2000

Barrier named ECCC's 'Arts and Humanities Teacher of the Year ' By Austin Bishop The Meridian Star DECATUR- English pro– poems.

tion is an award-winning song– writer. His new ~ng, ''Singing and Rejoicing;" \\ill be record– ed soon by one of the top groups in Southern gospel music, The Crabb Family. Barrier, who has been an English instructor at ECCC for 12 years, will lecture during a special program Thursday at 7 p.m. at the Vickers Fine Arts Center on the ECCC campus. The topic of the lecture will be "Creativity from the Soul: Southern GQspel Music in the Making." He has written more than 400 songs and has also had other work published, such as articles, stories and

Barrier, of Philadelphia, is a 1974 graduate of ECCC. He teaches creative writing, English composition, American literature and developmental English. The former Neshoba Cen– tral teacher, who is also a graduate of that school, was named to the Hall of Fame at ECCC as a student and went on to graduate from Mississip– pi College. He also attended Mississippi State University and the Jackson College of Ministries. Austin B1shop is a staff writer for The Meridian Star E-mail him at

fessor and award-winning songwriter Leonard Barrier has been named East Central Community College's Arts and Humanities Teacher of the Year. He was selected as ECCC's Higher Education Apprecia– tion Day- Working Toward Academic Excellence Instruc– tor of the Year in 1995 and iit 1999. The former president of the Mississippi Community Col– lege Creative Writing Associa-

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