Woods, Dr. James

Dr. James Woods serves as Dean of the Patterson School of Business and Professor at Carolina University. He brings nearly three decades of experience spanning bench science, research administration, commercialization, university teaching, and academic leadership. As Dean, he is committed to faculty empowerment, student success, experiential learning that connects the classroom to career, and a culture of trust and transparency that prepares graduates to lead with integrity in a business environment reshaped by analytics and artificial intelligence. 

Prior to joining Carolina University, Dr. Woods served as College Chair (Dean) of the College of Business at Johnson & Wales University in Charlotte. He chaired development of the college’s strategic plan, constructed annual budgets ranging from $1.5 million to $4 million, and added the Associate of Science in Business Administration, the BSBA in Entrepreneurship, and the entrepreneurship minor to the campus portfolio. He also chaired the university’s Artificial Intelligence Response Committee, guiding institutional AI strategy, secured funding for an $80,000 renovation of the Innovation and Entrepreneurship Center, and cultivated $50,000 in donor commitments supporting student programming. 

Dr. Woods’ earlier career bridged the university and the marketplace. As Director of the Entrepreneurship Incubator at the University of North Carolina at Pembroke, he launched a newly established, $1.2 million federally and philanthropically funded facility serving early-stage ventures and authored the $250,000 InnovateNC proposal that made Pembroke one of five municipalities selected statewide for a rural innovation initiative. At Wake Forest Innovations, he recruited pharmaceutical, medical device, and biotechnology sponsors and managed more than fifty industry accounts. At Wake Forest University Health Sciences, he oversaw an $11–13 million operating budget distributed across four research campuses and co-founded Preclinical Surgical Services, a contract research organization that translated intellectual property from concept through preclinical development toward market. 

He earned a Doctor of Philosophy in psychobiology from Purdue University and a Master of Business Administration in entrepreneurship from Ball State University. His doctoral and postdoctoral research in behavioral neuropharmacology examined the neural mechanisms underlying alcohol and psychostimulant reward, work published in journals including the Journal of Neuroscience, Neuropsychopharmacology, and Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research. His current research interests focus on entrepreneurship and the use of artificial intelligence in the classroom. 

As an educator, Dr. Woods believes students learn best when they are actively engaged and able to connect theory to practice, and that creativity and innovation are developed most effectively through real-world experience rather than instruction alone. He builds classrooms grounded in active participation, structured problem-solving, and clear, supportive communication, and champions experiential and applied learning aligned with faculty expertise to strengthen student competence. His professional expertise includes academic leadership and strategic planning, accreditation and academic quality, budget and resource stewardship, entrepreneurship and innovation ecosystems, industry and community partnership development, and the responsible integration of artificial intelligence into teaching and learning.