Barbara Howard joined UNC Charlotte in 2015 as an Administrative Assistant in the Dean’s office of the Cato College of Education. She joined the School of Data Science (SDS) in December, 2019 as its Executive Assistant. In this role, she provides high-level administrative support to the Executive Director of SDS and the SDS team. This includes assisting the Executive Director with managing faculty agreements, MOUs, and policy documents related to school governance; processing part-time faculty hiring and student employment; handling financial transactions, including procurement, contracts, invoices and budget transfers; and providing business and operational support for the SDS annual conferences.
Before her tenure at UNC Charlotte, Barbara worked as a special educator and consultant for 20+ years. Among her notable accomplishments, Barbara co-founded Philips Academy, a private, nonprofit secondary and post-secondary school specializing in life-centered instruction for individuals with complex learning and cognitive disabilities. She served as head administrator for the school for six years and played a pivotal role in its growth and establishment as the only school of its kind in the greater Charlotte area. Following Philips Academy, Barbara served on the founding board of Veritas Charter School where she guided the development of their educational policies and procedures leading up to and following the school’s opening. Barbara earned a B.A. in Psychology from Furman University and an M.Ed. in Counseling from Ohio University.