Barbara Frey is director of the Human Rights Program in the College of Liberal Arts at the University of Minnesota. Frey has headed the program since it was established in 2001 for the purpose of providing academic, research, and outreach opportunities for students in the field of international human rights. Frey teaches undergraduates, graduate students, and law students at the University.

Frey speaks and publishes regularly on human rights topics including forms of international human rights advocacy, migration and human rights, and firearms and human rights. She is the recipient of a 2012–13 Fulbright-García Robles grant to teach and research in Mexico. Frey is the co-principal investigator of a Human Rights Law School Partnership Program with four law schools in the region of Antioquia, Colombia, funded by the Higher Education Development Program of USAID, 2012–15.