JoAnn Danelo Barbour, Ph.D.

Professor, Leadership Studies

Dr. JoAnn Danelo Barbour joins the DPLS program at Gonzaga University as an Associate Professor having spent 40 years in education. Her preparation and leadership experiences have been multidisciplinary by interest, design, or necessity. Professor Barbour’s...

Dr. JoAnn Barbour

Contact Information

Education & Curriculum Vitae

Ph.D., Education, Stanford University

M.A., Special Education, Arizona State University

B.A., History, Gonzaga University

Curriculum Vitae

Courses Taught

DPLS 701 Organizational Theory

DPLS 711 Organizational Culture

DPLS 730 Proposal Seminar


Dr. JoAnn Danelo Barbour joins the DPLS program at Gonzaga University as an Associate Professor having spent 40 years in education. Her preparation and leadership experiences have been multidisciplinary by interest, design, or necessity. Professor Barbour’s Ph.D. is in Education – Administration and Policy Analysis from Stanford University, wherein she also earned a Master’s degree in Anthropology. From her doctoral research, a yearlong ethnographic study of three female leaders within an organizational context, she has eyes nurtured within her experiences in anthropology and from the discipline of special education (an M.A. from Arizona State University) that provide her a foundational grounding to discern organizational behaviors. A Bachelor’s degree in History from Gonzaga prepared her to fully engage in the present and prepare for the future by understanding the past. Having taught in pre-collegiate education for eight years and in graduate higher education for more than 25 years, Professor Barbour grounds her academic work (teaching, leading, and scholarship) in historical, geographic, biographical, cultural, and behavioral contexts, and strives in all endeavors to attain a balance between philosophy/reflection and praxis/action. She has consulted with the US Navy and various educational organizations including schools, school districts, and creative, working committees of all stripes; has been a department chair, a member of the faculty Senate, and chaired many university committees; and is on various advisory boards and academic journal review boards. Former International Leadership Association (ILA) Leadership Education MIG Chair, Barbour co-edited ILA volumes in Building Leadership Bridges (2008, 2010), and was chief editor of BLB (2012), Leading in Complex Worlds. Former Chief Editor of Academic Exchange Quarterly, her own research interests are in critical/experiential, multidisciplinary, and artistic approaches to leadership and teaching. Publications include 10 entries in Sage Encyclopedia of Educational Leadership and Administration, several journal articles and chapters in leadership texts, most recently, Critical Policy/Practice in Sage Handbook of Educational Leadership (2nd ed.), and with Sanchez (2012), A Critical Approach to Teaching and Learning in Critical Qualitative Research (CQR) Reader. She recently has consented to be Associate Editor for a Sage text, A Guide to Educational Leadership and Management.