Barbara Ann Harmon-Schamberger
B.A., West Virginia University, 1985J.D., University of Virginia, 1991
Barbara Harmon-Schamberger was the first woman from West Virginia University to receive a Rhodes Scholarship. Prior to 1976, women were not eligible to apply. When an Act of Parliament removed the restriction, it was inevitable that a WVU woman would be chosen.
Harmon-Schamberger, who overcame many personal obstacles before entering college, says that she benefited from WVU?s commitment to encourage and challenge students with previously untapped potential.
She studied international relations and politics at St. Catherine?s College, Oxford, and received a law degree from the University of Virginia, where she was on the Virginia Law Review.
She currently practices law in Clay, West Virginia. Previously she served as West Virginia?s Secretary of Education and the Arts, appointed by Governor Gaston Caperton in 1993.