Assistant Ethnographer

M.S., Cultural & Environmental Resource Management, Central Washington University, 2018
B.A., History, Central Washington University, 2013

Barbara completed her M.S. in Cultural & Environmental Resource Management in 2018 from Central Washington University (CWU). At CWU she served as the Public Programs Manager for the Museum of Culture & Environment (MCE) and organized educational and creative events as well as the annual 5k/10k fun and earth day festival. Working with museum staff, she curated a small section on her experience as a Korean adoptee to add to The Things We Carry exhibit at the MCE that expanded upon her thesis, Embodying the Hyphen: An Ethnography on Korean Adoptees.

Barbara received her B.A. in History and a minor in Museum Studies in 2013 from CWU. During that time, she interned at the MCE focusing on collections management and exhibition design.  As an undergraduate, she began building a historic timeline on Korean adoption in the United States that would serve as a jumping off point for her master’s thesis.

In 2023, she started working at Willamette CRA as a Field Technician performing shovel probes, data recovery, construction monitoring, and pedestrian surveys. Barbara began work as a research assistant for the ethnography program of WCRA in April 2026. Before working at WCRA, she worked for Washington State Parks at Gingko Petrified Forest Interpretive Center, Hyak SnoPark, and Manchester State Park.

While she is not working, Barbara is busy taking care of her two young children and seeking out quality time with her spouse. She enjoys gardening, reading, hiking, learning about insects, anything miniature, and cats.