Jan Todd, Fellow in the Roy J. McLean Fellowship in Sport History, is a Professor in the Department of Kinesiology and Health Education at the University of Texas at Austin. Todd directs the Sport Management graduate and undergraduate programs and co-directs the Ph.D. program in Physical Culture and Sport Studies with Tommy Hunt. She teaches courses that cover the history of sport and physical activity, critical issues in American sport history, sport philosophy, sport and ethics, and the history of physical culture and alternative medicine.
In 2015, Todd was elected to the presidency of the North American Society for Sport History (NASSH) and served as NASSH president until May 2019. In September 2011, Dr. Todd was also named a Fellow in the National Academy of Kinesiology for her many contributions to the field of Kinesiology. She was similarly recognized in 2011 by NASSH and was given their Honor Award for her many and varied contributions to the field of Sport History
Jan Todd and her husband, Terry Todd, founded the H.J. Lutcher Stark Center, home to the largest archive in the world devoted to the study of physical culture, sport, resistance training, and alternative medicine, in 1983, serving as co-directors until his death in 2018. The collection, housed at UT-Austin, is regularly used by on-campus and visiting scholars and by Todd's Ph.D. students. Todd also serves as co-editor of Iron Game History: The Journal of Physical Culture, a scholarly periodical exploring the history of exercise and physical fitness founded by the Todds in 1990.
Todd's research focuses on the history of exercise, particularly the history of strength and the history of doping. She has written two books: Physical Culture and the Body Beautiful: Purposive Exercise in the Lives of American Women (Mercer University Press, 1998), and (with Terry Todd) Lift Your Way to Youthful Fitness (Little-Brown, 1985), the first popular book to argue that weight training could be used to offset the aging process. She also collaborated on a third book, Strength Coaching in America (University of Texas Press, 2019), with Jason Shurley and Terry Todd that was published the year after Terry's death.
In addition, Todd has written more than a hundred articles in popular and scholarly journals on various aspects of sport and exercise history, anabolic steroids, strength training, and exercise. She also served as a producer and historical consultant for the 2016 documentary Stoneland about the strength traditions of Scotland. The video is available on YouTube.
Past President; Chair Distinguished Lectures,
North American Society for Sport History (2019 - 2021)
Executive Editorial Board Committee,
Kinesiology Review, National Academy of Kinseiology (2019)
Director,
Organizing Committee for Arnold Strongman Classic, Arnold Sports Festival (2018)
President,
North American Society for Sport History (2017 - 2019)
Editor,
Iron Game History: The Journal of Physical Culture
Member,
Nominations Committee, National Academy of Kinesiology
Director,
Physical Culture & Sport Studies Ph.D. Program
Area Coordinator,
Sport Management and Physical Culture and Sports Studies Degree Programs
Shelfhout, S., Ozyurtcu, T. & Todd, J. (2020). Spectatorship and the Sportification of Esports.. Book Chapter in n Das Phänomen E-Sports, edited by Annette R. Hofmann, 158-185. Aachen, Germany: Meyer & Meyer Verlag, 2020..
Shurley, J., Todd, J. & Todd, T. (2019). ALL. Strength Coaching in America: A History of the Innovation that Transformed Sport: University of Texas Press.
Todd, J. (2018). The Halcyon Days of Muscle Beach: An Origin Story. LA Sports: Play, Games, and Community in the City and Angels (, pp. 239-255). Little Rock: Universtiy of Arkansas Press.
Todd, J. & Shurley, J. (2017). Building American Muscle: A Brief History of Barbells, Dumbbells and Pulley Machines. The Routledge History of American Sport (, pp. 332-344). New York: Routledge.
Kraemer, W., Ratamess, N., Flanagan, S., Shurley, J., Todd, J. & Todd, T. (2017). Understanding the Science of Resistance Training: An Evolutionaary Perspective. Sports Medicine, 10. doi:.
Pollack, B. & Todd, J. (2017). Charles Atlas: Earle Liederman, the King of 1920s Mail-Order Muscle. Journal of Sport History, 44(3), 399-420.
Shurley, J., Todd, J. & Todd, T. (2017). The Science of Strength: Reflections on the NSCA and the Emergence of Research-Based Strength and Conditioning. The Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, 31(2), 517-530.
Hemme, F., Morais, DG., Bowers, MT. & Todd, J. (2016). Extending Sport-based Entrepreneurship Theory through Phenomenological Inquiry. Sport Management Review, September 2016, 1-16.
Pollack, B. & Todd, J. (2016). American Icarus: Vic Tanny and Americas First Modern Health Club Chain. Iron Game History: The Journal of Physical Culture, 13(3), 17-37.
Todd, J. & Rosenke, D. (2016). The Event that Shook the Whole World Up: Historicizing the 1983 Pan American Games Doping Scandal. International Journal of the History of Sport, 33(1-2), 164-185.
Hunt, T. & Todd, J. (2015). Sport and the Law: Historical and Cultural Intersections. Powerliftings Watershed:Frantz v. United States Powerlifting, the Legal Case that Changed the Nature of a Sport: University of Arkansas Press.
Todd, J., Morais, D., Pollack, B. & Todd, T. (2015). Shifting Gear: A Historical Analysis of the Use of Supportive Apparel in Powerlifting. Iron Game History, The Journal of Physical Culture, 13(2-3), 37-56.
Todd, J. (2015). Reflections on Physical Culture and History: Defining Our Field and Protecting its Integrity. Iron Game History, The Journal of Physical Culture, 13(2-3), 1-8.
Ozyurtcu, T. & Todd, J. (2015). A Prelude to Big Time Football: H.J. Lutcher Stark and the 1910 University of Texas Football Season. Iron Game History, The Journal of Physical Culture, 13(2-3), 66-80.
Todd, J. & O'Brien, M. (2014). Breaking the Physique Barrier: Steve Reeves and the Promotion of Hercules. Iron Game History: The Journal of Physical Culture, 12(4), 8-29.
Todd, J., Shurley, J. & Todd, T. (2014). Science from Strength: Thomas L. DeLorme and the Medical Acceptance of Progressive Resistance Exercise. Iron Game History: The Journal of Physical Culture, 12(4), 68-80.
Hemme, F. & Todd, J. (2013). Beyond the Hack Squat: George Hackenschmidts Forgotten Legacy as a Strength-Training Pioneer. Iron Game History: the Journal of Physical Culture, 12(3), 3-18.
Finalist
- NASSH Book Prize (2020)
Graduate Teaching Award, 2019-2020
- Kinesiology and Health Education (2019 - 2020)
Arnold Lifetime Achievement Award
- Arnold Schwarzenegger Classic (2019)
Inductee
- International Sports Hall of Fame (2018)
President
- North American Society for Sport History (2017)
Sport History Honor Award for Contributions to the Field
- North American Society for Sport History (2013)
Dean's Fellow
- The University of Texas at Austin, College of Education (2013)
Scientific Manuscript Excellence Award: Dr. Gary A. Dudley Memorial Paper (Janice S. Todd, Jason P. Shurley and Terry Todd, Thomas L. DeLorme and the Science of Progressive Resistance Exercise, Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, November 201
- National Strength and Conditioning Association (2012)
Fellow
- National Academy of Kinesiology (2011)
