Sr. Barbara is a Dominican Sister of Grand Rapids, Michigan, and has served on the CTU faculty since 1988. She has served as Vice President and Academic Dean and has been actively involved in the Association of Theological Schools, including service on their Board of Directors. She has led many of CTU’s Israel Retreats and Biblical Lands Study and Travel Programs in Greece, Turkey, Israel and the Palestinian Territories, Jordan, and Egypt. A former Spanish teacher, she has given presentations in México, Bolivia, Perú, Uruguay, Brasil, Guatemala, and Santo Domingo. She has also lectured in Ireland, New Zealand, Australia, Canada, the Philippines, Thailand, and Rome.

Sr. Barbara is one of the leading scholars in feminist interpretation of the Scriptures. She is General Editor for the Wisdom Commentary Series, a new 58-volume feminist commentary on the Bible published by Liturgical Press (see www.wisdomcommentary.org, where her Introduction to the series can be downloaded gratis).

She is past President of the Catholic Biblical Association (2014-2015). She received an honorary doctorate from the University of Graz, Austria in 2019 and was inducted into Aquinas College Hall of Fame in 2016. She has received the Yves Congar Award for Theological Excellence from Barry University (2017), St. Martin DePorres Award from the Southern Province Dominican Friars (2016), Jerome Award from Catholic Library Association (2012), Theological Award for Distinguished Women Theologians from the College of Mount St. Joseph (2010), the Sophia Award from Washington Theological Union (2000).