From local communities to the state capital, Deidre Anderson-Barbee has dedicated her career to improving early childhood education
When Deidre Anderson-Barbee (MPA '00) moved to Kansas City, she was a single mother looking for a graduate program with the tools to make a greater impact. Nearly three decades later, that journey has earned her recognition from the Network of Schools of Public Policy, Affairs and Administration, also known as NASPAA, as one of two recipients of its global Alumni Spotlight Award.
Anderson-Barbee has spent her career working at every level of the early childhood system, from serving children and families directly to leading nonprofit organizations and shaping statewide policy.
Whether in classrooms, communities or government, she has remained guided by the same belief: meaningful change begins with the people a system is designed to serve.
"I bring my whole self into everything that I do," Anderson-Barbee said. "When you're in community and you are proximate to the work, what you're doing for the system actually works. But when you build a system without the end users in mind, it's just a system."
Originally from Iowa, Anderson-Barbee moved to Kansas City in 1997 and enrolled in the UMKC Master of Public Administration program with an emphasis in urban policy and management at the Henry W. Bloch School of Management.
As a single mother working in child welfare, she sought a graduate program that reflected the work she envisioned for herself: strengthening communities through nonprofit leadership and public service rather than pursuing elected office.
"Getting my master's was having the credential to do the higher-level work," she said. "But I never wanted to be removed from where it all started."
For Anderson-Barbee, the MPA program at UMKC shaped her approach to leadership by emphasizing collaboration.
"The content you get in an MPA degree is relevant to anyone," Anderson-Barbee said. "The MPA program teaches you to collaborate because not everybody's looking for the same career path, not everybody's coming from the same background.”
She also credits faculty members David Renz and former Kansas City Mayor Mark Funkhouser with bringing real-world experience into the classroom.
"The professors who meant the most to me were the ones who could bring their real-life experience to the classroom," she said. "They were able to make it personally relevant for me as a student."
After graduating, Anderson-Barbee built a career centered on improving outcomes for children and families. She spent more than a decade leading EarlystART, a Kansas City nonprofit providing early childhood education services.
During her tenure as chief executive officer, the organization expanded from one early learning center serving approximately 120 children to three centers serving more than 300 while increasing access to high-quality early education through community partnerships and scholarships.
As the organization grew, Anderson-Barbee recognized another challenge facing early childhood education: developing and retaining the workforce needed to meet families' needs.
She founded Starting Early, an organization dedicated to attracting, training and supporting the next generation of early childhood educators while bringing together providers, businesses and policymakers to address systemic challenges.
Her leadership eventually led to statewide service as assistant commissioner of Missouri's Office of Childhood within the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, where she helped oversee efforts to expand access to high-quality early childhood programs across Missouri.
Even in a statewide leadership role, Anderson-Barbee believed the best policy begins in local communities.
"You can't just make decisions from behind a desk," she said. "You need to be out where families are."
Today, Anderson-Barbee continues serving children and families as director of student and family support services at Scuola Vita Nuova Charter School while remaining closely connected to UMKC. She serves on the Bloch School’s Public Affairs Advisory Council, giving input to both the Master of Business Administration and MPA programs.
“One of the greatest joys of leading the Bloch School's MPA program is seeing graduates whose impact reaches far beyond their job titles,” said Susan Opp, Ph.D., Victor E. and Caroline E. Schutte Professor. “Deidre is one of those leaders. She has spent her career bringing people together, tackling difficult public challenges and building stronger systems for children and families across Missouri. Just as important, she has remained deeply connected to UMKC, generously sharing her experience with our students and helping shape the future of the program that helped launch her own career. There is no better example for our students of the difference a UMKC MPA graduate can make.”
For students considering a career in public service, Anderson-Barbee encourages them to think beyond a job title and focus on the impact they hope to make.
"There couldn't be a more important time in our nation to have public servants and leaders," she said. "I think it's the human side of business. What kind of person do you want to be in business? If you're trying to figure that out, the MPA is a program that can help you figure out who you are and how you fit in whatever ecosystem you want to work in."
Jul 06, 2026
Determination and three phone calls changed Sherri Wattenbarger’s life; now she pays it forward
When Sherri Wattenbarger (B.A. ’91, J.D. ’93) was 6 years old, her father taught her the value of asking for help when you need it. Now, she’s in a position to be the one who answers when someone asks for help. Wattenbarger and husband Brian Beins have created an estate gift of $575,000 to benefit first-generation law students and Athletics.
“We are always excited to celebrate law alumni who choose to invest in the future of their law school, but because Sherri also benefited from her time as a student athlete, we are grateful her unique student experiences led her to expand her legacy at UMKC,” said Marie Dispenza, senior director of development at the UMKC School of Law and executive director of the UMKC Law Foundation.
