It's no myth that Mizzou students love Michael Barnes

by Paige Childs, posted Dec. 12, 2011

Michael Heath Barnes is much more than just a mythology professor at the University of Missouri. Barnes is a reader, traveler, rugby fan, husband and a student favorite.

"It's my favorite class to go to," said student, Joe Crocker in reference to Mythology 1000. "He's fun to listen to.

"He's such a cool guy, he even came to talk at our FIG (Freshman Interest Group) class a couple weeks back" Crocker said. "Best day of my life!"

While studying to become a professor, Barnes knew teaching would be part of the job, but he was mainly interested in the reading, writing and research. However, after teaching for a while in graduate school he knew, he had a genuine love for it.

"It takes a lot of work and a lot of preparation to do it effectively," Barnes said about teaching.

After graduating from a large high school in the Houston area, Barnes looked at colleges all over the country, almost deciding on Washington University. He then looked into the University of Houston's Honors College.

"It just seemed like a good fit," he said.

Barnes spent five years at the University of Houston, then took a year off before coming to the University of Missouri for graduate school in 1995.

"I chose Mizzou because: A) the program was strong overall, and B) You choose where you go for graduate school based on the research being done there," Barnes said. "Generally you try to look for someone's work you like and who you'd like to work with. I came to work with a faculty member who is now one of my colleagues, John Miles Fulley."

Fulley writes and edits books on oral traditions and Homer in the department of classical studies. Barnes worked at the oral traditions center for most of his graduate schooling. Professor Fulley also taught him how to edit journals, which is another thing that Barnes now does at the University of Missouri.

Barnes taught at another college for a year, then Mizzou offered him a job as a professor, and he returned to teach alongside those who once taught him.

Barnes has a wide variety of interests, one of which is watching rugby. He once traveled to New Zealand for a conference and ended up watching a few matches of the sport. All it took was a few matches and he was hooked. He is now an 'All Blacks' rugby fan, which is a team from New Zealand. Barnes said he needed something different to watch, something new, and rugby came along just in time.

"It's the perfect combination of what's good about American football and what's good about soccer," he said.

In addition to traveling, Barnes finds inspiration and enjoyment in books.

"I love to read, it's been a passion that has been passed through my childhood," he said.

Pinning down just one favorite book was difficult. He picked out a favorite book for each language he reads, which includes English, Greek and Latin. In English, he enjoys a 20-novel historical series by Patrick O'Brian called the Aubrey-Maturin series.

"They are quite possibly the best thing I've ever read," he said.

Homer is another favorite author.

Among the many things that have happened in Barnes' classes over the years, he can easily recall one of his many favorite moments.

"My class was closed for the semester and a kid stood up in front of the class and asked if anyone would give up their seat," Barnes said. "He would pay them $100, buy their lunch, and buy their book. Someone took him up on the offer and they went to a computer terminal and one kid dropped the class and the other added it. You never know what you'll see in class."

When asked if he could switch places with anyone in the world for a week to see what their lives were like, Barnes stated he would rather observe them closely rather than actually be them for a week. He also answered a question asked by one of his students in this year's Mythology 1000 class: which Greek god would you be and why?

"My realistic answer would be none of them, because the idea of living forever is terrifying," Michael said, laughing. "I find Dionysus the most interesting for scholarly reasons. The mythology and worship of Dionysus is quite unusual, and exceptionally different."

Michael Barnes is admired by many of his students and coworkers.

Students from years past even remember the professor.

"He's the greatest," said one of his former students, Jamie Sheirer. "He's my favorite professor."

Barnes' passion for life, literature and mythology comes through in his teaching making him a perennial favorite on the MU campus.

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