Valerie Barr professor and chair of Computer Science at Union College, Schenectady, NY. Before coming to Union, Barr was a tenured associate professor at Hofstra University. She holds an undergraduate degree in Applied Mathematics from Mount Holyoke College, a Masters in Computer Science from New York University, and a Ph.D. in Computer Science from Rutgers University.

Between receiving her Masters and Ph.D. degrees, Barr worked in industry on applications such as automated blood analyzers, automated storage and retrieval machines, and banking back office operations. Her current research is in the area of software testing, focusing on the development of verification and validation methods and tools for natural language processing systems.

Barr is also involved in curriculum development, chiefly the creation of interdisciplinary programs between CS and the humanities and social sciences, with a goal of changing the demographics of enrollments in computer science classes.