The driving force behind one of America’s rapidly ascending programs in intercollegiate athletics, Dr. G. Jean Cerra is the Dean of the School of Human Performance and Leisure Sciences (HPLS) at Barry University in Miami Shores, Fla.  She served as Director of Athletics from June, 1991-December, 1997 while also serving as dean.  From July ’97-June ’02, the responsibilities of Associate Vice-President for Academic Services and then Vice Provost for Academic & enrollment management were added to her duties while still filling the role of Dean, HPLS.

Barry University, located midway between the cities of Miami and Ft. Lauderdale began its 19^th year of intercollegiate sport competition in Fall ‘02, of which Dr. Cerra served six and a half years as Director of Athletics (June’91-Dec.’97) and 12 years as its Dean.  The Buccaneers attained their highest finish ever in the NCAA D-II Sears Director’s Cup standings during the 1997-98 academic year when Barry placed 3^rd nationally, but #1 among the private institutions in D-II.  This #1 ranking was repeated in 2001-02 when Barry also placed 11^th nationally.  For the last six years Barry has finished in the top 10% among the 250+ NCAA D-II institutions in the Sears Director’s Cup standings.  During Cerra’s tenure at Barry, the Buccaneers won five National Championships:  two in Women’s Soccer (1992 & 1993) and three in Women’s Volleyball (1995, 2001 & 2004).  Complimenting this success was the stellar academic performance of the Barry student-athletes over this period.  It was during the 1996-97 year that Barry’s student-athletes broke the landmark goal of having 60% or more attain cumulative GPAs of 3.0 or better – a first time high from an initial low of less than 40% in the early 1990’s when she first arrived on the Barry campus.  In May, 2000 Barry made athletic history when it became the only NCAA member institution among all three divisions to have a second student-athlete named as a Walter Byers Post-Graduate Scholarship Award recipient.  These stellar candidates were the sole recipients of this award among all divisional candidates nationwide, male and female.  They personify the philosophy Dr. Cerra brought to the mission of Barry’s Dept. of Intercollegiate Athletics – i.e., it is indeed possible to realize athletic success within an institution of higher learning by (1) stressing academic achievement first and foremost; (2) capitalizing on one’s athletic excellence in order to make academic and athletic success not only possible, but mutually compatible, in the quest to attain a college degree, and (3) emphasizing the role of “coach as teacher.”

While at Barry, Dr. Cerra has supervised as many as 140+ faculty, coaches, and professional staff.  As Dean, she was instrumental in the creation of the Division of Sports and Leisure Sciences in 1991, which became the School of HPLS in 1994 when the Master’s degree in Sport Management was added to the undergraduate offerings in Athletic Training, Exercise Science, Physical Education, and Sport Management.  Additional graduate concentrations in Athletic Training, Biomechanics, Exercise Science, and Sport & Exercise Psychology were added subsequent to that as part of the Master’s degree in Movement Science, contributing to the significant enrollment increase realized by HPLS under her leadership.  The Department of Intercollegiate Athletics, one of three departments within the School of HPLS, offers 12 sports (7 for women and 5 for men).  The Office of Campus Recreation completes the units within the School of HPLS.  While serving as Assoc. V.P. and then Vice Provost for Enrollment & Academic Services, Dr. Cerra oversaw the Division of enrollment management (which includes the admissions and financial aid functions), the Registrar’s Office, and the Office of Academic Publications, Marketing & Advertising.  Since 1997 when she assumed administrative responsibility for these areas, the university experienced some of its most significant enrollment increases, growing from 6,865 students in 1997 to 8691 students in 2001.  Dr. Cerra, working closely with enrollment management consultants Miller/Cook & Associates, was directly responsible for the 96% increase Barry realized in the new full-time entering class for 1998. 

Prior to joining Barry University in 1991, Dr. Cerra completed a brief but successful stint in private business as the President of a corporation that opened eight “TCBY” YOGURT stores in Broward County, Fla. (i.e., Ft. Lauderdale metro area).  These franchised units were often first in the country in total sales volume.  Shortly after beginning the business in 1985, she and her partners were recognized in 1987 as one of the Top 10 franchise units in the United States. 

