Penn State Board to Announce Eric Barron as School’s 18th President

Eric J. Barron, Florida State University, FSU, President, is all set to begin his second chapter at Penn State. Barron, 62, will be officially introduced as Penn State's 18 president, Monday. He succeeds President Rodney Erickson, who plans to step down June.

FSU Board of Trustees Chairman Allan Bense said that there has been "no official communication from anyone about this. If it is true that Dr. Barron is leaving, it will be a great loss for Florida State University. But we would certainly wish him well in his new endeavor. He would be greatly missed," Orlando Sentinel reports.

Under Barron's guidance, FSU was ranked the most efficient university in the country by U.S. News and World Report released in December. The school's football team won the national championship last month.

Before being named president at FSU February 1, 2010, Barron served as the director of the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colo., and dean of the Jackson School of Geosciences at the University of Texas at Austin.

Barron held various positions during his first tenure at Penn State that spanned from 1986 to 2006 - professor of geosciences, director of the Earth System Science Center, director of the EMS Environment Institute, and dean of the College of Earth and Mineral Sciences.

Barron hopes to renew the school's lost reputation following a child abuse scandal involving former assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky. The scandal also resulted in the dismissal of the football team's long-time head coach, Joe Paterno, and harsh NCAA sanctions on the team.

"It's encouraging to see the selection of an individual with ties to Penn State and an obvious appreciation of the exceptional culture that has been a hallmark of our university for decades upon decades," said Maribeth Roman Schmidt, a spokeswoman for the Penn Staters for Responsible Stewardship.

"Given Dr. Barron's climatology background, perhaps there is no one better suited to take the temperature of the alumni and the greater Penn State community in an effort to promote truth, transparency, and, ultimately, healing," Philly reports.

Barron earned a bachelor's degree in geology from Florida State in 1973 and master's and doctoral degrees in oceanography from the University of Miami.