She was a professor at John Carroll University near Cleveland, Ohio, and the author of two books on voting systems.
[1][3] She became a housewife, and raised four children, returning to graduate study only after the youngest reached school age.
[3] She earned a master's degree and Ph.D. from Case Western Reserve University,[1] despite opposition from a faculty member who predicted that "Shaker Heights housewives always drop out".
[4] Barber helped lead the successful campaign to prevent this construction, and became a founder of the Nature Center at Shaker Lakes.
Her biography in the Hall of Fame states that her "work in the fields of education and politics ... made a profound impact in the Cleveland community".