Dr. Guy Bailey became the fifteenth president of Texas Tech University on August 1, 2008. With the goal for Texas Tech to become a national research university, Bailey is leading the charge for the university to boost graduate and undergraduate enrollment and increase restricted research expenditures.

Prior to coming to Texas Tech, Dr. Bailey served as chancellor of the University of Missouri – Kansas City (UMKC) from January 2006 until July 2008. He previously served as provost and executive vice president for academic affairs at the University of Texas – San Antonio (UTSA) from 1999 through 2005. Prior to his appointment as provost at UTSA, he served as associate vice president for research and dead of graduate studies at UTSA, as dean of liberal arts at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, and as chair of the English departments at the University of Memphis and Oklahoma State University. Prior to serving as an administrator, he taught at Texas A&M and Emory universities.

Bailey is the author of about 100 books and articles, many co-authored by his wife, Dr. Jan Tillery, Texas Tech class of 1974. Dr. Tillery’s father, Clarence “Tim” Tillery was an outstanding offensive end for the Red Raider football team from 1938-1941.

Dr. Bailey continues to do research on language variation and change, with special emphasis on the English of Texas and the American South, and in computational linguistics. The research on Texas English has been featured in a front-page article in the New York Times, on National Public Radio, on CNN Headline News, on BBC radio, in Texas Monthly, and in the San Antonio Express – News.

Dr. Bailey is a native of Montgomery, Alabama and a graduate of Robert E. Lee High School. He earned Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees from the University of Alabama in English and a Ph.D. from the University of Tennessee in English Linguistics.