Chef Adrian Barber has been with Johnson & Wales University since 1986, when he joined the faculty at the Providence Campus; he has been at the North Miami Campus since 2002.
Barber began his culinary career in 1968 as a young apprentice at The Ocean House Hotel in Watch Hill, RI. While learning the trade at the summer resort, he earned his culinary arts degree from the Culinary Institute of America in 1974. He was then able to return to the hotel in 1986 as executive chef. Prior industry experience also includes Chariho High School in Southern Rhode Island, The Hartford Sheraton Hotel in Harford, CT, the Swiss Chalet restaurant in Westerly, RI, The Sweet Meadows Inn in Narragansett, RI and Off-Shore Foodservice in Houma, La. Barber has studied Cajun and Creole cuisines with Chef John Folse in Louisiana and "catfish farming" with The Catfish Institute in Mississippi. He has taught courses in St. Martin, Jamaica and Singapore and has accompanied students on summer study abroad trips to Bangkok, Thailand and Singapore. Barber has won a number of awards including the "Medallion d'Honneur" from the societie des Amis d'Escoffier, JWU's The Harris Rosen Award, the "FAST" award for assisting in the production of the video "Cooking, It's Cool" in 1994 and The Robert M. Nograd Chair for "Teacher of the Year" in 2002.