Barry Aron Vann is a native of southern Appalachia. An accomplished author, professor, speaker, and administrator, Dr. Vann came to University of the Cumberlands in 2008 as the Director of the Doctor of Education Program (Ed.D.) and Professor of Education and Geography.

Vann holds two doctorates: a Doctor of Education degree in Adult Education with a focus in community development from the University of Arkansas, and a Doctor of Philosophy degree dually awarded by the Department of Geographical and Earth Sciences and the School of Divinity at the University of Glasgow in Scotland.  In addition, he also possesses a Master of Science degree in Geosciences from Western Kentucky University.

Vann has served as the founding director of a dozen degree programs in such places as Delta State University in Mississippi and Northeastern Oklahoma A&M College.  Before coming to the University of the Cumberlands, he served as the founding director of Lincoln Memorial University’s Appalachian Development Studies and geography programs. 

As an author, Vann has published over twenty articles and five books with a sixth entitled Coping with the Forces of Nature: Geographic Perspectives on Human-Environmental Interactions in the development stage.  His writings have appeared in such publications as Human Resource Development Quarterly, Journal of Transatlantic Studies, Journal of East Tennessee History, Journal of Historical Sociology, and Geography of Religions and Belief Systems.  These journals and his program-building experiences reflect his eclectic interests in community and organizational development, Appalachian issues, geography, history and sociology.  Professor Vann is passionately interested in academic administration in higher education and the role that all educational institutions have community and regional development.  Vann is an active member in Phi Alpha Theta.

He has spoken in a number of settings, including his lecture on Celts and settlements in Appalachia that he delivered to the Appalachian Literature class at University of the Cumberlands, taught by English Department Chair Dr. Thomas Frazier.  Of Vann’s visit, Frazier notes that Vann is “engaging, knowledgeable, and entertaining” when speaking about his subject matter.