By Patrick Greenwell

For many students, going to class is their least favorite college activity. Part of this might stem from the fact that students simply cannot relate to the theories they are taught. Prof. Brian Barnes is trying to change that by bringing real world experiences into the classroom and backing the theories with examples from his own life.

Graduating from Hanover College in 1995 with a degree in philosophy, Barnes began teaching at the University of Louisville shortly thereafter, while studying for his Master’s degree.

In 1997, he encountered a group of U.S. Army Recruiters on campus. In order to pay off college loans, he decided to enlist.

The army sent Barnes to the Defense Language Institute in California, where he took a basic Arabic language course. After attending Army Intelligence School, he went on to work with the National Security Agency as a cryptologic linguist, interpreting coded messages.

In 2004, Barnes left the army and returned to teaching, taking over a business ethics course at U of L.

In addition to teaching, Barnes began working at the Wild Oats Natural Marketplace in Louisville. With his previous experience teaching and his top-secret security clearance, Wild Oats seemed an odd career choice, but it turned out to be a perfect fit.

“A lot of times we have opportunities all around,” said Barnes. “We tend to focus on the closed doors in our lives, what we really need to do is keep our minds open. We have to always be aware of our opportunities. If we don’t look, we’ll miss them.”

Working with Wild Oats gave Barnes a chance to bring actual business experience into the classroom. By looking back at his job experiences, Barnes is able to pull from a vast wealth of material.

In doing so he is able to go against the old model of teaching a class, but still communicate the necessary theories on a more practical level.

Barnes encourages his students to bring their own insights into the classroom.

By devising projects that allow students to live out the material covered in class, while allowing them to draw what they want from the curriculum and to create their own unique viewpoints.

“Professor Barnes noticeably appreciates dialogue and stimulates the class to share their different viewpoints,” said Chris Tompkins, a senior business administration major.

“Professor Barnes noticeably appreciates dialogue and stimulates the class to share their different viewpoints. He is not intimidating at all, but he does require us to be engaged and ready to back up our positions.”

Outside of the university, Barnes teaches traditional Japanese jujitsu at the Taka No Ko Dojo.

In addition to martial arts, he is a certified fencing coach, and served as chair of the Kentucky division of the United States Fencing Association from 2003 to 2005.

Barnes has been involved in several projects throughout Louisville. In 2006 he worked with U of L to start Care-Boxes.com, a company created to provide students with an organic alternative to the commonly received care packages.

Though the business failed to take off, the experience of starting his own business provided Barnes with excellent material for his course.

On why he is involved in so many diverse activities, Barnes said, “I meet so many people who say ‘I can’t.’ It’s nice to say ‘You can.’ It’s better to do than to think about doing, to be an example of making change.