observations of the job. Here are excerpts:

What are your early impressions of the new job? Any surprises?

There haven't been a lot of surprises. The institution is so similar academically to where I came from, I feel the academic part hasn't been a surprise. The only surprises have been positive - the strength of our faculty and students. If there is a surprise, it's a positive one about how committed our alumni and fans are about the institution.

What's going to be the biggest budget fight in the legislative session?

A big one for us is to make sure that the tuition students pay stays on campus. The students are investing in their education. Where their tuition goes...needs to be transparent and clear. And always a big issue is making sure there's adequate funding for financial aid for students with the most significant financial need. It's going to be a difficult session all the way around. We understand that.

 You mentioned fan interest, alumni interest. Did you get a good glimpse of that early on in hiring a new athletic director?

The Tom O’Brien job watch ended Saturday.

It’s not completely official yet, of course.

It’ll probably be a few more weeks before new N.C. State athletics director Debbie Yow rewards the fourth-year football coach with a job extension.

Athletic director Debbie Yow, who was hired in June to replace Lee Fowler, is planning to reorganize N.C. State's athletic department. 

"We think we've got the right people on the bus," Yow said. "We want to make sure they're in the right seats."

Athletic director Debbie Yow’s decision last week to leave Maryland for N.C. State could lead to some chaos in the Terps' football offices.

Yow, in February of last year, made the decision to hire offensive coordinator James Franklin as head coach upon the resignation or retirement of Ralph Friedgen. Franklin, 38, got a big pay raise and the guarantee of a million dollar parachute should someone else follow Friegden.

That outcome now seems likely.

N.C. State has a new athletics director.

She is Debbie Yow, who will leave the University of Maryland to return to her native North Carolina. She begins work July 15, taking over the athletics program at the university where her sister, Kay, made such an imprint as the longtime women's basketball coach. Kay Yow died last year after a very public cancer battle.

Though NCSU officials have been cagey today about the hiring, Yow herself confirmed the hiring to the N&O earlier today. You can read that here.

And up in Maryland, campus leaders say they're saddened but not entirely surprised that Yow is making the move after 16 years on that campus.

Maryland's president, C.D. Mote, is quoted in the Baltimore Sun as crediting Yow for turning around a program under serious financial strain.

"She leaves a program that is in very strong shape," Mote said in this story. "Most ADs when they leave, they leave a lot of bad baggage behind, like the athletic program she inherited when she came.  Huge debts and huge problems. When you look at the program she's leaving compared to the one she took over, you have to say it's been a spectacular run."

Maryland’s Debbie Yow has emerged as a leading candidate to replace Lee Fowler as N.C. State’s athletic director.

Maryland has enjoyed considerable national success and unprecedented expansion, in terms of both facilities and the number of varsity sports, in Yow's 16-year tenure as the ACC school's athletic director.

Yow, the younger sister of the late Wolfpack legend, Kay Yow, confirmed in a phone interview Thursday night that she has been contacted by N.C. State.

Maryland's not going anywhere and neither is Terrapins athletic director Debbie Yow.

Definitely. Maybe. Almost positively.

Such is the way the expansion winds blow, Maryland's hot for the Big Ten one day and content in the ACC the next. The Terps aren't interested in the Big Ten Plus Two (patent pending) according to the Baltimore Sun.