Dr. Kristen Barnard is a Kentucky native, born and raised in London, KY and a two-time graduate of Eastern Kentucky University.  She has been teaching at Berea College in since August 2006. Falling in love with this profession inspired her to start working on a PhD on a part-time basis in 2008.  Dr. Barnard worked with Dr. Carl W. Lee at the University of Kentucky for her dissertation on topics in Combinatorial Game Theory, graduating in May 2017.  Recently, she has taken her interest in Mathematics Education to a new level, getting involved in research related to the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning in Mathematics and has several projects in progress to help students of all ages see mathematics as a mathematician does.

Dr. Barnard regularly teaches the Discrete Mathematics courses at Berea, namely MAT 105: Introduction to Discrete Mathematics, MAT 216: Discrete Mathematics, and MAT 415: Combinatorics.  She very much enjoys the opportunity to teach not only mathematics majors but students from across campus.   One of her goals in every class she teaches is to help students understand that they are capable of learning math and that math is not only important, it’s fun!

In addition to teaching and advising students, Dr. Barnard has worked within the Mathematics Department to create new courses, supervise undergraduate research experiences, hire new colleagues, sponsor mathematics clubs and honor societies, and create Berea’s Math Lunch series.  As of 2022 she has worked with fifteen students in research projects in Combinatorial Game Theory and Graph Theory. 

In her personal life, Dr. Barnard enjoys the opportunity to spend time with her family and close friends and going to as many concerts as possible.  In quieter times, she enjoys crocheting, watching movies, trying new recipes, and spending time with her dog, Maisy.