Shirley Barber is a full-time faculty member in the Department of Rhetoric and Composition at AUC. She earned her BA from London, United Kingdom in teaching English to speakers of other languages. Additionally, Barber obtained her MA from AUC in international and comparative education, majoring in educational leadership. 

Currently, Barber teaches rhetoric skills that promote critical thinking and reading, information literacy, digital literacy, research development skills and other academic and transferable skills. She has educational based experience ranging from teaching students of primary, secondary, high school and university levels, spanning from British to American education systems. She has served as the head of the English department at a British school in Egypt for primary and secondary school levels. In addition to this, Barber has been the vice-deputy of an American middle school, as well as a vice-eeputy of an American high school, both in Egypt. She has also been a coordinator and instructor of a cross-cultural educational program between Egypt and Denmark, known as the Cairo-Copenhagen program at an American high school in Egypt. An agent for positive change, she believes that every situation provides for an opportunity to learn from and to share knowledge. Barber is passionate about teaching and believes that it is her purpose in life to empower others to realize their potential.