Paula Smith was named Director of Intercollegiate Athletics at UC Irvine on June 6, 2019.

Smith is one of 50 female Division I athletic directors nationally and the second at UCI following Linda Dempsay (1977-1983) who was the country’s first female athletic director at an NCAA Division I school. Smith has over 30 years of experience in college athletic administration, 17 of those at UCI. She previously served as executive associate athletic director (2008 to 2012), senior associate athletic director (2006 to 2008) and assistant athletic director for academic and student services (2000 to 2001). Additionally, she was associate athletics director at UC Riverside from 2001 to 2006. She began her career at the Big West Conference office, starting as a compliance intern and finishing as an assistant commissioner.

Smith is active in campus entities such as the Chancellor’s Advisory Committee on Intercollegiate Athletics, the Chancellor’s Advisory Council, and the Campus Ethics and Compliance Risk Committee. In addition to her UCI duties, Smith serves on the DI-AAA ADA Executive Committee and the DI-AAA ADA All-Sports Trophy Committee. Smith has also served on the NCAA Division I Council from 2017 to 2021, the NCAA Division I Competition Oversight Committee from 2015 to 2021, and the NCAA National Collegiate Men’s Volleyball Committee from 2014 to 2017. Other committees served during her tenure are the NCAA Minority Opportunity and Interest Committee with the Division I Strategic Planning Cabinet, NCAA Progress towards Degree Waiver Committee, NACWAA Nomination Committee, and CCACA Committee. Over the past 25 years, she has served on several national panels.

A native of Alamogordo, NM, she earned a bachelor’s degree in marketing at New Mexico State University.

With Smith serving as Athletic Director, UCI teams have advanced to the NCAA Championships five times and claimed seven Big West titles. Several teams have been ranked nationally, including women’s water polo and men’s volleyball who have each been as high as No. 3 in the country. Individually, 20 student-athletes were honored as All-America, nine as Big West Player of the Year, four as conference Newcomer of the Year, 137 as all-conference and 302 as all-academic.