Jeff Barker was raised in Mendota, Illinois. He wrote and produced his first play while in undergraduate school at Greenville College. He went on to earn a master's degree at Northern Illinois University and a master's degree in fine arts at the University of South Dakota. While in graduate school, he studied playwriting under Dr. S. Alan Chesler and Dr. Kenn Robbins. Since 1988, he and his wife, Karen, have held a joint professorship in acting and directing at Northwestern College, Orange City, Iowa, where he is also playwright-in-residence. He has more than 20 produced plays to his credit including The Final Approach of Flight 232, which won a national playwriting award in 1993. His play Unspoken for Time received a Meritorious Achievement Award from the Kennedy Center in 1995. BarkerÕs Easter drama, Cross Purposes, has been produced by churches and professional touring groups throughout the country. He and his wife have three children and make their home in Orange City, Iowa.
Jeff Barker was named Iowa Professor of the Year for 2006 by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching.
