Paul F. Sharp

Academic career Sharp started his academic career as an associate professor at Iowa State University. He then moved to the University of Wisconsin–Madison, where he was a full professor.

In 1952 Sharp did a Fulbright scholarship in Australia.

Scholarly impact Sharp made a significant contribution to the international history of the Great Plains and the Canadian-American West. This line of work is anchored by two books. The first is The Agrarian Revolt in Western Canada: A Survey Showing American Parallels, 1948. Although Agrarian Revolt later would be recognized as a pioneering work of scholarship crossing the Forty-Ninth Parallel, in its time it was little appreciated. American historians were indifferent to Canadian topics, while Canadian historians were preoccupied with their own, nationalistic interpretations. The second book is Whoop-Up Country: The Canadian-American West, 1865–1885, 1955. Whoop-Up Country was well received, but Sharp, in retrospect, never thought reviewers and readers fully appreciated its revisionist cast. He intended the work to be a critical test, in the borderlands of Montana and Alberta, of Walter Prescott Webb's thesis of environmental determinism. Sharp concluded that Canadian national will, particularly the construction of the Canadian Pacific Railroad, was capable of overriding environment as a historical influence on the Canadian Prairies.

Academic administrator In 1964 Sharp took over the leadership of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Much of his time there was involved in trying to bring about the repeal of the North Carolina Speaker Ban. Early in his administration Sharp oversaw the consolidation of academic affairs, health affairs and research administration into one office. He left in at the end of 1965, serving only 17 months as chancellor. He let UNC Chapel Hill in large part because of the ambiguity caused by lack of clear definitions and dinstictions between the role of the UNC Chapel Hill Chancellor and the University of North Carolina president.

Private life Sharp and his wife Rose met while both on the debate team at Philips University. They were the parents of three children.

Later life After stepping down as head of the University of Oklahoma due to health issues, Sharp worked for 10 years as the Regents Professor of history and higher education at that institution.