There’s sometimes a notion in our country that if you don't do something by the time you're 25 or 30, then just forget about it. It's too late. But the president of the College of Eastern Idaho begs to differ. “It is never too late. It is never too late to pursue a goal,” Lori Barber said.
Lori hadn’t received her first degree in undergraduate until 10 years ago, when she embarked on a new career path at the age of 40. Now, she is the second president of the College of Eastern Idaho, proving that it’s never too late to pursue a goal.
Lori didn’t receive her degree until late, but her passion for education spans over two decades.
President Barber standing on the roof of Building 6 at the CEI campus, overlooking the construction of the newest building.
When Lori’s kids were young, she started and ran her own school, which she describes as a co-op. “My kids are grown and gone now, but we did that for many years,” she said.
In 2008, Lori and her family were living in France, where her kids were preparing to finish high school when she got involved in accreditation, capacity building and expansion of the international school. “They didn’t really have a graduation there, and my oldest son was graduating, so I organized a whole graduation with a couple of other moms,” she said.
Lori’s involvement in her children’s education led her to want to pick back up where she left off many years ago. Before living in France, she lived in Oklahoma, where she grew up and attended the University of Oklahoma. “I never finished my degree because my husband got opportunities, and I began following him,” she said. “I became very interested in education when it came time for my children to go to school. That’s when I thought, ‘Education is what I want to do, educate.’”
When she moved back from France in 2011, she decided to finish her undergraduate education at Idaho State University. She received her bachelor’s degree in letters and history and a master’s degree in history and anthropology.
After graduating, Lori was offered an assistant lecturer position at the Idaho State University Idaho Falls Campus. “I was broadcasting classes down to ISU, and I heard about this opportunity to maybe turn the local technical college into a community college,” she said. “ISU is an excellent university, don't get me wrong, but I just felt like some of my students could have benefited from a community college. I was familiar with community colleges from Oklahoma, where I'm from, so I asked for an interview.”
Rick Aman, who at the time was the interim president of EITC, met with Lori several times leading up to the vote, and when the vote was approved, Aman hired Lori to build the general education transfer portion of the college.
Before EITC became CEI, they had some general education classes but not a full fleet of general education courses. When Lori stepped in, they needed someone who could grow and expand those general education courses. Her passion for education was the right fit, and she went on to become the Director of General Education, and in 2018, she became the Inaugural Dean of General Education. In 2019, she became the Vice President of Academic and Student Affairs, a role she held for over 5 years, before being appointed as the second President of CEI.
“For anybody who looks at my story and says, ‘You know what? She didn't even start down that path until she was well into her 40s. Look where she's at now.’ And it wasn't without a lot of hard work. It wasn't without a lot of determination. It wasn't without a lot of help from a lot of people to help get me in this position. But what I would really like to say is, you truly can do anything that you set your mind to.”
Lori is a firm believer that higher education can change the trajectory of anyone’s life, no matter their age or circumstances.
“I want to be an example that you can do anything you set your mind to,” she said. “And I think the most important thing for women, men, or anybody who sees my story and feels inspired by it is that I didn't start down this trajectory of this path of higher education until I was pretty old.”