Barbara Orr, PhD

Associate Chair, M.Ed. (Adult) & Ed.S. (K-12 Education Leadership)

Barbara Orr was appointed in 2007 as the Program Chair for the MEd in Adult Education and Administration, School of Education at Jones International University. For the past three years she has been a professor at Jones International University in the MEd in Adult Education and Administration, MEd K-12 Education Leadership and the EdD K-12 Education Leadership programs and received the 2008 JIU Faculty Excellence Award. Dr. Orr has written curriculum content for JIU’s career development program, Total Professional Advantage™ exclusively for adult educators, Facilitating a Shared Vision for EdD K-12 Educational Leadership students and coordinated the publication of the JIU Sponsor Workbook for the project-based model. Barbara Orr has served as a program director for the College Tech Prep program under the Perkins Act for the Texas Higher Education Board. She has extensive background in leadership training, strategic planning and establishment of explicit course learning objectives in alignment with professional standards in educational programs. Dr. Orr has been involved in large-scale projects involving the development of surveys and analysis of results at Austin Community College. Her expertise has led her to be part of the grant program funded by the U.S. Department of Education and the Fund for the Improvement of Post Secondary Education. She was a Kellogg fellow in the Community College Leadership doctoral program. Her academic background is in adult education, organizational learning with research interests in the cultures of transformation and learning theory as related to implications for learning environments and the life cycles of literacy from childhood through adulthood. Barbara has worked in a variety of educational and organizational contexts, and is a professional presenter in literacy, strategic planning, and higher education project-based learning. Her professional affiliations include BookSpring for early childhood literacy, Austin Gifted, Inc., and the International Creativity Association. She currently is designing professional development for librarians for BookSpring’s literacy outreach and serves on the board of Austin Gifted, Inc. for the Development committee.