Penn State President Eric Barron announced plans to retire next year. Here’s what happens next
Penn State President Eric Barron announced Friday that he intends to retire once his current contract ends in June 2022, with a phased approach to find his replacement set to begin this spring.
Barron started his Penn State tenure in 2014 as the university’s 18th president, guiding it through the post-Jerry Sandusky era. He made his retirement plans public during Friday’s board of trustees meeting.
“It has been my greatest professional honor to serve as president of Penn State and to be able to collaborate with and learn from our amazing faculty, staff and students every day,” Barron said. “Together, we have elevated Penn State as a leader in higher education poised to meet the future and to attract the best and brightest students.”
According to board of trustees chairman Matt Schuyler, Barron’s replacement will be found using a “phased approach.” The first step will occur this spring with a “Next Gen Penn State” listening phase, where students, faculty, donors and the like will simply share the qualities and qualifications they’re looking for in the next university president.
In the short term, details will be released early next month on the composition of the board of trustees’ Presidential Recruitment and Selection Committee, which will be co-chaired by trustees Mark Dambly and Julie Anna Potts.
The selection committee’s search will then start in the early summer.
“We are a large and complex university, and it’s critical that our selection process is informed by the entirety of our Penn State family,” Schuyler added. “Together, their voices will be an important part of the overall process.”
Barron served as a Penn State faculty member from 1986 to 2006 in the College of Earth and Mineral Sciences. He rose to become the Florida State president from 2010 to 2014 and then returned to Happy Valley in 2014, replacing interim president Rodney Erickson.
He mapped out six presidential imperatives at the start of his tenure, including excellence, access and affordability, economic development and student career success, student engagement, diversity and demographics, and technology and curriculum delivery.
The university noted Barron was responsible for continued enrollment demand (and a top online program), strong bond ratings, a research enterprise at $1 billion, record fundraising and a strong performance in the face of the pandemic.
Barron also emphasized he would continue to strive for a better Penn State despite his presidency set to end in June 2022.
“In the next 16 months, even as we continue to weather the challenges of the pandemic as a community, we cannot pause in our efforts to provide the highest quality education, contribute knowledge to society, and support Pennsylvania communities, the nation and world,” he added.
