Barrack named top Faculty Member

Trinidad State Junior College selected David Barrack as Trinidad Campus Faculty Member of the Year

Faculty members of Trinidad State Junior College have selected David Barrack as the 2012 Faculty of the Year for the Trinidad campus.

Barrack attended Trinidad State Junior College, receiving an associate of arts in business in 1974. He transferred to Colorado State University (CSU) in Fort Collins where he received a bachelor of science in Business Administration and Office Management and a master’s degree in Business Administration in 1978.

After college, Barrack worked in Fort Collins and Denver for several years. He has been a self-employed businessman in Trinidad for 30 years, as the owner of a self-service car wash, owner/manager/appraiser of a real estate company, and as a computer network/software/IT consultant for newspapers. He is a self-taught computer geek specializing in design software and print pre-press.

Barrack started teaching a variety of graphic design courses for TSJC in August 2006. The next year he began teaching economics classes as well, becoming a full-time faculty member. In addition, he is responsible for the page layout for the college catalog and the class schedules for both of TSJC’s campuses.

His co-workers describe Barrack as energetic, inquisitive, hard-working, knowledgeable, and good-humored. Barrack enjoys the students and the opportunities he gains from working at TSJC. “I enjoy teaching so much it’s like not working,” he said.

On a recent visit to TSJC’s Boyd Technology Building where he was teaching a graphic design class, students were earnestly at work at Mac computers equipped with the most recent design software.

Barrack spoke to the class, clearly breaking down complicated instructions into understandable steps, pausing frequently to ask if anyone had questions. He walked quietly from student to student, making sure that everyone was following along, clearing up any questions as he went. It was obvious that Barrack is one of those natural born teachers with a gift of communicating.

Barrack is frequently seen meeting with students one-on-one in the back of the classroom, or in the hallways of the Berg Building where he teaches his Econ classes, taking the time to answer a question, clarify a point, or arrange for a make-up quiz.

He is one of those memorable ‘profs,’ young at heart, and kind of a jokester. The students like him and respect him. They say he’s smart, always prepared, and that he makes learning interesting. He’s that teacher who makes you think, and he takes pride in being considered ‘tough.’ “I am responsible for preparing my students for a four-year school and the working world and I expect them to do their work knowing the difference between being mediocre and exceptional,” he said.

Barrack is no doubt projecting some of the values of his catholic school education, and a strong work ethic from his parents. He attended Mt. Carmel School from K-8 and graduated from Trinidad Catholic High School. He started working at age 13 for his father’s automobile dealership.

Another element of Barrack’s innate ability to interest his students is that he teaches classes for which he has a passion and a long-time personal interest.

Barrack is frequently seen around campus taking photos, and he is also teaching photography this year. His said that his parents gave him his first camera, a Kodak Brownie, when he was 7-years old, and that he bought his first 35mm when he was 16, which he used primarily for journalism and sports reporting in high school. He says that photography is still his main hobby today. He enjoys nothing better than getting away to the mountains to photograph landscapes, plants and wildlife, sunrises and sunsets.

Barrack said that he was greatly influenced by one of his high school teachers, Joe Tarabino, from whom he learned much of what he knows about photography. Now it is Barrack’s turn to be the teacher influencing the next generation.