Anita Barbee received her Bachelor's degree in psychology and English from Agnes Scott College in Atlanta, Georgia in 1982 and her Ph.D. in 1988 from the University of Georgia in Social Psychology with an emphasis in Family Studies. In the Spring of 2001, she received an MSSW degree from the University of Louisville. Her field placement was on the Medically Fragile Team in the Department for Community Based Services, Jefferson County.

Dr. Barbee is currently the Director of a newly established National Resource Center on Child Welfare Training and Evaluation funded by the U.S., DHHS, Administration on Children and Families, Children's Bureau and is an Associate Research Professor at the Kent School of Social Work at the University of Louisville. There she is Principle Investigator on seven grants totaling 1.3 million dollars for the 2002-2003 year. Five of these are state contracts and two are federal grants. She also evaluates the Governor's Early Childhood Intervention Program: Kids Now that emphasizes quality child-care. She has spent the past 10 years evaluating child welfare training and outcomes for the Cabinet for Families and Children in Kentucky. She and her colleagues moved evaluation from participant reactions to knowledge and skill gains and then to transfer of learning in the field. She was on the team that developed the Field Training Specialist model that includes the use of behavioral anchors for reinforcement of important job skills and assessment of progress. The past 2 years, through a grant funded by the Children's Bureau, she has been working with Kentucky's Cabinet in the development and delivery of CPS Supervisory Training, particularly focused on the key work of engagement, assessment, case planning, and casework. She has also served as a consultant to several states helping them establish evaluation plans or helping in the development of evaluation tools. These states include Oklahoma, Virginia, Washington, D.C. and California.

Her research interests also include the formation and maintenance of close relationships, social support, women's health (particularly issues surrounding breast cancer, AIDS and domestic violence) and organizational development. She is a Fellow in the American Psychological Association, Division 9 (The Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues) and was the recipient of the Gerald Miller Early Career Award from the International Network on Personal Relationships in 1997. She has over 60 scholarly articles, chapters or reviews out or in press and has given over 100 presentations at professional conferences. She teaches Human Behavior in the Social Environment, and Human Sexuality for the Kent School as well.

She is active in the Louisville community as a trainer and strategic planning consultant. She is a graduate of the Leadership Louisville Class of 1998, was a Bingham Fellow in 1999 on Raising Healthy Kids and Developing a Productive Workforce and was in the 2002 Bingham Fellows class focusing on Imagining a Greater Louisville. She will be on the Board of the Leadership Louisville Foundation from 2002-2005. In 1998-1999 she was President of the Junior League of Louisville and is currently an advisor to a Junior League committee that is developing a middle school Dating Violence Prevention Project: Keeping Relationships Upbeat Safe and Healthy funded by the Community Foundation of Louisville. She has served on several committees with Metro United Way, including the Success by Six Operations Committee and is a board member of the Cabbage Patch Settlement House and the Urban Neighborhood Centers Alliance of Louisville (UNCAL).