Since 2014, Aric Short has served as Vice Dean of the law school, where he oversees new degree programs, academic collaborations with other schools, and our innovative Professionalism and Leadership Program. Dean Short also established and leads the law school’s annual pro bono summer trip to Costa Rica. From 2013 to 2014, he served as Interim Dean of the law school and helped lead its transition to Texas A&M ownership. Before that, Dean Short served as Associate Dean for Academic Affairs, where he oversaw the law school’s curriculum and expanded experiential learning and professionalism training. These efforts included developing a skills-based winter term, building new clinical partnerships with the Tarrant County District Attorney’s Office and the Federal Aviation Administration, and helping implement an oral skills graduation requirement.
In addition to his administrative work, Dean Short has taught Property, Wills and Estates, and other property-related courses, and he has been voted 1L Professor of the Year six times. His research and scholarship have focused on housing-related discrimination and the litigation of human rights claims in U.S. courts. Dean Short has been active in local and national service, including serving on the ABA committee that revised distance- learning standards for legal education. He is also the Chair-elect of the Post-Graduate Legal Education Committee of the Association of American Law Schools.
Prior to teaching, Dean Short practiced international law at Wilmer, Cutler & Pickering in Washington, D.C. and environmental and administrative law at Vinson & Elkins in Austin, Texas. Dean Short received his undergraduate degree magna cum laude from Georgetown University and his law degree with honors from the University of Texas School of Law, where he a member of the Texas Law Review and Order of the Coif. He resides in Fort Worth with his wife and three children.
Professor Leah Teague serves as the Director of Baylor Law’s unique Leadership Development Program, teaches its Leadership Engagement and Development course and co-authored Fundamental for Lawyer Leadership, one of the leading textbooks for lawyer leadership. She was instrumental in the creation of a Section for Leadership within the American Association of Law Schools and continues efforts to enhance the leadership development and professional formation of students on a national level to better prepare future lawyers for the important roles lawyers are expected to assume as leaders and difference makers in our society. Her extensive leadership experience has been earned by serving in numerous leadership roles, including serving as the Associate Dean for Baylor Law for almost 30 years, and holding officer and board positions for numerous professional and non-profit organizations throughout her professional career.
