Justus Leaves UMKC Athletics to Return to Higher Education Consulting
1/12/2011 12:00:00 PM | General, Athletics
Kansas City, Mo. -- Director of Athletics Tim Hall announced today that Janet Justus, Senior Associate Director for Administration and Compliance has resigned her position effective Feb. 11, 2011. Justus is returning to private consulting in intercollegiate athletics.
"I will miss Janet very much but respect her decision to resign her post with the UMKC Athletics Department and go back into private consulting,” said Hall. "She has been a very important senior advisor, contributing greatly to the growth and success of the UMKC athletics program. It has been both an honor and a privilege to have worked with Janet is such close proximities over the past three years."
"My years at UMKC have been a positive one, they are ones in which UMKC athletics has seen significant and positive changes in all areas of the program,” said Justus. “I look forward to returning to consulting in athletics and higher education on a national basis, and to a continued involvement with the UMKC Athletics Department.”
Justus has been a prolific contributor to UMKC Athletics. Her work has encompassed every area of athletics, in addition to the compliance department. When Justus first arrived at UMKC, Hall and other administrators were in the initial stages of the certification process, which is the institutional self-study for NCAA Division I Certification. The knowledge Justus possesses on gender equity, compliance, student-athlete well-being, administration, sports law and higher education, contributed greatly to UMKC receiving full NCAA Division I athletics certification on April 17, 2009.
While at UMKC, Justus has established numerous systems and structures in the compliance area, including most notably creating and leading the campus-wide NCAA Compliance Working Group. Her efforts in this area have led to the overhaul of the University's academic eligibility certification system of student-athletes, the expansion of the athletics compliance area, and the creation of a network of interdepartmental communication across campus, essential to facilitating NCAA institutional monitoring and control.
Justus also directed the rewrite of the departmental policies and procedures manual and the student-athlete handbook. Most recently, she has begun to implement improvements in the sports medicine program making a more comprehensive and responsive sports medicine area.
Justus brought leadership and recognition to UMKC in other areas as well. She served two years as a co-chair of the Kansas City Local Organizing Committee for the 2010 Division I NCAA Volleyball Championships. Justus was a part of the small group of community leaders that recruited that championship to Kansas City, with UMKC acting as host for the first time of such a national championship.
In 2010, Justus was recognized as Humanitarian of the Year by Kansas City Harmony, an organization that recognizes individuals with a long history of service and commitment to social justice in both their personal lives and careers.
Prior to UMKC, Justus practiced law at Verrill Dana LLP, a law firm based in Portland, Maine. In 2007, she formed Janet Justus, LLC, a law and consulting firm focusing on issues in intercollegiate athletics and higher education.
Before that, Justus was a member of the NCAA staff from 1984 –1999, serving in several senior and key positions at the national office. She oversaw the inaugural development and growth of critical areas for the NCAA membership, including the Eligibility Reinstatement department, Gender Equity, Title IX education, the NCAA Student-Athlete Leadership Conference, the growth and influence of the National Student-Athlete Advisory Committees and the NCAA CHAMPS/Life Skills program.
"We have been fortunate enough to have Janet for as long as we have and I wish her all the best,” said Hall. “Janet will always be a part of the Kangaroo family and will serve in a consultative role in the future of the program.
UMKC will begin the search for a new senior compliance administrator to continue with the foundation that Justus has built.
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