Shirley Ezell, Ph.D.

Dr. Shirley Ezell has an academic passion for curriculum experimentation and reform. Early in her career, at the University of Houston, she worked with a national initiative to reform core curriculum across all the state universities and colleges funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities. In addition, she was funded by the Exxon Foundation to develop a model Scholars Community to create residential learning experiences for commuting freshman that produced the highest retention rate for undergraduates on the University of Houston campus. Dr. Ezell has published retail cases on Columbia Sportswear, Green Retailing and is currently finishing a case on Joan Pillow Bridal. Those cases are used in classroom for interaction and to provide students with a range of decision-making skills. She also consults with retail firms on e-commerce and enjoys learning all the new technology using MS Teams. Her greatest enjoyment is seeing her retailing students enter executive positions and being successful in a wide range of retail industries both in the US and globally. Dr. Ezell earned her bachelor's degree from Baylor University and graduate degrees from Texas Women's University. She has held diverse administrative positions from departmental chair, associate dean of two colleges, Associate Vice President for Academic Affairs, to Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs and currently serves as Internship Director for the Retailing and Consumer Science program. She has consulted with the retail, hotel and grocery industry on areas as diverse as return on investment, auditing customer service, and creating new strategic directions. Her collaborative experimentation in distance education has been published in Quarterly Review of Distance Education and Innovations in Education and Teaching International.