About Barbara


Barbara Kent
Director of Military Experience at Purdue Global
Barbara Kent currently serves as the director of military experience at Purdue Global, part of the renowned Purdue University system. In this role, she is responsible for creating and maintaining a high-quality compliant experience across key components of the education journey for veterans and military-affiliated students: recruiting, admissions, financial aid, advising, and access to university resources that will support them as they successfully persist to graduation. In addition, she drives continuous quality improvement processes and metrics uniquely tailored to this population.
Prior to this role, she served as the director of Eastern Kentucky University’s Office of Military and Veterans Affairs, responsible for initiating, evaluating, and directing all aspects of programming and delivery of services for this population. Under her leadership, Eastern Kentucky University (EKU) was designated as a Top Ten Military Friendly School in the nation, and in the fall of 2022, EKU was awarded a $1.5M Veterans Upward Bound TRIO grant. Barbara has also held staff positions at the University of Oregon and the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. An Army veteran, she served nearly 10 years on active duty, both stateside and overseas, followed by 10 years as an active military spouse. She received her bachelor’s degree in psychology in 2017 and her master’s degree in public administration (MPA) in 2019.