Barry is a seasoned higher educational professional, with deep, wide-ranging experience in all aspects of academic and administrative leadership. A first-generation college graduate, he answered the call to higher education early in his career and is dedicated to institutional integrity and student success. He has a robust background in numerous academic roles, including professor, founding director of a center for teaching and learning, department chair and dean at state universities, private colleges, universities, and law schools. As a provost/vice president for academic affairs and as president, he has led institutions through various stages of their life cycles – established and growing, start-up and maturing, struggling and reaching for sustainability.
Barry has a proven track record in navigating the rigorous standards established for regional accreditation – primarily with WASC/WSCUC – and has also served two terms (six years) as a WASC/WSCUC Commissioner.
He has served on the boards of various nonprofit organizations and institutions of higher education, and has been engaged in all aspects of board governance functions, ranging from financial and fundraising, to legal matters, to recruitment of new members, as well as strategic planning.
Barry earned a B.A. in History from Westmont College in Santa Barbara, an M.Div. from Fuller Seminary in Pasadena, a J.D. from the University of California, Berkeley School of Law, a Ph.D. in History from the University of California, Santa Barbara, and a diploma in Global Business from the University of Oxford, Saïd Business School. He also served for one year as a United States Supreme Court Fellow in the chambers of then Chief Justice William Rehnquist.
