ABOUT BARBARA
If I were to describe my life as a road trip, I would say the detours were what made it interesting!
I was born and raised in the Bronx, NY, but once I left for college at 17, I never went back. With the benefit of having lived in many other places in the U.S. and abroad, I now look back fondly on my neighborhood, a place where people knew and cared about each other. But as a teenager I couldn’t wait to escape. I wanted to meet new people and explore New York City, which I was able to do at the H.S. of Music and Art, one the city’s selective high schools at that time. Being immersed in the arts was one of the defining experiences of my life.
I intended to major in psychology at Harpur College, but my first poetry class convinced me to major in English. I couldn’t believe I got credit for reading the books I would have read anyway! At seventeen I was sure I was going to be a college English teacher. I would defer marriage and children until I finished my Master’s and had my first job.
The 60’s, the era of sex, drugs and rock & roll, were an exciting time to be a college student. Nevertheless, I left school in my junior year for a different kind of adventure. I married a boy from home and went to live in Sao Paulo, Brazil, where he was on a fellowship. Our year there gave us the opportunity to travel in Brazil, Uruguay, and Argentina and to walk to the very edge of the Falls of Iguacu. Later, my career would take me to Europe, Central America, China, and Russia. After I retired and just before the pandemic, I had the opportunity to travel to Cuba for the International Jazz Festival. I went to places I had only ever expected to read about; travel has been another profound influence on my life.
When I returned from Brazil, I completed my bachelors and master’s degrees in English at Lehman College, part of the City University of New York. I was planning to get a doctorate in English as well, but after writing a 19-page paper on the verb “to keep” in the novels of Henry James, I began to doubt my choice. What would I be contributing to the world by writing about such esoteric, narrow topics? Fortunately, shortly after stumbling on a job I grew to love at my local community college, I found a non-traditional doctoral program in Education Leadership that allowed me to design my own curriculum. I was able to write my dissertation on “Women’s Moral Development in Contemporary Fiction.”
By the time I began this program, which required that I work full time and enroll full time, I was the single parent of two young daughters. This experience helped me empathize with community college students in the same situation. I understood what it was like to try to write a paper while a sick child demanded my attention. When I interviewed for my first community college presidency, the students appreciated my ability to relate to them. To this day I believe they were instrumental in the decision to hire me.
I spent my entire career as a community college leader. I began at Rockland Community College located outside of New York City, where my journey took me from a paraprofessional on a grant funded program to Vice President for Academic Affairs. I left to become President of Berkshire Community College in western Massachusetts, Executive Director of the Institute for Community College Development at Cornell University, and finally President of Chesapeake College on the Eastern Shore of Maryland. During that time, I led several regional and national professional organizations and published journal articles and book reviews. Because community colleges are rooted in their local communities, I served on local business, arts, and social service boards. A colleague recently noted that “leaving a service profession does not mean leaving a commitment to service behind.” I have joined similar boards since moving back to the Berkshires.
Throughout my career I had the satisfaction of making a difference in students’ lives and mentoring employees and colleagues. As I was preparing to retire, I founded Rise Up Leadership Coaching, helping future leaders clarify and achieve their goals. As I moved further away from the world of higher education, however, I decided to move on from coaching and focus on my writing.
I have always considered myself a storyteller. Stories are how we learn about ourselves and others. When collaborating with colleagues on articles for academic journals, I would tell them, “You analyze the data and I’ll tell the stories.” In addition to blogging, I write poetry and essays. Part I of my COVID memoir, “Counting the Days,” was published in “The Berkshire Edge” in July 2020. In the summer of 2021, I hired a genealogist to research my grandmother’s life. I have her silver candlesticks but knew little about her. Now, with the “facts” of her life in hand, I have begun writing a novel based on her story. Writing fiction is a completely new challenge.
Writing brings me joy. It will be the cornerstone of this chapter of my life.