Queens University of Charlotte Athletics

Phylicia Short joined Queens' athletic staff in the 2007 as an assistant sports information director. She was promoted to assistant athletic director for communications in 2017 after serving as the director of sports information and media relations since 2011.

Short's core duties previously included overseeing the athletic communications and marketing areas which include Queens Athletics social media accounts and the Queens Sports Network for majority of her time at Queens. Currently, she overseas the communications and creative content teams within in the department. With that, Short manages oversight of the website, social media efforts, and media relations which are all instrumental in promoting Queens Athletics and its brand to the department's stakeholders. Additionally, Short has seen the department's website through three redesigns and helped implement multiple university brand redesigns across the department. She is also a part of the department's Hall of Fame Committee. 

Most recently, Short led all communications and social media efforts for the athletic department during the Royals' transition to Division I as a member of the ASUN Conference. This past season, she and her staff made up of athletic communicators and creatives embarked on the 2022-23 season with the goal of growing the Queens audience and brand. The athletic communications department increased the Royals' mentions in the media by five percent while the queensathletics.com visitors grew nearly 40 percent. Additionally, the Royals saw 70 straight weeks of growth in followers on social media.

The social media strategy executed led to:

• 24.65% growth in Twitter followers

• 44.38% growth in Instagram followers

• 79.51% growth in TikTok followers

• 5.85% growth in Facebook followers

• 18.52% growth in YouTube subscribers

Additionally, total impressions across all the Royals' social media accounts on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram increased over 26 percent to over 17.6 million impressions. Queens accounts also saw an increase in total engagements of nearly 50 percent while the overall engagement rate sat at 4.5 percent (15 percent improvement). 

Short has led the Royals' communications efforts through the department's transitions from Conference Carolinas to the South Atlantic Conference in 2013 and from NCAA DII to NCAA DI as a member of the ASUN Conference in 2022. In that time, Queens has won 28 team national championships and 144 individual national championships. The Royals have also added 11 new sports since Short joined the department. Prior to the Royals' transition to DI, Queens finished its final year in DII ranked in the top 10 in the Learfield IMG College Director's Cup for the fifth consecutive season and in the top five for the second straight time, earning fourth place. 

Short is a member of CoSIDA, NCCSIA, and an MOAA Governance Academy graduate. She recently served on the CoSIDA Diversity and Inclusion Committee and the South Region Women's Golf RAC as well. Short also served as the SAC Media Relations Chair during the 2020-21 season. Currently, she is a member of the ASUN Hall of Fame Committee and the MPTS PTA Board. 

In addition to leading the Royals' communication department, Short led the statistical crew for the Charlotte Hounds (MLL) from 2012-2018. She also led the stat crew for the Charlotte Independence during their first two seasons.

Before joining Queens' staff, Short was a member of the Royals women's basketball team from 2003-2007. She acted as team captain during her sophomore, junior, and senior seasons. Short is currently ranked in the top-15 on the women's basketball all-time scoring list with 1,034 career points.

Short earned a bachelor's degree in business administration with a concentration in corporate communication in 2007 from Queens University of Charlotte. She then earned her MBA from the McColl School of Business in 2010, and completed the Certified Financial Planners Program the following year.

In 2020, Short earned a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in the Workplace Certificate from USF Muma College of Business. She currently serves as the departments Athletic Diversity and Inclusion Designee and recently worked to begin a DEI Student-Athlete Committee as a subcommittee of R3C. 

Short and her husband, Bobby, have a daughter, Dylan, and a son, Quad.