Barry University Athletics

Dr. G. Jean Cerra is one of the most illustrious women in college athletics. A member of the group of 11 women who helped introduce women’s athletics to the NCAA in the early ’80s, she has received numerous awards for her leadership in athletics. A founding member of Council of Collegiate Women Athletic Administrators (now known as NACWAA), 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. In 1998 she was similarly recognized through induction into the Sunshine State Conference Hall of Fame. In June 2000 she joined a select group of former athletic directors to become enshrined into NACDA Hall of Fame. In February 2002 she joined six other notable women when she was presented the “Women in Sport Achievement Award” by Saint Leo University.

She was recognized by Florida State University in 2011 as a “Champion Beyond the Game” and was inducted in 2008 to the University of Missouri Athletic Hall of Fame, one of just two in the administrator category since 1990.

Dr. Cerra pioneered a model for athletics that integrated athletics into an academic division. Under her leadership, the Buccaneer athletic program attained overwhelming success at the conference, regional, and national levels. Barry also gained acclaim for its emphasis on academics.

Barry won six national championships under her watch as dean – two in women’s soccer in 1992 and 1993; three in women’s volleyball in 1995, 2001 and 2004; and one in men’s golf in 2007. Barry became the first school in any division to have two winners of the prestigious NCAA Walter Byers Postgraduate Scholarship.