Determining just how her passion for the arts developed is troublesome for Jennifer Barnett. Beyond taking piano lessons as a child, she had no real arts background before attending Southwestern. 

It certainly doesn't come from her family. She recounts a family trip to Washington D.C. during high school to make her point. "My parents took me to the National Arts Gallery. I absolutely loved it, but they were bored out of their minds!"

Although she entered Southwestern planning to study genetics, a semester in New York working for Carnegie Hall and a summer in London studying art history convinced her that a career in the arts would be more exciting than "spending my days in a lab looking through a microscope."

For the last two years, Barnett has worked to plan and promote fine arts events at Southwestern while serving as assistant to the dean of fine arts. She is the first to serve in her position, which was created to handle such responsibilities as concert management support and preparing event programs, calendars and press releases. She also works closely with faculty and arts management students.

Barnett has been an assistant without a dean after Carol Lee left the position last summer. Thus, she has taken a much larger role in managing facilities and events. With a national search for a replacement in progress, Barnett looks forward to the challenge of working with the new dean.

"The next few years will be very important for the fine arts program, especially with all the building renovations taking place," she says. "It's definitely an exciting time of transition." An $8 million gift from Houston investment manager Fayez Sarofim will support a major renovation for parts of the Alma Thomas Fine Arts Center in the next few years.

When Barnett graduated from Southwestern with an interdisciplinary degree in arts administration in 1994, she had no idea she would ever return. Having spent most of her life in Texas, she decided to head east for graduate school. She was accepted into the H.J. Heinz III School of Public Policy and Management at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, where she earned a masters in arts management in 1996.

While there were few jobs in the arts available in Pittsburgh, Barnett wasn't ready to move away from a city she'd grown to enjoy. So she took a position at a bank in treasury management. But after two years, she felt it was time to find a job in her chosen field.

While logging on to Southwestern's web site one day to find a former classmate's e-mail address, she decided to check out the open position listings. The timing couldn't have been better. "When I read the job description, I thought it would be a perfect opportunity for me. I actually flew down here for my interview and didn't tell my parents until after I was offered the position."

Living in Austin has allowed Barnett to spend more time with her sister, Jill, and two-year-old niece, Lauren. She also enjoys traveling, reading, photography, and going hiking and kayaking. In fact, she was a member of a crew team in Pittsburgh. "It's the one thing I miss about the east—outdoor activities without all the heat we have here. Well, that and the french fry cravings we'd get by rowing past the Heinz ketchup plant every morning."