Dr. Channell Barbour
Berea College President Lyle Roelofs appointed Channell Barbour as vice president for Student Life. Barbour, who is currently serving as associate dean of Student Life, will replace Virgil Burnside upon his retirement June 30.
“As vice president for Student Life, Dr. Barbour will serve on the Administrative Committee and be an officer of the College,” Roelofs said. “I want to thank her for being willing to take on this important responsibility, and I look forward to working with her in the leadership of Berea College.”
A Berea College alumna, Barbour earned her undergraduate degree in political science in 1991. She earned a master’s degree in public administration from West Virginia University in 1994 and her doctorate degree from Indiana State University in Higher Education Leadership in 2014. She returned to Berea College in 2016 in Student Life to serve in her current position where she assisted the vice president of Student Life in the merger of campus activities and residential life programs into the Student Life department. Barbour has directed student conduct procedures, administered student clubs and organizations on campus and supervised the Student Life team members who manage residential life.
“I am honored and humbled to follow in the footsteps of my mentor, Mr. Virgil Burnside, who recruited me to come to Berea as a first-year student in the late 1980s,” Barbour said. “I was pleased to work for him for the past three years on the Student Life team as associate dean. Now to walk in his shoes as VP of Student Life, cannot be more full circle. I am grateful to God.”
Prior to Berea, Barbour was employed at Indiana University Southeast (IUS) from 2005 to 2016. During her tenure there she worked as an academic counselor, advising first-year business students. Within two years she was promoted to associate director of Campus Life where she assisted the dean of students with judicial cases, increased the number of clubs and organizations on the campus, hosted trainings for staff and faculty advisors and for students to develop leadership skills. While at IUS, Barbour was inducted into the Chi Alpha Epsilon Honor Society, as an honorary member, for her work with students.
Barbour worked as a communications specialist for former Kentucky Gov. Paul Patton. She also worked as the internal communication manager for former Mayor Jerry Abramson in Louisville, Kentucky, during the merger of city and county government to create Louisville Metro. She began her career working as policy and procedures manager of the former Central Kentucky Treatment Center, a maximum-security prison for juvenile males.