Paula Myrick Short is the Senior Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs for the University of Houston System, and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost at the University of Houston, a Tier One Research University with over 43,000 students.

Since her appointment in June 2013, she has established the UH Graduate School, the Cougar Chairs Leadership Academy for Department Chairs, the Foundations of Excellence initiative, Houston GPS as well as implemented student success initiatives such as UH in 4, Provost Summer Read, Passport for Coogs, and Cub Camp. Prior to joining UH, Dr. Short served 12 years as Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs for the Tennessee Board of Regents, the sixth-largest governing board system of higher education in the United States, annually serving more than 200,000 students. In Tennessee, she served as a legislative-appointed Board member of the Tennessee Technology Development Corporation, as a Board member of the Life Sciences Institute- Tennessee Emerging Technologies, and as an Academic Auditor for the Australian Universities Quality Agency.

In her role as Senior Vice Chancellor for the University of Houston System, Dr. Short is responsible for the academic quality and accreditation of all four UH system institutions: UH, UH – Downtown, UH – Clear Lake, and UH – Victoria. She chairs the UH System Provost Council and serves on the University of Houston System Board of Regents. In that role, she has served two terms on the Funding Formula Committee of the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board.

As Senior Vice President and Provost of the University of Houston, Dr. Short is responsible for faculty development, strategic enrollment planning, undergraduate student success, graduate education, education innovation and technology, global strategies and partnerships, as well as three key University initiatives, UH Energy and UH Health, and UH Arts. She recently led the development of a new college at UH, the College of the Arts. At UH, the 16 deans report to her including Dean of University Libraries.

Additionally, Dr. Short is the Director of the Center for ADVANCING UH Faculty Success, funded by a $3.3 million grant from by the National Science Foundation. Under Dr. Short’s leadership, the Center is addressing gender equity and diversity issues related to moving more women and women of color forward with careers in science, technology, engineering, and math.

Dr. Short has served as a tenured faculty member at Auburn University, The Pennsylvania State University, the University of Missouri – Columbia, and currently is tenured Distinguished Professor of Education at the University of Houston’s College of Education. She is credited with developing the only empirically-derived measure of organizational empowerment, which has been used in over 500 research studies and translated into 11 languages. She has published more than 105 scholarly articles, books, book chapters, monographs, and technical reports. Dr. Short has received more than $2.5 million in Federal grants and foundation funding and has chaired committees for 23 doctoral students to degree completion. She is a national expert on college completion serving as a consultant to a number of institutions of higher education including the University of Hawaii, Nevada Board of Regents, Colorado Community College System, and leads the University of Houston System and four area community college systems (impacting over 300 students) in the Houston Guided Pathways to Success (Houston GPS) initiative.

In 2013, Provost Short was honored with the Master Professor Award by the University Council for Educational Administration recognizing her record of promoting educational innovation in the classroom and extending educational opportunities to an ever-widening group of students. In 2009, she was recipient of the Paul A. Elsner International Excellence in Leadership Award in recognition of her multiple accomplishments in improving higher education. She also received the 2008 Lifetime Achievement Award from the Southern Regional Council on Educational Administration. A nationally recognized scholar and researcher in the field of administration, Dr. Short was chosen as the recipient of the 1993 Jack A. Culbertson Award, given by the University Council for Educational Administration, for research contributions to the field of administration. She has served as President of the University Council for Educational Administration, National Professors of Educational Administration, and the Southern Council on Educational Administration. She also served on the Washington-based National Policy Board and on the editorial board of Educational Administration Quarterly for two, three-year terms. In 2014, she was named one of 50 of the most influential women in Houston and was appointed to the Texas Medical Center’s Women’s Leadership Board. She also serves as the Alliance Liaison for the Houston (Houston GPS) to the Complete College America National Alliance Organization.

Dr. Short received her Ph.D. in Administration in the Department of Organizational Development and Institutional Studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.