Blue White Illustrated

NEWS & NOTES Like so many people with Penn State ties, Eric Barron watched with deep sadness as the Sandusky scandal ravaged the university. Bar- ron, who had served as dean of Penn State's College of Earth and Mineral Sciences from 2002 to '06, was nearly two years into his tenure as president of Florida State when a se- ries of criminal indictments plunged his for- mer university into turmoil. Through it all, though, Barron never lost his affection for Penn State, nor did he lose faith in its capacity to recover from the scandal. And, as it turns out, he will have a very important hand in how it moves forward. On Feb. 17, Bar- ron was named Penn State's 18th president, bringing an end to a protracted search for Rod- ney Erickson's successor. Barron will take of- fice on or before May 12, well in advance of Er- ickson's retirement in June. To judge by his demeanor on the day of his appointment, Barron is eager to build on the progress the university has made in the wake of the scandal – progress that includes an array of policy changes that last fall prompted the NCAA to substantially reduce the penalties it levied against the football program in 2012. "If Penn State touches you during your life, then you love this university," Barron said. "You don't really have a choice, and so of course those events were incredibly painful and saddening to all those people who love Penn State University. But what I see is an in- stitution that has really taken control of com- pliance and is no doubt now a model university President-elect hails Penn State's resilience A D M I N I S T R A T I O N THE BARRON FILE BORN Oct. 26, 1951 HOMETOWN Lafayette, Ind. EDUCATION Received bachelor's degree in geology from Florida State in 1973; did graduate work at the University of Miami, receiving mas- ter's degree in oceanography in 1976 and Ph.D. in 1980 CAREER HIGHLIGHTS Was a member of Penn State's faculty from 1986-2006, serving as dean of the College of Earth and Mineral Sciences during his final five years in Universi- ty Park... served as dean of the Jack- son School of Geosciences at the University of Texas before leaving in 2008 to become director of the Na- tional Center for Atmospheric Re- search; named president of Florida State on Dec. 8, 2009; will step down as FSU's president on April 2 and will take over at Penn State in May PERSONAL Barron and wife Molly have two grown children, Emily and James Patrick Mansell

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