Her impact nationally on advancing women in sports began in the 70’s and 80’s as part of the struggle to implement Title IX on campuses and to create opportunities for women within the NCAA, which prior to 1981 was only offering championships for men.  Jean Cerra was one of ten women who founded the Council of Collegiate Women Athletic Administrators (CCWAA) in 1979, which later became the current National Association of Collegiate Women Athletic Administrators (NACWAA) – a booming organization with over 1000 members.  She and these nine other women also played a key role during the late 70’s and early 1980’s in the acceptance of women into the NCAA governance structure and the establishment of NCAA Championships and scholarships for women as we know them today.

Dr. Cerra completed her term on the prestigious NCAA Division II Management Council in January 2000.  She chaired the Administrative Review Subcommittee and the Policies and Procedure Project Team and was also a member of the Budget and Finance Committee.  Prior to that she served on the Project Team Reviewing Need-Based Athletic Aid for D-II.  She was one of the charter women appointed to the NCAA Council and the D-I Steering Committee in 1980 and served until 1985.  She has served on numerous other committees during this time, including the Nominating Committee, the Eligibility Committee, the Committee on Legislative Review, and the Special Committee on Women’s Athletics.  She currently serves on the NCAA D-II Project Team on Issues Related to Diversity. 

A native of Tampa, Florida, Dr. Cerra distinguished herself in intercollegiate athletics at the University of Missouri-Columbia where she rose to the position of Associate Athletic Director for Internal Operations – making her one of the first women in Division I-A during the late 1970’s to assume administrative responsibilities for both men and women.  She was instrumental in proposing this concept of a gender-neutral organizational structure, which eventually became the model most emulated across the nation for intercollegiate athletics.  She began her tenure at Missouri in 1976 as Assistant Athletic Director/Director of Women’s Athletics with the task of smoothly integrating the women’s athletics program into the existing men’s athletics department and guiding the university through a planned timetable for meeting its commitment for compliance with Title IX.  As a member of Dave Hart Sr.’s athletics staff, she became one of the first women to teach within NACDA’s Level II Management Seminar from 1981-84, speaking on “Academic and Eligibility Issues” and “Effective Personnel Management.”

After graduating from Our Lady of Perpetual Help Academy in Tampa, Dr. Cerra earned her Bachelor’s degree in Physical Education in 1967 from Florida State University.  Following a year of teaching junior high school in Dade County, Fla., she entered the University of Iowa where she obtained her Master’s degree in 1969, also in Physical Education.  Her Master’s thesis was “The Effects of Grading and Non-Grading on the Physical Education Performance of Junior High School Girls.”  After receiving her degree at Iowa, she remained on the faculty as an instructor in the physical education program and as the women’s golf coach.  In 1971 she moved to Stephens College in Columbia, Missouri where she coordinated the professional program in Physical Education and supervised student teachers.  She also coached the Stephens College volleyball team to two state championship titles – one of which was considered the highest attainable crown during an era prior to the establishment of regional or national championship competition for women.  The second state title qualified her team for the first ever Region 6 AIAW Small College Tournament in 1975.

Cerra earned the Ph.D. in Educational Administration in 1985 from the University of Missouri-Columbia.  Her dissertation was entitled “Factors Influencing College Student-Athlete Retention and Attrition.”  Her supporting areas were in Higher and Adult Education and Personnel Management.

She has also published several articles in national magazines and publications.  These include:  “The NCAA and AIAW Draw Battle Lines:  I Am Woman” in Coach & Athlete Magazine (Oct. 1981), “Athletic Scholarships:  The Issue of Headcount vs. Equivalencies” in CCWAA Newsletter (Oct. 1981), a chapter on “The Scientific Analysis of the Golf Swing” for a book by Johnson and Johnstone entitled Golf:  A Positive Approach (1975), and “A Gamelike Putting Test” in the 1974-76 NAGWS Archery/Golf Guide.

