In 1989 she enrolled as a doctoral student at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, earning a degree in curriculum and educational foundations.

She founded a modern dance company, Jan Van Dyke and Dancers, which toured extensively throughout the United States and Europe.

The University of North Carolina at Greensboro honored Van Dyke with the Gladys Strawn Bullard Award for Leadership and Service in 2010.

[9] In early July 2015, Van Dyke stepped down as director of the Dance Project and School at City Arts due to declining health.

She died on July 3, 2015, in Greensboro, North Carolina, at the age of 74 after battling primary peritoneal cancer for two and a half years.

[11] A memorial service was held on August 22, 2015, in the Dance Theater in the Mary Channing Coleman Building on the campus of the University of North Carolina at Greensboro and was also live streamed for those who could not attend.

[12] Van Dyke left one million dollars to the United Arts Council of Greensboro, which used the funds to build the Van Dyke Performance Space, a 7,500 square foot black-box dance theater on the first floor of the Greensboro Cultural Center.