Barr has taught poetry workshops since 1984.  She is Associate Professor at Rhodes College, where she directed the Creative Writing Program for over a decade.  Her students have gone on to publish books and to graduate schools such as Johns Hopkins, Columbia University, University of Alabama and elsewhere.  She has had over 150 adult students outside the university setting, in tutorials and workshops; she has taught high school and elementary school workshops.

Readings at Sarah Lawrence College, Bucknell University, Rutgers University, University of Memphis, University of North Alabama, Mississippi State University, Philadelphia College of Art, Christian Brothers University (Memphis), Methodist College (Fayetteville, NC), California State University at Chico, Bucks County Community College (PA), Muhlenberg College (PA), Philadelphia Museum of Art, Walt Whitman Cultural Arts Center (Camden, PA), New York Public Library (127 Amsterdam Avenue), Mid-Manhattan Library (455 Fifth Avenue), Nashville Public Library (615 Church Street), Blue Moon Jazz Club (Philadelphia, PA) and many other libraries, bookstores, Radio and Television Stations, including Drexel University Television (Philadelphia) and KXCI Radio Station in Tucson, AZ.

Fellowships in Literature from the: National Endowment for the Arts (1989); Pennsylvania Council on the Arts (1984); Tennessee Arts Commission (2004); John Atherton Tuition Scholar at Bread Loaf Writers Conference (1993); Pushcart Prize Nominations (1999, 1998, 1997); Distinguished Teaching Award, Temple University (1988), Clarence Day Award for Outstanding Teaching (2006).