UWAA Outstanding Professor Guides Students to Future Success

For Barry Brewer, spending time with students is one of the best parts of his job. An associate professor of decision science in the UW College of Business, he received the UWAA Outstanding Faculty Award.

Adar Westling (B.A. ’14), graduating in May, is one of Brewer’s students in the energy management/MBA program. She nominated Brewer because of his commitment to student success. She appreciates how Brewer’s teaching methods involve real-world problems and business environments. He’s quick to help students with resumes, contacts or advice. “[Professor] Brewer truly cares about his students, and it shows with his willingness to go above and beyond to help them with their future,” Westling says.

Teaching at UW is Brewer’s second career. Previously, while in the U.S. Air Force, he served as a logistics officer. He went to Arizona State University for his doctoral degree so he could teach logistics management at the Air Force Institute of Technology. He later taught in the management department at the U.S. Air Force Academy. “By then I’d hit my 20-year point in the Air Force and was looking at options,” Brewer says. “I wanted to stay in the West, and the position at UW was a great fit.”

That was in 2011. Now, he teaches three supply chain management courses a year in the MBA program and the undergraduate capstone course.

In spite of the time demands of being a professor, Brewer’s priority is his students. “We have a university because we’re trying to grow great students and future professionals,” he says. “It’s a big day when a student’s eyes light up and they grasp concepts. It is an even bigger day when a student says they got a great job.”

Another of Brewer’s students is Cody Worthington (B.S. ’16). He is an MBA/energy management student, also graduating in May. “Brewer offers a lending hand and advice to all who seek it and is willing to go out of his way to give students the greatest opportunity to succeed,” Worthington says.

Brewer notes that it is a special honor to receive a student award. “It’s not about me but about serving and helping students. That’s what we’re here for.”