Eric James Barron (born October 26, 1951) is an American academic administrator who was the 18th president of the Pennsylvania State University from 2014 until 2022. Previously, he was the 14th president of Florida State University and director of the

National Center for Atmospheric Research The US National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR ) is a US federally funded research and development center (FFRDC) managed by the nonprofit University Corporation for Atmospheric Research (UCAR) and funded by the National Science Foundatio ...

in Boulder, Colorado.

Early life and education

Barron was born on October 26, 1951, in

Lafayette, Indiana Lafayette ( , ) is a city in and the county seat of Tippecanoe County, Indiana, United States, located northwest of Indianapolis and southeast of Chicago. West Lafayette, on the other side of the Wabash River, is home to Purdue University, whi ...

. He graduated with a

Bachelor of Science A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University o ...

in geology from Florida State University in 1972 and a

Master of Science A Master of Science ( la, Magisterii Scientiae; abbreviated MS, M.S., MSc, M.Sc., SM, S.M., ScM or Sc.M.) is a master's degree in the field of science awarded by universities in many countries or a person holding such a degree. In contrast t ...

in oceanography 1976 and a

Ph.D. A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is ...

in 1980, both from the

University of Miami The University of Miami (UM, UMiami, Miami, U of M, and The U) is a private research university in Coral Gables, Florida. , the university enrolled 19,096 students in 12 colleges and schools across nearly 350 academic majors and programs, i ...

Career

From 1980 to 1985, Barron was employed by the

(NCAR) in Boulder, Colorado, as a post-doctoral research fellow and scientist. He subsequently was an associate professor at the University of Miami from 1985 to 1986. Beginning in 1986, Barron was a faculty member at the Pennsylvania State University in the College of Earth and Mineral Sciences, becoming the

dean Dean may refer to: People * Dean (given name) * Dean (surname), a surname of Anglo-Saxon English origin * Dean (South Korean singer), a stage name for singer Kwon Hyuk * Dean Delannoit, a Belgian singer most known by the mononym Dean Titles * ...

until leaving Penn State in 2006, to become dean of the

Jackson School of Geosciences The Jackson School of Geosciences at The University of Texas at Austin unites the Department of Geological Sciences with two research units, the Institute for Geophysics and the Bureau of Economic Geology. The Jackson School is both old and new. ...

at the

University of Texas at Austin The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 1883 and is the oldest institution in the University of Texas System. With 40,916 undergraduate students, 11,07 ...

. There, he held the Jackson chair in earth system science. In 2008, Barron left the University of Texas to become director of the National Center for Atmospheric Sciences (

NCAR The US National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR ) is a US federally funded research and development center (FFRDC) managed by the nonprofit University Corporation for Atmospheric Research (UCAR) and funded by the National Science Foundatio ...

) from 2008 to 2010, until being named president of Florida State University in December 2009. Barron was the 14th president of FSU from February 1, 2010, until stepping down on April 2, 2014, after being named the president-elect of the Pennsylvania State University in February 2014. Following the departure of

Rodney Erickson Rodney Allen Erickson (born 1946) is an American academic administrator who served as the 17th president of Pennsylvania State University from 2011 to 2014. Formerly executive vice president and provost (chief academic officer), he was named int ...

on May 12, 2014, Barron became the 18th president of Penn State. During his term as Penn State's president, he resided in Schreyer House, the official president's residence of the university. In February 2021, Barron indicated to the

Penn State Board of Trustees The Penn State Board of Trustees is the 38-member governing body for The Pennsylvania State University. Its members include the university's president, the Governor of the Commonwealth, and the state Secretaries of Agriculture, Conservation and Na ...

his intent to retire at the end of his contract, in June 2022. Barron's tenure ended in May 2022, when he was succeeded by

Neeli Bendapudi Neeli Bendapudi is an American academic administrator who is the 19th president of the Pennsylvania State University. From 2018 until 2021, she served as the 18th president of the University of Louisville. In December 2021, the Pennsylvania Sta ...

. During his presidency, one of Barron's focuses was attempting to transform the Greek life system at Penn State following the

death of Tim Piazza Timothy John Piazza (September 25, 1997 February 4, 2017) died as the result of hazing at the Beta Theta Pi fraternity at Pennsylvania State University at University Park, Pennsylvania. The incident led to closure of the fraternity's chapt ...

. Barron is a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and has been chair of numerous

National Science Foundation The National Science Foundation (NSF) is an independent agency of the United States government that supports fundamental research and education in all the non-medical fields of science and engineering. Its medical counterpart is the National ...

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil List of government space agencies, space program ...

and

United States National Research Council The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (also known as NASEM or the National Academies) are the collective scientific national academy of the United States. The name is used interchangeably in two senses: (1) as an umbrel ...

(NRC) committees and panels, including the NRC climate research committee, the NRC board on atmospheric sciences and climate and NASA's earth observing system science executive committee.

References

External links

Eric Barron interviewed on ''Conversations from Penn State''
''YouTube'' * {{DEFAULTSORT:Barron, Eric J. 1951 births Living people Florida State University alumni Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science alumni University of Texas faculty Florida State University faculty Presidents of Florida State University People from Lafayette, Indiana Pennsylvania State University faculty Presidents of Pennsylvania State University