Queens University of Charlotte Athletics

Phylicia Short joined Queens' athletic staff in the fall of 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 also serves on the Queens Athletics Lead Team and was a member of the NCAA Division I Transition Committee, contributing to the overall strategic plan for the department.

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 is responsible for all aspects of the athletic communications and creative content offices, serving as liaison between athletics, the community, and the media. Providing leadership for both areas, Short collaborates with additional members of leadership to build and execute a strategy that demonstrates a cohesive vision for storytelling; one that increases visibility and viability for the Royals. Additionally, Short and her staff coordinate and implement the public relations and branding efforts for Queens Athletics, while also managing the day-to-day communications for the department’s 30 sport programs.  

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. The Queens Athletics Communications office embarked on the 2022-23 season with the goal of growing Queens’ audience and brand. Media mentions for the Royals increased by 5% while the queensathletics.com visitors grew nearly 40%. Additionally, the Royals saw 70 straight weeks of growth in followers on social media.

The social media strategy executed led to the following growth numbers in just year one of the DI transition:

• 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 by over 26% to over 17.6 million impressions. Queens accounts also saw an increase in total engagements of nearly 50% while the overall engagement rate sat at 4.5% (15% improvement). 
The Royals became full NCAA DI members ahead of the 2025-26 season. Over the three-year reclassification process, the Royals’ social media audience has grown nearly 45%. Additionally, impressions grew 17.8% and engagement grew 4.6%. Finally, video views for the Royals have doubled in the same period.
During the reclassification process, Short served on Queens’ NCAA Transition Committee, helping to gather and present historical data needed during the process. She also led the creative teams’ efforts in debuting the Royals’ new logos that came along with the University’s rebrand ahead of the 2023-24 season and initiated and led the redesign of the department's website for the third time in her career. 

In addition to leading the Royals’ communications efforts through the department's DI reclassification process, Short led when Queens transitioned from Conference Carolinas to the South Atlantic Conference in 2013. In that time, she has overseen the storytelling for 28 team national championships and 144 individual national championships. The Royals have also added 11 new sports since Short joined the department as a staff member. 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 and a MOAA Governance Academy graduate. She is also a member of both the Queens and ASUN Hall of Fame Committees. Prior to the Royals’ move to DI, she served on the CoSIDA Diversity and Inclusion Committee and the South Region Women's Golf RAC. During the 2020-21 season, she was the SAC Media Relations Chair.

Before joining Queens' staff, Short was a member of the Royals women's basketball team from 2003-2007. She was named 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 and is the department’s Athletic Diversity and Inclusion Designee.

Short and her husband, Bobby, have two children, Dylan and Quad. As a board member of the PTA at their school, she spends much of her extra time volunteering to support the teachers, staff, and students.