Marlynn Jones: Board of Director
Marlynn R. Jones, Esq. is Assistant Director of Athletics for Compliance at North Carolina Central University where she is in charge of the day-to-day operations of the university that is transitioning to NCAA Division I status. Her responsibilities include Academic Progress Reports [APR], rules education, including publications and the web site, rules interpretations, and monitoring recruiting, financial aid, ethical conduct, camps and clinics, promotional activities, awards and benefits, amateurism and playing and practice seasons. She oversees prospect admissions to athletics events and administers the NCAA Special Assistance Fund. Jones serves as .liaison to the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference [MEAC] for compliance matters and is on the NCCU Division I Certification Committee. Jones is also the administrator for the Hall of Fame.
Jones serves as the Executive Director for the Southeast for a non-profit organization that provides competition and scholarship opportunities for middle school children in non-traditional sports and assists high school parents in navigating the maze of NCAA legislation regarding recruiting and extra benefits. Jones was recently named to the Board of Directors of On Focus, a non-profit organization that assists former student-athletes with transitions into graduate and professional schools and into the work force. She is a member of the Chapel Hill-Carboro Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. where she serves as Chair of Jabberwock, the sorority’s major fund-raiser, and as a member of the Social Action, Education and Scholarship Committees.
A consultant on Title IX and Gender Equity Issues in intercollegiate athletics to the Lefft Law Group in Fort Mill, SC, Jones completed three years as Associate Director of Athletics and Senior Woman Administrator at Florida A&M University in Tallahassee, FL. She supervised the compliance, academic services, athletics training and strength and conditioning areas. In addition to overseeing Title IX and gender equity issues she was the sport administrator for bowling, men’s golf, men’s and women’s swimming and diving, and cheerleading where she assisted in budget preparation/monitoring, competition scheduling, recruiting and crisis management. In a previous administration she served as sport supervisor for women’s basketball, cross country, softball, tennis, track and field and volleyball.
Jones prepared all MEAC and NCAA reports and was a member of the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) Delegate Assembly where she served on the Sportsmanship Committee and Co-Chair of the Outdoor Track and Field Championships from 2005-2008. Jones wrote a grant that was approved by the NCAA to create a Learning Specialist position for FAMU’s athletic academic program. As a result, the athletics department will receive $41,000 a year from 2008-2011.
At FAMU, she served as the advisor for the Campus Chapter of the March of Dimes and was an adjunct professor in the Graduate School of Physical Education where she taught Legal Issues in Sport and Leisure Management and Personnel Management.
In Tallahassee, Jones was a member of the Tallahassee Barrister’s Association where she served as a mentor to students interested in the study of law, and the Tallahassee Women Lawyers Association. She currently serves the Florida Bar as a member of the Law Related Education Committee. The committee is charged with educating students who reach the age of 18 on their legal responsibilities in the state of Florida. At FAMU, she was working with the Black Infant Health Alliance, an academic/community partnership aimed at addressing the infant mortality crisis.
Prior to her position at FAMU, Jones served as Assistant Director of Athletics for Compliance at the University of South Carolina where she was the Compliance Coordinators Liaison to the Southeastern Conference Student-Athlete Advisory Committee and a member of NAFSA: Association of International Educators. At South Carolina, Jones supervised athletics certification for 20 sports teams, and was responsible for rules education for student-athletes, coaches, parents, staff and boosters. Additionally she edited the Compliance Capsule and the compliance section of the athletics department web site. Jones reported to the University President and the Director of Athletics as a member of his senior management team.
On campus, Jones was elected to the Black Faculty and Staff Association as an At-Large Staff Representative. In Columbia, Jones was an active member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority’s Columbia Alumnae Chapter and helped re-establish the Iota Chi Chapter at South Carolina after a seven-year absence.
Before moving to South Carolina, Jones served as the Assistant Commissioner for Compliance and External Affairs for the MEAC, where she oversaw compliance efforts for 11 member institutions, performed university compliance audits and investigated violations of NCAA legislation. Additionally she served as liaison to the Faculty Athletics Representatives and was the advisor for the MEAC Student-Athletic Advisory Committee.
The former Chief of Staff and Staff Counsel to the Florida Senate’s Honorable Darryl L. Jones, in Florida’s 40th District, Jones received her law degree from the University of Miami (FL) and was named the 1999 National Outstanding Law Student of the Year. While at Miami, she was President of the Entertainment and Sports Law Society and served as the American Bar Association Student Liaison to the Forum Committee on Entertainment and Sports Industries for two years. It was under her administration that the 12th annual symposium on Entertainment and Sports Law began. She was inducted into Phi Delta Phi, Alpha Epsilon Lambda and Omicron Delta Kappa. Jones was Editor-in Chief of the Amicus Curiae (yearbook) and the student member of the Faculty Admissions, Scholarship and Financial Aid Committee.
While taking law courses, Jones worked for the Orange Bowl Committee for two years and completed a judicial internship with the Honorable Robert Mark, United States Bankruptcy Court, Southern District of Florida. For her efforts, she received the 1999 Roger Serino Award presented to the outstanding 3-L and was inducted into the Society of Bar and Gavel, the law school’s highest honor, and Iron Arrow Honor Society, the university’s highest honor. Jones was admitted to the Florida and District of Columbia Bars in 2000, as well as the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh (11th) Circuit, and was a Florida Supreme Court Certified County Court Mediator from 2000-2004.
A member of the 1996 Atlanta Committee for the Olympic Games Staff, Jones was a Venue Press Operations Manager responsible for the logistical and operational planning for 5000 print media and photographers at eight Olympic competition venues and two press housing venues for the sports of basketball, badminton, beach volleyball, canoe/kayak, field hockey, football (soccer), rhythmic gymnastics and volleyball. In addition, she recruited, selected and trained 300+ volunteers for the Games.
Jones also served as the Interim Director of Scholarship Administration at North Carolina Central University for two years, was Assistant Athletics Director for Development at North Carolina A&T State University for two years, and was a Graduate Assistant in sports information at Virginia Commonwealth University for two years.
A native of Petersburg, Virginia, Jones grew up in Durham, NC. She received her undergraduate degree from the Journalism School at the University of North Carolina in 1984 and her master’s degree from Virginia Commonwealth University in 1987. She began her career in athletics administration at the NCAA, where she was the first advertising manager for The NCAA News from 1987-1991. While at the NCAA, Jones implemented a computer program that reduced outstanding account receivables by more than 74 percent.
A published poet, Jones is a 2004 graduate of the Sports Management Institute, and served on the NCAA Progress Toward Degree Waivers Committee from 2003-2007, the last year as Chair. She is a member of the National Association of Athletics Compliance Coordinators (NAACC), National Association of Collegiate Women Athletics Administrators (NACWAA), National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics (NACDA), the Sports Lawyers Association and is a life member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. She was selected by the NCAA to serve as a member of the Division I Men’s Basketball Issues and Walter Byers Postgraduate Scholarship Committees and as an inaugural member of the Leadership Institute for Ethnic Minority Females.
Jones is the daughter of the late Dossie Nickles and the late Grover Seline Jones, and sister to Reginald W. Jones, project director for the City of Durham’s Parrish Street Project to revitalize the Black Wall Street. She is the mother of Trinity Faith Seline, born March 7, 2007, and an Angel, Cameron Nicole.
E-mail: mjones@onfocus.org
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