In Memoriam: Joni Erin Evans Barnett, 1931-2015

Joni Barnett a longtime administrator at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut, died recently at the age of 84.

Barnett was a native of Chicago and earned a master’s degree at the University of Illinois. She coached synchronized swimming at Southern Connecticut State University and then took a similar post at Yale in 1969. Later Barnett was named director of women’s physical education and in 1973 was promoted to director of physical education. She was the first woman to hold a post as director of physical education at any co-educational university in the United States.

Later in her career, Barnett was appointed director of the Office of Community and State Relations at Yale, a position she held until her retirement.