St. Thomas University Bobcats

Dr. Jan Bell started teaching sports administration courses at St. Thomas University in 1985 until 2015 when she retired. During that time, she broadened the offerings at the bachelor’s and master’s levels and introduced the joint law with master’s degrees in sports administration options.

In addition to having served as the Sports Administration Program Director and graduate Internship Coordinator for many years, she was a Professor of Sports Administration and the Faculty Athletics Representative (FAR), a position she continues to hold in her retirement. Her job as the FAR is to certify the student-athletes so they are eligible to compete. As St. Thomas University grows in enrollment and sports teams, so has her job.

She served as the Chairperson for the Department of Management from 1992 until 2004 and for 25 years recruited students to serve with her as part of the operations staff for the PBEO Job Fair each year at the Baseball Winter Meetings. Dr. Bell was inducted into the Bobcat Sports Hall of Fame in November 2014 before officially retiring from her full-time teaching position in May 2015 only to transition into her other job as the Faculty Athletics Representative. In 2015, she oversaw the implementation of the TOTA3L (Take Off Toward Academic and Athletics Leadership) Program, a student-athlete success program.

Her involvement in sports has been a lifelong endeavor, initially as a player, then professionally as a teacher, coach and athletic director at North Caroline High School in Denton, Maryland. Her desire to teach at the college level led her to obtain her doctoral degree and subsequently to her position at St. Thomas University.

Dr. Bell serves on several NAIA Committees, e.g., National Eligibility Committee (NEC), Council of Faculty Athletics Representatives (CFAR), NAIA Eligibility Center Advisory Group, etc.

Dr. Bell has a bachelor’s degree in physical education from Salisbury State College (MD), a master’s degree in education from the State University of New York at Brockport and a doctoral degree in Sports Administration from Temple University in Philadelphia.