He is best known as the 18th president of The College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia, where he served as the successor to retiring fellow educator and author Lyon Gardiner Tyler.

He continued his education at Johns Hopkins University, earning a doctorate in history.

During most of the years of his tenure, Chandler achieved additional state funding from the Virginia General Assembly.

While working under Dr. Chandler, Goodwin successfully attracted both the attention and support of philanthropist and heir to the Standard Oil fortune John D. Rockefeller Jr. and his wife Abby Aldrich Rockefeller beginning in 1926 with the building of the Phi Beta Kappa Memorial Hall on Jamestown Road.

[5] During approximately 15 years under his leadership, the College of William and Mary expanded and diversified its programs into prominence in many disciplines.