Dr. Lori Barber is Vice President of Academic and Student Affairs (VPA and SA) at College of Eastern Idaho (CEI), a role she has served in for five years. She has held several administrative roles at CEI prior to her tenure as VPA and SA. She started at CEI as Director of General Education and then became the inaugural Dean of General Education in 2018. She built the General Education transfer AA and AS degrees from the ground up, which now comprise two-thirds of CEI enrollments. Barber’s innovative strategies have been instrumental in steering the direction of institutional growth and building the framework on which CEI’s current academic and student affairs structure has been built. Under Dr. Barber’s leadership, CEI has experienced an unprecedented 244% growth in credit enrollments since 2017. As an innovative leader, she recently led her team to the successful establishment of CEI’s first two Bachelors of Applied Science degrees.
Dr. Barber holds a Doctorate of Educational Leadership and Innovation from Arizona State University. Her Master’s Degree is in Interdisciplinary Studies in History and Anthropology from Idaho State University where she researched the history and anthropology of food. She has been involved in education at the K-12 and post-secondary realms for over twenty-five years. Barber lived for three years in Southern France (2008-2011) with her family. During her time in France, she gained international education experience, serving in many capacities at a secondary International Baccalaureate School in Luynes, France, where she participated in accreditation, teaching, capacity building, and fundraising.
Dr. Barber profoundly believes in the community college mission and recognizes the power of education to create hope and transform lives. Barber endeavors to identify and remove barriers to create abundant opportunities for students. She has been married for 35 years and has two grown sons. In her spare time, she teaches yoga, hikes in the Idaho wilderness, writes, and walks many miles with her two sweet dogs.
