Randy Woodson and Michael Pate have been named 2021-22 outstanding alumni by the Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences at the U of A.

Woodson is the Outstanding Alumnus and Pate is the Bumpers College Alumni Society's Outstanding Young Alumnus.

They will be honored in separate events on campus, including an awards ceremony and reception, interacting with students in various classes, lunch and/or meetings with select student groups, dinner with college stakeholders and administrators and other activities.

Woodson will be the guest for a campus-wide Q&A in the Honors College Lounge on Friday, March 18. The session, moderated by Distinguished Professor of horticulture John Clark, will be from 9:30-10:30 a.m. and is open to everyone on campus.

Pate will be a featured speaker at Bumpers College commencement on Friday, May 13, at 3:30 p.m. in Barnhill Arena.

Randy Woodson

Woodson is the chancellor at North Carolina State University, where he oversees the largest university in the state with more than 37,000 students and an annual budget of $1.8 billion. He has enhanced NC State's reputation as a preeminent research institution and overseen several transformative changes, including the opening of the James B. Hunt Jr. Library on Centennial Campus, the launch of the College of Sciences and completion of the Lonnie Poole Golf Course.

Woodson led development of the university's "Pathway to the Future" strategic plan, which aligned NC State for increased effectiveness, higher efficiency and — most importantly — greater student success. NC State consistently ranks among the best values in higher education, according to Princeton Review, Kiplinger's and U.S. News and World Report.

He has extensive experience as a member of university faculty and administration, and has gained a reputation for building consensus through his 30-year career in higher education. Woodson moved to NC State from Purdue University, where he served as executive vice president for academic affairs.

Woodson is an internationally renowned plant molecular biologists, specializing in reproductive processes in agricultural crops.

He earned his bachelor's degree from the U of A in horticulture and his master's and Ph.D. degrees in plant physiology from Cornell University.

He and his wife, Susan, have three children.

Michael Pate

Pate is an associate professor in the College of Agriculture and Applied Sciences at Utah State University. In the Department of Applied Sciences, Technology and Education, he focuses on agricultural systems technology as well as agricultural safety and health.

He coordinates the agricultural systems technology undergraduate degree program, teaches undergraduate and graduate level courses, serves as a faculty adviser/mentor, and as co-adviser to the AgTech Club while conducting research of agricultural systems technology with an emphasis in agricultural health and safety intervention evaluation.

Pate has also served as the Nationwide Insurance Endowed associate professor of agricultural safety and health in the College of Agricultural Sciences at Penn State University.

He taught agricultural education at Westside High School (2005) and Springdale Har-Ber High School (2007), and science at Farmington High School (2006) in Arkansas.

Pate has secured funding through grants and contracts worth more than $2 million, and he is currently president of the International Society for Agricultural Safety and Health.

He has served as an ISASH board member, ISASH Traffic and Transportation Issues Committee chair, North Central Education/Extension Research Activity-197 Agricultural Safety and Health Research and Extension Committee chair, American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers Engineering Technology and Management Education Committee chair, and as editor of the Journal of Agricultural Safety and Health, among many more.

A Fayetteville High School graduate, he enrolled at the U of A in 2000 and earned his bachelor's degree (Summa cum laude, 2003) in agricultural education, communication and technology with a concentration in agricultural education and a minor in agricultural systems technology management. He earned his master's (2005) from the U of A and his Ph.D. (2009) from Iowa State University, both in agricultural education.

About the Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences: Bumpers College provides life-changing opportunities to position and prepare graduates who will be leaders in the businesses associated with foods, family, the environment, agriculture, sustainability and human quality of life; and who will be first-choice candidates of employers looking for leaders, innovators, policy makers and entrepreneurs. The college is named for Dale Bumpers, former Arkansas governor and longtime U.S. senator who made the state prominent in national and international agriculture. For more information about Bumpers College, visit our website, and follow us on Twitter at @BumpersCollege and Instagram at BumpersCollege.

About the University of Arkansas: As Arkansas' flagship institution, the U of A provides an internationally competitive education in more than 200 academic programs. Founded in 1871, the U of A contributes more than $2.2 billion to Arkansas' economy through the teaching of new knowledge and skills, entrepreneurship and job development, discovery through research and creative activity while also providing training for professional disciplines. The Carnegie Foundation classifies the U of A among the few U.S. colleges and universities with the highest level of research activity. U.S. News & World Report ranks the U of A among the top public universities in the nation. See how the U of A works to build a better world at Arkansas Research News.