Dr. Paul Dosal is UCF’s Senior Vice President for Student Success, starting in this role on July 1, 2022. In this position, Dr. Dosal reports to the provost and executive vice president for Academic Affairs and serves as a member of the president’s cabinet to develop, implement and assess initiatives and programs that provide focus and accountability for student success, well-being and completion efforts across the institution. He is also responsible for cultivating an integrated, comprehensive and intentional student experience by creating an inclusive and student-centered environment that ensures all students who start here can finish here.
Previously, Dr. Dosal served as Vice President for Student Success and Professor of Latin American History at the University of South Florida, where he managed a consolidated unit that combined Enrollment Planning and Management, Student Affairs and Undergraduate Studies and was responsible for coordinating university-wide efforts to raise retention and graduation rates, boost student satisfaction, minimize financial indebtedness, and prepare all students for success in their careers or graduate and professional schools. In his academic role, he specialized in the modern history of Cuba and the Caribbean region. He is the author of four books, including Comandante Che, a study of the military career of the legendary Latin American revolutionary Ernesto Che Guevara, and Doing Business with the Dictator, a history of the infamous United Fruit Company in Guatemala in the early 20th century.
Born and raised in Tampa, he is a fourth-generation descendant of Cuban immigrants who settled in Ybor City in 1889. He earned his B.A. in International Politics at St. Andrews College in Laurinburg, North Carolina. He received his M.A. in Latin American Studies and Ph.D. in History at Tulane University in New Orleans. Prior to joining the faculty at the University of South Florida, he taught for nine years at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst.
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