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UCM Student Combines Fashion & Computer Science Into a Career Path
By Nicole Lyons, May 4, 2026
Fashion major Avery Barr will graduate with her bachelor’s degree during Spring 2026 Commencement.
Countdown to Commencement
The University of Central Missouri offers a community of support, allowing students to redefine what’s possible as they forge a path to their future. With help from faculty and staff, UCM students are empowered to be the heroes of their own stories and as we prepare for Spring 2026 Commencement, the News Bureau is shining a spotlight on some of those stories.
Avery Barr, a Fashion major and Computer Information Systems (CIS) minor from Savannah, Missouri, came to the University of Central Missouri (UCM) with a passion for fashion. Now she’s graduating with the knowledge, skills and experience needed to turn that passion into a career.
“I've always been such an artistic person,” Barr said. “Creativity is my best quality, I think I would say. I just love that you're able to express yourself through clothing every single day. People, just from a glance, get to see who you are. And there's just so much innovation and technology that goes into fashion, and it's always growing, and everyone needs fashion.”
Through her Fashion and CIS classes, Barr gained experience building websites, analyzing code to learn about consumer behavior data and using design software. She also sketched designs and built 3D models using virtual reality goggles and CLO. This 3D fashion design software allowed Barr to visualize how the fabric would look and move in her designs before ever sewing a stitch.
“When I tell people that I'm a Fashion major and I also have a minor in Computer Information Systems, people don't understand why. How does that correlate? But actually, there's a lot of correlation,” Barr explained. “The fashion industry is in every single thing you think of, and coding and web development are a huge part of fashion as well. I have found love for both sides of it, and I knew that I should minor in this because I could use it for my career.”
Barr is a four-year member of the Fashion Council and the Fashion Business Association, where she also serves as vice president. She’s had the opportunity to volunteer at Kansas City Fashion Week and help the Missouri Special Olympics set up a fashion show, but she said the best thing to happen to her in college was her student worker position as a fashion assistant.
“It has shown me so many things that I wouldn't have learned otherwise,” she said. “I help run the Fashion program’s microbusiness, the Fashion Shop, from buying products, making designs, making the actual product, seeing all the past sales data.”
Barr loves designing, and even considered being a Graphic Design major before focusing on fashion. She created multiple designs for the Fashion Shop and designed a T-shirt, hat and polo for the UCM Alumni Foundation’s relaunch of the Legacy program.
“It's so cool to have this idea, and then you make it in real life, and you just see people wanting your product, wanting your design, and then you see them wearing it,” Barr said. “When I'm walking on campus, I see so many people, and I'm like, I made that shirt, and it's just really cool to see.”
Her talent has even been recognized on the international stage. Barr created a dress using more than 40,000 aluminum pop tabs for her sustainable fashion course and the annual Recycle, Restyle, Revamp Earth Day Fashion Show. With encouragement from Melissa Abner, Ph.D., associate professor and program coordinator for the Fashion Merchandising program, Barr submitted the dress to the International Textiles Apparel Association’s (ITAA) showcase. It was among the 38% of submissions selected last fall.
“That was such a cool experience to just learn from and see these industry professionals
from literally California to Korea to India,” Barr recalled. “Everyone was there,
asking me questions about how I did it. Someone even asked me if I was selling any.”
Abner said Barr really found herself while at UCM. She now expresses herself more,
presents her work at conferences and talks to potential students with Abner.
“She has a really unique sense of style that she shows more and she speaks up and shares her ideas freely,” Abner continued. “She’s created multiple designs for our Fashion Shop that we sell on T-shirts, she got to present designs for the Alumni legacy collection at the Board of Governors meeting in August, and I think you can see her journey of getting more confident in herself as her creativity was validated. Even Avery‘s clothing, design and style have evolved over time and become a lot more representative of her unique quirky style.”
Barr’s senior collection, “Golden Child,” tells the story of her childhood to where she is today using symbolism and the colors gold, red and black.
“Gold has the meaning of the golden child, which is essentially like perfect and perfectionism,
and slowly throughout the four looks I have, the gold gets less,” Barr said. “And
by the final look, the gold is eventually dripping off, showing that I am growing
and I'm accepting that I don't have to be perfect all the time and that's actually
what makes me human and what's good about learning. You can learn from your mistakes
and that's OK.”
Abner said “Golden Child” was not only a well-made collection with unique structural
elements, but also had a deep, meaningful story.
“It was truly a form of art to express feelings and was very artistic,” Abner said.
Barr started her college career unsure about where she wanted to end up, but found
a love for product development through her classes. After graduation, Barr plans to
work in product development for clothing or shoes and is open to opportunities across
the country.
“Thinking back to freshman me, I am a completely different person,” Barr said. “I have a lot more knowledge, but also just confidence in myself. I know that no matter where I go, I can do it. I can do the job, and I can do it well. I've met so many people that I'm like, I could talk to anyone and end up anywhere. Since freshman Avery, I have just grown so much and I'm much more outgoing and comfortable with myself.”
