James Barber

Profile

Jim Barber serves as Senior Associate Dean for Academic Programs and Professor of Education. Dr. Barber has worked in higher education for over 25 years and is an expert in the areas of integrative learning, college student development, liberal arts education, assessment of student learning, and pilgrimage studies. Prior to his faculty appointment at William & Mary, he worked in student affairs administration, specializing in fraternity and sorority advising, residence life, and student activities. Dr. Barber has substantial experience with international education. He has led students on study abroad experiences in the Czech Republic, China, and Spain and currently serves as co-director of the Institute for Pilgrimage Studies.

Barber is the author of "Facilitating the Integration of Learning: Five Research-Based Practices to Help College Students Connect Learning Across Disciplines and Lived Experience" (Routledge, 2020), and a co-author (with Patricia M. King and Rosemary J. Perez) of "Exploring Complexities in College Student Development: Critical Lessons from Researching Students' Journeys" (Routledge, 2024). His research has been published in the American Educational Research Journal, Journal of College Student Development, Journal of Diversity in Higher Education, Journal of Higher Education, and Review of Higher Education, among others. Dr. Barber has served on the editorial board of the Journal of Sorority and Fraternity Life Research and Practice since 2005, including two terms as Associate Editor and two terms as Editor-in-Chief.

 

Education

Ph.D. in Higher Education, University of Michigan, 2009
M.A. in College Student Personnel, Bowling Green State University, 1997
B.A. in English Language and Literature, Grand Valley State University, 1995

Activities and Honors

Co-Director, Institute for Pilgrimage Studies

Shelley Sutherland Outstanding Volunteer Award, Association of Fraternity/Sorority Advisors, 2021

Past Editor, Journal of Sorority and Fraternity Life Research and Practice

Faculty Fellow, Sigma Phi Epsilon Fraternity, William & Mary

NASPA Hardee Dissertation of the Year Award, 2010

Selected Publications

 King, P. M., Perez, R. P., & Barber, J. P. (2024). Exploring complexities in college student development: Critical lessons from researching students' journeys. Routledge. 

Barber, J. P. (2024). How pilgrimage persists: Integrated learning from the Camino de Santiago. Ad Limina: Research journal of the Way of St. James and pilgrimages, 15, 115-142. doi.org/10.61890/adlimina/15.2024/04

Jenkins, K. E., & Barber, J. P. (Eds.) (2024). Pilgrimage in a globalizing world: Cross-disciplinary research and social implications. Ad Limina: Research journal of the Way of St. James and pilgrimages XV, 15, 29-34. 

King, P. M., Perez, R. M., & Barber, J. P. (2023). Variability patterns in self-authorship trajectories: Complicating understanding of development. Review of Higher Education, 47(1), 1-30. doi.org/10.1353/rhe.2023.a907269

King, P. M., Perez, R. J., & Barber, J. P. (2022). A four-year longitudinal study of self-authorship development: Evidence from the Wabash National Study. Journal of College Student Development, 63(6), 626-642. doi.org/10.1353/csd.2022.0052

Boone, B. I., & Barber, J. P. (2022). This is the way: Faculty on the Camino de Santiago. In J. Bloechl, & A. Brouillette (Eds.), Pilgrimage as spiritual practice: A handbook for teachers, wayfarers, and guides. Fortress Press.

Bureau, D. A., Sasso, P. A., Barber, J. P., DeFreitas, K. M., Ray, D. C., & Ryan, H. G. (2021). Contextualizing social class and leadership in fraternity and sorority communities. New Directions in Student Leadership, 2021(169), 85-95. doi: 10.1002/yd.20424  

Barber, J. P. (2020). Facilitating the integration of learning: Five research-based practices to help college students connect learning across disciplines and lived experience. Routledge Publishing.

Barber, J. P. & Youngerman, E. (2020). Integrative learning as a process for linking writing and emotion. In C. Wynne (Ed.), Preserving emotion in student writing: Innovation in composition pedagogy (pp. 85-94). Peter Lang Press. doi: 10.3726/b17260

Perez, R. J. & Barber, J. P. (2018). Intersecting outcomes: Promoting intercultural effectiveness and integration of learning for college students, Journal of Diversity in Higher Education, 11(4), 418–435. doi: 10.1037/dhe0000067

 

 

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