Pennsylvania State University’s board named Eric J. Barron as its next president, replacing Graham Spanier, the former leader who was ousted after the football team became embroiled in a sex-abuse scandal.
Barron, the current president of Florida State University, will assume the post on May 12, Keith Masser, chairman of the board, said today during a meeting in State College, Pennsylvania.
The Presidential Trustee Selection Council selected Barron, and the full board voted today at the meeting. Spanier, who was fired in 2011 and faces criminal charges, had been succeeded by Rodney Erickson on an interim basis.
“An award-winning teacher, Dr. Barron has been an innovative leader in providing undergraduate students with superior curricular and extracurricular experiences,” said Brent Yarnal, a geography professor and chairman of the university’s faculty senate, who played a role in the selection process. “I worked for and with him for 20 years. I saw his talents and his devotion to Penn State.”
Jerry Sandusky, a former assistant football coach who served under late Penn State head coach Joe Paterno, was convicted in June 2012 on 45 counts related to sexually abusing boys. The school has undergone investigations, replaced top officials, and agreed to pay $59.7 million in settlements to 26 abuse victims.
Barron, who has been Florida State’s president since February 2010, spent two decades at Penn State starting in 1986 including positions as professor of geosciences, director of the Earth System Science Center, director of the EMS Environmental Institute and dean of the College of Earth and Mineral Sciences.
To contact the reporters on this story: John Lauerman in Boston at jlauerman@bloomberg.net; Sophia Pearson in federal court in Philadelphia at
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To contact the editor responsible for this story: Lisa Wolfson at lwolfson@bloomberg.net
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