Eric James Barron (born October 26, 1951) is an American academic administrator who was the 18th president of the

Pennsylvania State University The Pennsylvania State University (Penn State or PSU) is a public state-related land-grant research university with campuses and facilities throughout Pennsylvania. Founded in 1855 as the Farmers' High School of Pennsylvania, Penn State becam ...

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 Founda ...

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, Indiana, West Lafayette, on the other side of the Wabash River, is home t ...

. 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 ...

in oceanography 1976 and a Ph.D. 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, ...

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

in the College of Earth and Mineral Sciences, becoming the dean until leaving Penn State in 2006, to become dean of the Jackson School of Geosciences 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, 11,075 ...

. 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) 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 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 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 Stat ...

. 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. Barron is a fellow of the

American Association for the Advancement of Science The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) is an American international non-profit organization with the stated goals of promoting cooperation among scientists, defending scientific freedom, encouraging scientific responsi ...

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 agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research. NASA was established in 1958, succeedi ...

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 umbrell ...

(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