Dr. Jane Katz has taught thousands of students about the benefits of water fitness at the City University of New York since 1964. She is a professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice in the Department of Health and Physical Education teaching fitness and swimming to New York City's police and firefighters.
Dr. Katz has been recognized for her work as an educator, aquatics innovator and author. Among many prestigious honors for her work is the Townsdent Harris Academic Medal from her alma mater, CCNY, and award bestowed to fellow alumnus Secretary of State Colin Powell.
As a member of the 1964 US Synchronized Swimming Performance Team in Tokyo, Dr. Katz helped pioneer the acceptance of a Synchronized Swimming as an Olympic event. Her achievements as a Masters competitive, long-distance, and synchronized and fin swimmer have earned her All-American and World Masters Championships.
Dr. Katz earned her bachelor's degree in physical education at the City College of New York, a Master in Education Administration and Organization from New York University and both a Master's degree in Therapeutic Recreation for Aging and her Doctorate of Education degree in Gerontology from Columbia University.
Jane Katz's aquatics publications include Swimming for Total Fitness as well as other books, videos, and numerous articles, such as the Encyclopedia Britannica's Take the Plunge Swimming for Health, and Aquatic Exercise. Her recent publication is Your Water Workout.
Jane Katz is on the Advisory Board of Aquatics International magazine, has been a member of USA Swimming Education and Waterworks Committees and has been a consultant to the President's Council on Physical Fitness and Sports since 1981. In 2002, Dr. Katz was elected as an advisory member of the Board of Directors of the International Swimming Hall of Fame. She is also a member of the US Masters Swimming Sports Medicine Committee.
Dr. Katz received the Outstanding Teacher Award for the academic year 1999-2000 at John Jay College of Criminal Justice of CUNY, and was the 2000 honorees of the New York City PSAL=s National Girls and Women in Sports Day. In April 2001, the Dr. Jane Katz Natatorium was dedicated at the Children's Better Health Institute in Indianapolis, Indiana.
In 2004, for the second time, she was voted Women's Swimming Coach of the Year of the city University of New York Division III Athletic Conference. In 2005, she was selected by Aquatics International Magazine as one of the 25 most powerful people in the world of aquatics. Dr. Katz earned US Masters Swimming All American Status from 2004 and won the 2005 USMS Long Distance One Mile Swim Championship. In addition, she was recently inducted into the Metropolitan Swimming Hall of Fame for her lifetime contributions in aquatics.
In 2007, she swam in the Pan American Masters Maccabi Swim championships in Argentina highlighting 50 years of Maccabiah Games by winning seven gold medals. In July of 2009, Dr. Katz won 13 Maccabiah Games Masters Swimming Medals in her 13th appearance participating at the Maccabiah Games in Israel. In addition, in August of 2009, she competed in the National Senior Games at Stanford University in Palo Alto, CA, also winning several swimming events.
In 2007, Professor Katz helped create the Kids Aquatic Re-Entry (KARE) Program, in cooperation with the New York City Department of Juvenile Justice to help troubled youth learn life's lessons pool side. In 2008, she was awarded the New York Post Liberty Medal as Educator of the Year for the Program.
In 2009, she developed and created aquatic swim clinics for the Creative, Healthy, Active, Motivated, Positive Students (CHAMPS) Program for NYC Board of Education middle and high school teachers.
