Joan Taylor began her career in the Brown University Athletic Department in September 1969 as Head Coach of Women’s Tennis and Instructor in Physical Education. She served as head coach until 1978 when she was named Assistant Athletic Director and Assistant Coach of Men’s and Women’s Tennis. As an administrator in the athletic department, she was responsible for the scheduling of all contests for men’s and women’s sports, team travel arrangements for women’s sports, and the procurement of officials for men’s and women’s sports. In 1989, Taylor was promoted to Associate Athletic Director taking on the added responsibility of Compliance Coordinator and also was named the Senior Woman Administrator (SWA). The NCAA requires that the highest-ranking female administrator involved with the conduct of the intercollegiate athletics program be designated as the SWA. Promoted to Senior Associate Director of Athletics in 1996, Taylor’s current responsibilities include overseeing NCAA/Ivy compliance, contest scheduling and officiating, certifying student-athlete eligibility, and preparing NCAA and Ivy League reports. She supervises the Assistant Athletic Director for Compliance, the Assistant Athletic Director for Physical Education, Recreation, Intramurals and Club Sports, and the head coaches in the sports of men's basketball, men's crew, men's and women's fencing, men's lacrosse, men's and women's squash, women's soccer, women's skiing, women's tennis and men's and women's water polo.

Taylor has served on a variety of ECAC, IVY, and NCAA committees including the NCAA Division I Women’s Lacrosse Committee, the ECAC Women’s Ice Hockey Executive Committee, the ECAC Softball Championship Committee, the ECAC Eligibility Committee, and the Planning Committee for the Silver Anniversary of Women’s Ivy League Championships. She is Brown’s representative to the RIAIAW (Rhode Island Association of Intercollegiate Athletics for Women) and is a member of NACWAA (National Association of Collegiate Women Athletics Administrators).

Taylor is a native of Bristol, CT and a 1961 graduate of Springfield College with a B.S. degree in physical education. Prior to coming to Brown, Taylor taught physical education in Westport, CT and Wethersfield, CT and also served as a guidance counselor. While doing graduate work in counseling at the University of Bridgeport, Taylor worked as a Residence Counselor at the university. Summers were spent teaching and coaching tennis at camps in CT and PA. Taylor currently resides in Barrington with her husband, John. They have two children, Steve and Janet, and five grandchildren, Ian, Cameron, twins Keith & Curt, and Ruth.