Dr. Cady Short-Thompson currently serves as the seventh president of Northern Kentucky University. With a background in communication and 25 years of experience in higher education as an award-winning professor and academic leader, Dr. Short-Thompson began her tenure as president in October 2023.
Her presidency is a return home to NKU as Dr. Short-Thompson began her career at Northern Kentucky University in 1996 as a professor of communication and spent 14 years rising through the ranks as a graduate program director and department chair. In 2007, she was recognized with the Frank Sinton Milburn Outstanding Professor Award for her excellence in teaching, research and service. In her time teaching at NKU, she developed a love for scholarly teaching, a passion for student access and success, and a deep sense of student-centeredness.
Her presidential priorities have focused upon strategic enrollment management, strengthening finances, modernizing processes, engaging the region, and building institutional culture. She has led multiple efforts in planning—strategic enrollment management planning, housing improvement planning, Norse Network Hub planning, university strategic planning, and more.
Her first major initiative as president was Women for NKU, a program that launched in April 2024 and is enhancing the collective involvement and financial impact of women giving to the university. Women for NKU engages women of varied interests and accomplishments in the life of the university and encourages them to invest their time, talents and resources.
In August 2024, she oversaw the implementation of NKU’s Direct Admit Program, which simplifies the undergraduate college admissions process by eliminating applications, fees and essays. The regionally revolutionary program removes the barrier to higher education by automatically admitting new, first-time freshmen with an unweighted high-school GPA of 2.75 or higher. By eliminating the formal application process, the university is able to work directly with students and families in supporting their transition to NKU.
The following month, in September 2024, Dr. Short-Thompson introduced a new undergraduate tuition program, dubbed 3 States, 1 Rate, that makes the cost of attending NKU more predictable and transparent. The model eliminates the confusion and complexity surrounding tuition by automatically qualifying new undergraduate students from Kentucky, Ohio and Indiana for in-state tuition at NKU regardless of their county of residence in those states.
President Short-Thompson serves on numerous regional boards, including the Northern Kentucky Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors, BE NKY Board of Directors, Holocaust and Humanity Center Board of Directors, Horizon League Board of Directors, Life Learning Center Board of Directors, OneNKY Alliance Board of Directors, United Way of Greater Cincinnati Board of Directors, and more.
Prior to beginning her presidency at Northern Kentucky University in 2023, Dr. Short-Thompson served for two years as the CEO and executive director of Breakthrough Cincinnati, an educational equity nonprofit organization that works with high need, high potential middle and high school students to prepare them for college and career success. From 2017 to 2021, she served as provost and professor at Hope College in Holland, Michigan. There, she nurtured high-quality academic programs, introduced new centers and student services, modernized processes, grew resources, improved assessment and accreditation compliance and supported diversity, equity and inclusion efforts for students, faculty and staff.
In 2010, Dr. Short-Thompson began her role as Dean of the University of Cincinnati Blue Ash College (UCBA) where she served for seven years. During her time at UCBA, she built and led a team to re-envision the college; rename, reposition and rebrand it; significantly grow enrollments and resources; and most importantly, build a student-centered, inclusive and student-success-oriented culture. She served as the elected chair of the University of Cincinnati’s Council of Deans, chair of the University of Cincinnati’s Diversity Council, and chair of the state-level Inter University Council Regional Dean’s Council, in addition to many other committees at the University of Cincinnati. She also founded the UC Smiles program – a partnership with Procter & Gamble and UCBA’s dental hygiene program – to provide dental care for underserved youth in Cincinnati. In 2014, Dr. Short-Thompson was invited to participate in the first Academy of Innovative Higher Education Leadership; a select group of 24 senior leaders from universities across the United States who address some of the most pressing issues in higher education by learning from best practices in other industries.
Dr. Short-Thompson earned her B.A. (1991), M.A. (1992), and Ph.D. (1997) from the University of Cincinnati where she developed her academic expertise in political communication. Having lived in Cincinnati for five decades of her life, Dr. Short-Thompson is thrilled to lead Northern Kentucky University in her hometown, surrounded by her family and friends. She has been married to her husband, Steve Thompson, since 1992. They have three adult children, Alex, Skye and Seth.
