About
Barbara A. Copenhaver-Bailey, Ed.D.
Founder, Lead Consultant, and Joy Enthusiast
rhodygroup@gmail.com | Phone: 304-282-6629
Dr. Barbara A. Copenhaver-Bailey is the founder and lead consultant of Rhododendron Group LLC. With over 30 years of experience in education, Barbara has utilized the knowledge and skills she has acquired to develop consulting service for adults and youth. These include compliance/program review, grant writing & assistance, assessment and strategic planning, coaching and mentoring, and Policy & Procedure Handbook and Onboarding Handbook creation. She is also a trained facilitator for Real Colors®, a personality assessment instrument and workshop appropriate for youth and adults. She has been Principal or co-Principal Investigator on Student Support Services, Upward Bound, and McNair grants as well as numerous other successful grants.
Prior to founding her consulting business, Barbara worked at West Virginia University for over 25 years rising to the position of Assistant Vice President for Student Success. Most of these years were spent working with TRIO serving as SSS director for 12 years and then supervising SSS and UB as Assistant Vice President. Barbara also headed up the Student Life division-wide assessment efforts for 3-years, and she oversaw the Division of Student Life's contributions in two of WVU's re-affirmation processes.
Barbara has a Bachelor of Science degree in Secondary Social Studies Education. She received her Master of Science degree in Agricultural and Extension Education, and her Doctorate of Education in Curriculum and Instruction in May 2005; all from WVU. Her dissertation research was a longitudinal, comparison study on graduation rates of first-generation, low-income college students at WVU.
Barbara is originally from Follansbee, West Virginia, and currently lives in Morgantown, West Virginia, with her husband, Jeffery. They have two adult sons, Clay and Zeke. Barbara enjoys spending time with family, lazy days at the lake, traveling, and her volunteer 4-H work.