Shirley Sears Chater (born July 30, 1932) is an American nurse, educational administrator and government official. In the 1970s and 1980s, Chater held faculty appointments in nursing and education at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) and the University of California, Berkeley, respectively. She worked as an administrator at UCSF and then worked for two national education councils.Chater was president of Texas Woman's University from 1986 to 1993.