Football
- Title:
- Learning Specialist
- Email:
- Blake.Barnes@mail.wvu.edu
- Phone:
- (304) 293-4213
Blake Barnes joined the student-athlete development unit in January 2020, working with the football program. He started as an assistant learning specialist before being promoted to his current role as learning specialist in July 2021.
Barnes works primarily with student-athletes who have a documented learning disability. He provides one-on-one learning support to help ensure their success in the classroom. He also helps the student-athletes improve their reading comprehension and develop their writing skills.
Barnes coordinates all individual psycho-educational testing for freshmen and transfer student-athletes, and then develops a plan specific to their academic needs. In addition, he monitors and documents the academic progress of the student-athletes and assists with course scheduling. Barnes also serves as the staff liaison with the office of accessibility services on campus, where he ensures the student-athletes have the proper assistance and accommodations necessary to be successful.
In his former role, he was responsible for providing academic support for student-athletes, teaching and working with them to enhance their study skills, note taking, time management and test-taking strategies.
Barnes came to West Virginia after serving as a learning specialist intern at Minnesota (July-December 2019). He managed student-athletes from multiple varsity sports, monitored their academic coursework, grades and weekly progress and then communicated the results to their academic counselors.
Prior to that, he worked at the University of Colorado Colorado Springs Athletics Department, first as a compliance intern (2017-18), before serving as a compliance and academic graduate assistant (2018-19).
Barnes, a member of the National Association of Academic and Student-Athlete Development Professionals, earned his bachelor’s degree from the University of Colorado Colorado Springs in business with a dual emphasis in business administration and finance in 2017, and his master’s degree in leadership, also from the University of Colorado Colorado Springs in 2019.
