Brian Barker

Academic Degrees

• MA, DePaul University, 2011
• BA, Bethune-Cookman University, 2002

Teaching Interests

• Introduction to Hospitality
• Introduction to Global Tourism
• Self and Team Leadership Studies​

Biography

Brian Barker is a full-time faculty member at DePaul University's School of Hospitality Leadership. Bringing more than 13 years of industry experience to his current role, most of his career has been spent at Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts (FSHR). As an operational manager at FSHR Philadelphia, followed by FSHR Miami, he successfully led the Miami property to the attainment of the coveted AAA-Five Diamond Award status as Front Office Manager. Barker attained his master's degree in communications from DePaul University in 2011. He also earned his Certified Hospitality Educator (CHE) certification from American Hotel & Lodging Educational Institute in 2013.

Barker leverages his industry experience and connections throughout the world to provide his students with real-world experiential learning in and outside of the classroom. In his years as an operational manager, Barker has come to understand that service excellence is gained through qualitative feedback. As a junior faculty member, Barker has been recognized as a Coleman Entrepreneurship Fellow, a prestigious honor bestowed upon a few faculty members who seek to integrate entrepreneurial instruction into non-traditional entrepreneurial courses.

He has also provided customized professional training and lectures for major corporations such as the American Hotel Register Company and Accenture. His lectures and training topics are centralized around leadership and diversity development. Barker is also an active advisor and chapter founder for DePaul University's National Society of Minorities in Hospitality chapter, an organization in which he served on the national board for three years during his undergraduate career. Committed to diversity, Barker also serves as an executive board member for DePaul's Black Alumni Association.

Barker is currently developing a community-based café on the South Side of Chicago, and this café will have a programmatic theme to address some systemic challenges faced by community members.​