Dr. Jay Hoffman, Culver-Stockton College Program Director of the Master of Athletic Training program, and Dean of Graduate & Professional Studies
In June, Jay Hoffman, C-SC dean and master of athletic training program director, began his term leading the 800-member state association.
Dr. Jay Hoffman, dean of Graduate & Professional Studies and director of the Master of Athletic Training (MAT) program at Culver-Stockton College, took office June 12 as the president of the Missouri Athletic Trainers’ Association (MoATA). Elected by the membership, Hoffman is serving a three-year term as president, followed by three years as past president.
MoATA represents just over 800 athletic trainers working in high schools, colleges, clinics, industrial settings, and beyond. Prior to his new leadership role, Hoffman served nine years on the Mid-America Athletic Trainers’ Association (MAATA) Board of Directors, two terms as MoATA secretary, and three years as MoATA president-elect.
He said his first priority as the new leader of MoATA is to find out how well the association is serving athletic trainers across the state. Surveys and listening sessions with both members and non-members, he noted, will help inform the strategic plan.
“I need to understand whether we’re meeting the needs of ATs in Missouri and how membership brings value,” he explained. “Then we build a plan around what we hear. Athletic trainers should be able to practice at their best in this state, and it takes a plan to get there.”
Hoffman takes office after two legislative victories he helped secure in Missouri. He testified at hearings during the decade-long effort to modernize Missouri’s athletic training practice act, which passed in 2020 and brought the law in line with the profession’s education and actual patient populations. This July, the governor signed the Athletic Training Compact into law, making Missouri the eighth state to join. The compact lets licensed athletic trainers obtain a privilege to practice in participating states without repeating the licensure process, simplifying team travel, border-region practice, and telehealth care.
The stakes, Hoffman said, are the patients on the other end of that work.
“Athletic trainers provide immediate, life-saving emergency care, injury management, and rehabilitation at every level and in every setting,” he said. “They fill critical health care gaps in under-resourced rural areas and schools, and they connect families, schools, and major health systems.”
Hoffman’s involvement in athletic training professional organizations and his advocacy work has had a significant impact in the classroom at Culver-Stockton. He said all students in C-SC’s MAT program hold National Athletic Trainers’ Association (NATA) and MoATA membership, attend both the MoATA and MAATA symposia, and volunteer at one or both events. In addition, a required course, ATR 640, is devoted entirely to advocacy and puts students in direct contact with state, district, and national leaders.
“Service leadership is a hallmark of our program,” Hoffman said. “Our students get real networking, a hand in state healthcare advocacy, and a curriculum that reflects where the profession is headed, because we’re helping direct it.”
Hoffman joined Culver-Stockton in 2008 and became department chair and athletic training program director in 2015. In 2021, he was also appointed interim dean of C-SC’s Graduate & Professional Studies program. He has more than 20 years in athletic training education, has served as a Commission on Accreditation of Athletic Training Education program reviewer since 2007, was named MAATA Educator of the Year in 2021, and received the NATA Service Award in 2022.
For more information about Culver-Stockton’s Master of Athletic Training program, visit culver.edu/master-of-athletic-training/.
Contact the Marketing & Public Relations Office, at pr@culver.edu or 573-288-6000 ext. 6728 for more information.
NOTE: A number that appears immediately after a person’s name (i.e. Jane Doe ’18) is a reference to the year that person earned their bachelor’s degree from Culver-Stockton.