TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Florida A&M University (FAMU) will host its annual Honors Convocation Thursday, March 28 at 11 a.m. in Lee Hall Auditorium. Alumna and retired Navy Lt. Cmdr Pia Woodley will serve as the keynote speaker. Currently, Woodley is an adjunct professor in the FAMU School of Allied Health Sciences.
While a student at FAMU, Woodley, a native of Miami, Fla. was elected FAMU’s Student Government Association President for the 1988-1989 academic year. After graduation, she obtained a direct commission into the United States Navy as a Medical Service Corps Officer.
Woodley began her military career as an Ensign at the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Md. The medical center was once considered one of the largest teaching hospitals in Navy Medicine; it employed more than 1,500 military, civilian and contract employees. She has served as a lead instructor in the Staff Education and Training Department. After her tour of duty in the Washington, DC area, she was assigned to the Naval Hospital in Okinawa, Japan. As a division officer in the Materials Management Department, she oversaw the acquisition, maintenance and disposition of medical and surgical supplies and equipment that serviced more than 50,000 active duty personnel and their family members, civilian employees and contract employees. Later, she was selected to head the Manpower Management Department and supervise all human resource matters for military and civilian staff.
She competed for the opportunity to go to graduate school and was chosen to attend the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, Calif.
Her career culminated at the Naval Medical Center in Portsmouth, Va., as the special assistant to the director for Administration. During a mid-tour assignment, she became the logistics officer for the Surgeon General of Multi-National Forces-Iraq in Baghdad, Iraq. She was the principal advisor to the Surgeon General on matters concerning infrastructure capacity development for Iraq’s Ministry of Health. She returned as a combat veteran and assisted the head of the Human Resources Management Department, responsible for the accountability of more than 2,500 new, current, and terminated military, civilian, and contract employees.
Woodley earned numerous awards during her military career; in February 2010, she completed 20 years of honorable service in the United States Navy. She holds 215 life, health and variable annuity licenses.
She is a full-time student at Northcentral University pursuing a doctorate degree in business administration with a specialization in health care management. She completed her bachelor’s degree in health care management in 1989. She earned a master’s degree in management with a specialization in logistics.
She is a life member of the FAMU National Alumni Association.
