After recieving her PhD in history Jan Shipps taught at Indiana University-Purdue University Inianapolis for many years and is now professor emeritus of history and religious studies. Shipps served as a senior editor of "The Journals of William McLellin, 1831-1836" and was the first non-Mormon (and first woman) elected president of the Mormon Historical Association. She has also been president of the John Whitmer Historical Association (2004-05) and the American Society of Church History (2006).