Dr. Woods’ professional teaching career began in 1973 at Morgan State University in Baltimore, Maryland.  Since then she has taught at Georgia Institute of Technology, Spelman College, Southern Polytechnic Institute and Hampton University.  During her tenure at Hampton and South Carolina Dr. Woods also served as chair of the history department at both institutions.  She is currently on sabbatical from her professorship at South Carolina State University in Orangeburg, South Carolina.

Dr. Woods is also a published author, with much of her works focusing on the Civil Rights Movement, particularly the events that took place in South Carolina.  She is the co-author of Women in the Civil Rights Movement: Trailblazers and Torchbearers, 1941-1965; The Legacy of African American Leadership for the Present and the Future; Black History Learning Resource Package And Assessment of Potential Leadership: Phase 1 – Development Of The Measures.  Her most recent published work is a chapter in the forthcoming book, Southern Women in the Twenty-First Century: A Historical Perspective for a New Millennium.  Dr. Woods is currently in the process of completing two manuscripts, one on the life of activist and humanitarian, Modjeska Monteith-Simkins; and a second on Black and White women in the southern Civil Rights Movement. 

A serious scholar who is committed to pursuing higher education, Dr. Woods has held fellowships at the following institutions: The Center for Research on Women at Duke – UNC at Chapel Hill, The National Museum of American History at the Smithsonian Institution, The Association for the Study of Afro-American Life and History, The Institute for Southern Studies at the University of South Carolina.  Her fellowships have also carried her overseas to study in Kuwait and Syria as the Joseph J. Malone Faculty Fellow in Middle Eastern Studies.