Julie Barker is the Chief of Staff to the Provost at Duke University. Julie also serves as Secretary of the DKU Board of Trustees.

Julie’s career in higher education has spanned three decades and includes extensive international experience. She joined Duke in 2015 serving as executive director of the Duke Office of Duke Kunshan University Relations, providing strategic leadership and oversight of the administration and operations of the collaboration between Duke and DKU. She also served as chief of staff to the DKU Executive Vice Chancellor from 2021-2023. Prior to joining Duke, she served as chief operating officer at Texas A&M University’s branch campus in Qatar, where she oversaw campus operations and administration. In this position, she was responsible for finance, budget and reporting, human resources, facilities and health, safety, security and environment (HSSE), information technology, marketing and communication, events and visitor relations. Previously, she was assistant vice president and chief of staff in the Division of Research at Texas A&M’s main campus in the United States. She oversaw administrative activities, communications, information technology, and a variety of special projects. Julie also coordinated all international activities for the division with a focus on Asia, Latin America and Qatar. She played a principal role in organizing a major biennial conference series between 2002 and 2009 focused on US-China relations for the George H. W. Bush Presidential Library Foundation.

Julie received a Bachelor of Science degree from Texas A&M and an Executive MBA from HEC-Paris in Qatar.