Education
University of Chicago. Antioch University.
University of Chicago. Antioch University.
Barnett was the first black woman to lead a major American university. Barnett was born in Charlottesville, Virginia. She grew up in Buffalo, New York, and graduated from Bennett High School in 1959.
After graduating from Antioch College in 1964, she earned a master of science and doctoral degrees in political science from the University of Chicago.
Barnett then taught at the University of Chicago Princeton University, Howard University and Columbia University. She was vice-chancellor for academic affairs at the City University of New York from 1983 to 1986, and chancellor of the University of Missouri-Saint Louis, from 1986 to 1990.