Janis (Jan) P. Bellack served as President and John Hilton Knowles Professor from 2007-2017 and was named President Emerita by the Board of Trustees upon her retirement in 2017.

Previously, she held positions as Vice President for Academic Affairs/Provost and Professor of Nursing and Health Sciences at MCPHS University, Boston, and prior to that as Associate Provost for Education and Professor of Nursing, Health Professions, and Graduate Studies at the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston.

During her tenure as President and John Hilton Knowles Professor, Jan served on the governing boards of the Association of Independent Colleges and Universities of Massachusetts (AICUM), Partners HealthCare International, and the Boston Center for Medical Simulation, and as a member of the American Council on Education’s Commission on Leadership Effectiveness. Jan served as a consultant and core faculty member for the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s Executive Nurse Fellows leadership development program from 1998-2010. She also served as a member and team chair of numerous institutional and specialized accreditation evaluation teams and held a role for more than 20 years as Senior Fellow at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) Center for the Health Professions.

Jan is recognized for her work in curriculum and program development, academic accreditation, interprofessional education, quality improvement, workforce development, and academic leadership. Over the course of her career, she was awarded more than $9 million in external funding to support health professions education and research.

Jan is the senior author and editor of two editions of a nursing textbook and has published extensively in the professional literature. She has consulted internationally in the Philippines, China, South Africa, and Ireland. In 2012, Jan was appointed editor-in-chief of the Journal of Nursing Education, having served previously as the Journal’s associate editor for 14 years. She retired from the editorship in 2018 and now holds the title of Editor Emeritus.

In retirement, Jan has continued to serve as an academic leadership consultant and was recently appointed to a 3-year term (2019-2022) on the Dean’s Advisory Board at the University of Virginia School of Nursing.

  • BSN, University of Virginia, Charlottesville
  • MN, Pediatric Nursing, University of Florida, Gainesville
  • PhD, Higher Education Policy Studies, University of Kentucky, Lexington

Research Interests

  • Leadership development
  • Academic accreditation, program evaluation, and institutional effectiveness
  • Interprofessional education
  • Nursing education scholarship

Bellack, J.P. and Dickow, M. (April/June 2019). Why nurse leaders derail: Preventing and rebounding from leadership failure. Nursing Administration Quarterly, 43(2), 113-122.

Bellack, J.P. (2018). Educating for everyday leadership. Journal of Nursing Education. 57(3), 131-133.

Bellack, J.P. (2018). Being nice, being aware: Extra points for emotional intelligence. Journal of Nursing Education, 57(8), 455-456.

Bellack, J.P. (2016). Advice for new (and seasoned) faculty: Reprise. Journal of Nursing Education55(9), 483-485.

 Bellack, J.P. and Thibault, G.E. (2016). Creating a continuously learning health system through technology: A call to action. Journal of Nursing Education55(1), 3-5.