Since the age of 11, Wattenbarger knew she wanted to go to Harvard University. For a first-generation student from St. Joseph, it was a daunting goal. With high grades and extracurriculars, she achieved her goal and made it to Harvard. But when she got there, she quickly realized it wasn’t the right fit. Wattenbarger was far from home and her support network, and she was struggling to navigate the university system and financial demands. Significant stress and unhappiness made leaving Harvard the right choice for her.
When Wattenbarger returned to St. Joseph, she thought carefully about her next steps. She knew she needed to attend a university that had more support for first-generation students and made financial sense. She wanted to major in political science and attend law school to become a public servant, which wouldn’t be possible with significant student debt. She also wanted to stay closer to her family and support system.
Wattenbarger toured UMKC and was impressed by the small class sizes and supportive professors. That summer, she made the first of three phone calls to UMKC that would set her on the path right for her.
“I called the admissions office at UMKC and told them my story,” Wattenbarger said. “They sent me to the dean of admissions, and when she called me back, she had a full scholarship for four years of tuition for me. It was just amazing. I had no money for college. I don’t know how long it would have taken me to get through school if I had to work full-time and pay for it on my own.”
Wattenbarger lived at home and commuted to UMKC. During her sophomore year, she was reading the school newspaper and came across the collegiate cross-country results. An avid runner, she realized she could compete with those times. Wattenbarger made her second phone call to UMKC.
“I told the cross-country coach I could run faster than his fastest runner,” Wattenbarger recalled. “He said he could get me some scholarship money if I tried out for the team, so I did. I became No. 1 on the team and ran during my last two years of undergraduate school and my first year of law school.”
Wattenbarger took advantage of UMKC School of Law’s 3+3 program to begin law school after just three years of undergraduate coursework, with law school credits counting toward her remaining undergraduate requirements. While that saved her a full year of tuition, it provided an additional challenge – the law school thought she was applying for admission for a year later. Wattenbarger made her third phone call to UMKC.
“I had been admitted to the law school but hadn’t received any word on scholarships,” Wattenbarger said. “It was July and I realized that I couldn’t afford to go to school at all if I didn’t get a scholarship. So I called up the law school and told them what was going on. Once they realized I intended to go to school that fall, they gave me a full-ride scholarship for tuition and books.”
That scholarship allowed Wattenbarger to graduate from law school with minimal debt and begin her career as a public servant. Looking back, Wattenbarger wasn’t sure the debt that came with a Harvard education would have allowed her to pursue work as a public servant.
“Sherri’s story exemplifies UMKC Law’s mission,” said Lumen Mulligan, dean of the UMKC School of Law. “We provide a world-class legal education that is authentically accessible. We continue to pursue this mission today only with the generous support of alumni like Sherri, for which we are deeply appreciative.”
With help from her UMKC connections, she received a job clerking for Judge Pasco Bowman II, 8th Circuit Court of Appeals and a former dean at the UMKC School of Law. Judge Bowman learned of her desire to work for the U.S. Justice Department and recommended her for their Attorney General’s Honors Program, a recruitment program for entry-level federal attorneys. Wattenbarger was one of more than 2,000 applicants who applied and was one of 13 to be hired.
Wattenbarger worked for the U.S. Justice Department under Janet Reno, the first woman to become Attorney General. The first several years of her career were spent in Washington, D.C., but eventually she decided to move back to Kansas City. She wanted to stay with the Justice Department, so in 1997 she interviewed for a position with the U.S. Trustee Program in Kansas City. Wattenbarger spent the rest of her career there, enforcing bankruptcy laws.
“When I moved back to Kansas City, I knew I was home,” Wattenbarger said. “This is where I wanted to stay and build my life. I decided to get involved in some organizations around town. I taught bankruptcy law at UMKC School of Law as an adjunct professor for three years.”
Despite her college journey taking unanticipated turns, Wattenbarger achieved many of the things in her career she set out to do. She attributes much of that to her resilience, hard work and willingness to ask for help. The help she received from UMKC is a large part of what influenced Wattenbarger and Beins to make their own estate gift.
“I don’t know how long it would have taken me to get through school without scholarships, and I don’t have a record of who gave to any of the scholarships I received from UMKC,” Wattenbarger said. “I wish I could thank them and tell them that I graduated top of my class. I went on to be a public servant. I’ve been very involved in the community and UMKC. They did that for me. There are a lot of kids out there like me who just need a little help, just a tiny boost. And if you give them that boost, there’s no limit on what they can do. Someone gave me that boost, and I want to pay it forward.”
Jul 01, 2026