A national leader in athletics, Cerra has been distinguished with numerous awards and honors.  In February, 2002 she joined six other notable women when she was presented the St. Leo University “Women in Sport Achievement Award.”  In June, 2000 she joined a select group of former athletic directors to become enshrined into NACDA’s Hall of Fame.  In 1998 she was similarly recognized through induction into the Sunshine State Conference Hall of Fame.  She received a Citation of Merit in 1992 from the Alumni Association of the University of Missouri-Columbia for outstanding achievement and meritorious service in education.  She was listed in Who’s Who of American Women in 1982 and was an “Outstanding Young Woman of America” in 1978.  She was inducted into LSV, Mystical Seven, QEBH, and Mortar Board (leadership honoraries at Missouri) as well as Kappa Delta Pi, Phi Delta Kappa, Delta Psi Kappa, and Phi Epsilon Kappa (national professional honor societies in Education and Physical Education).

Also a dynamic civic leader, Dr. Cerra has served on the Board of Directors for Regent Bank in Davie, Fl. since 1988 and has been involved with the Broward County American Red Cross and United Cerebral Palsy Associations, as well as chairing the Multiple Sclerosis Society and working with the United Way while in Missouri. 

She has also given various presentations at many national conferences and seminars.  At the 1987 and 1988 TCBY National Marketing Conferences, she was asked to speak on “Hiring for Success” and “Attracting and Retaining Quality Associates.”  She was a panel member during a Plantation, Fl. Chamber of Commerce Small Business Seminar after receiving the Aug. ’87 “Business of the Month” award. 

She presented a segment on “The Role of the SWA” at the 2002 NCAA Convention.  In 1985 she gave a presentation on “Corporate Sponsorships” during an NCAA Professional Development Seminar.  “Current Proposals for Legislative Change in the NCAA” was the topic for her presentations during various CCWAA Annual Fall Forums from 1980-84.  In 1982 she addressed the College Board Midwestern Regional Assembly on “AIAW & NCAA – One Year Later.” 

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Given below are a series of “firsts” and “historical landmarks” associated with Dr. Jean Cerra, most of which relate to her pioneering efforts for women in athletics:

• First women’s golf coach at the University of Iowa
• First women’s volleyball coach at Stephens College
• First SWA at the University of Missouri-Columbia and at Barry University
• One of the first women in D-IA athletics in the late 70’s to assume department-wide administrative responsibilities for both men and women – a gender-neutral organizational structure which she was instrumental in proposing and which eventually became the model most emulated across the nation for intercollegiate athletics.
• One of 10 women who were founders of the CCWAA (now known as NACWAA) and who later constituted its charter Board of Directors.
• One of only a few women who first met with representatives of the NCAA in the late 70’s and who were subsequently appointed to the NCAA Ad Hoc Committee on Special Legislation in 1980 to bring about legislation that would later result in the acceptance of women into the NCAA governance structure and the establishment of NCAA Championships and full scholarships for women as we know them today.
• One of the charter group of women appointed to the NCAA Council, D-I Steering Committee, and other NCAA committees in 1980.
• One of the first women athletic administrators to teach within NACDA’s Level II Management Seminars
• One of the first few women to be offered (but subsequently declined) the position of Director of Athletics in the early 80’s (i.e., 1982) at a D-I school with a football program
• Several national first place finishes for “TCBY” YOGURT sales among stores in her franchise
• First woman appointed to the Board of Directors for Regent Bank
• First female Athletic Director at Barry University, first in the Sunshine State Conference (SSC) and first female A.D. inducted into the SSC Hall of Fame.
• First dean of Barry University’s School of Human Performance & Leisure Sciences.
• First Director of Athletics at Barry University to have teams earn 3 NCAA Championship titles in a 4 year period (women’s soccer in 1992 and 1993; women’s volleyball in 1995), and, while providing oversight to the Dept. of Athletics as Dean of HPLS, added 2 additional NCAA Championships in volleyball in 2001 and 2004 – for a total of 5 national titles during her administrative tenure at Barry. (NOTE: Barry has captured 6 NCAA Championship titles with the inclusion of Women’s Soccer in 1989).