His tenure lasted from February 15, 2012[2] to November 9, 2015, and ended amid controversy surrounding race relations at the university.

[1] He matriculated at the University of Missouri, earning a bachelor's degree in personnel management from the Trulaske College of Business in 1980.

[4] Wolfe interned for Cramer Products for eighteen months, and he was on the business school's Dean's List.

[6] In 2003, he began working for Novell Americas, where he served as vice president and general manager of the Southeast region.

[1][7][8] The announcement of his selection occurred on December 13, 2011, nearly 11 months after the previous president Gary Forsee stepped down to take care of his ailing wife.

The appointment marked the second consecutive time that a businessman rather than educator became president (Forsee was CEO of Sprint).

[12][13] Two months later, he announced that the press would close and that there would be a new publishing model that would be more effective at distributing scholarly publications.

[14] Wolfe said he agreed with the governor's veto because decreases to individual income tax rates should not be financed by cutting education.

[14] In 2015, Wolfe was the subject of criticism from a variety of groups over his perceived failure to address a series of alleged racist incidents at the University of Missouri.

[15] In November 2015, Missouri's Legion of Black Collegians announced that approximately thirty athletes would not participate in any team activities unless Wolfe resigned.