Woods was born in 1943 in Hawaii.[1][2] She earned a degree in political science and English from the University of California, Los Angeles.[3] She earned a Ph.D. in English and comparative literature from Columbia University in 1970.[4][3] Her dissertation was titled, The Poetry of Sir Walter Raleigh.[1]
Woods taught at the University of Hawaiʻi. She worked at Brown University for nineteen years.[3] While at Brown, she was an English professor, associate dean of faculty, and director of the women writers project.[4] At Franklin & Marshall College, she was the a provost, dean and vice president for academic affairs.[4][3]
On April 6, 1995, Woods was selected as the president-elect of the College of Wooster.[3] She was set to succeed Henry Copeland on July 1, 1995, to become the first female president of the institution.[3] In an April meeting to express grievances about the selection process, James Perley, a biology professor and president of the American Association of University Professors, shared a Denison University telephone directory listing Woods as the partner of Anne Shaver, an English professor.[3] An anonymous letter was later distributed suggesting Woods was a lesbian.[3] Woods withdrew from the position of president-elect on June 30, 1995.[5] She was given a severance package distributed over a twenty-four month period.[3][6]
From 1999 to 2006, Woods was provost of Wheaton College.[4] In 2012, she joined the board of governors of the Community Foundation of the Florida Keys. She served as the interim chair during recovery efforts after Hurricane Irma.[2] Woods later chaired the board for over two years.[2] She moved to Hawaii for one year before returning in 2019 to chair the board for another two years.[2] She stepped down in 2022.[2]
As of 2022, Woods lives on Sugarloaf Key with her wife, Shaver.[2]
