Penn State

To lead a massive land-grant institution encompassing more than 88,000 students, $1 billion in research expenditures, 24 locations across the commonwealth, a budget exceeding $7 billion and an ambitious comprehensive campaign, Penn State President Eric J. Barron has continually returned to the University’s core missions of teaching, research and service, and a commitment to bettering society, as his touchstone to inform his plans and decisions. Barron has often referred to this central tenet as “living the mission” as he steered Penn State through a period of transition, transformation and growth over eight years. 

Major initiatives and accomplishments

During his tenure at Penn State, Barron has led a number of major University initiatives and accomplishments. 

A Greater Penn State for 21st Century Excellence

Under Barron’s tenure, the University launched the “A Greater Penn State for 21st Century Excellence” comprehensive campaign. With an overall goal to raise $2.1 billion, the campaign reflects Barron’s vision for the role of the modern land-grant university: keeping the doors to higher education open to hardworking students; creating transformative experiences that go beyond the classroom; and impacting the world by serving communities and fueling discovery, innovation and entrepreneurship. Although the campaign will end on June 30, 2022, Penn State has already joined only 15 institutions nationwide to secure $1 billion or more in three separate fundraising campaigns. 

Invent Penn State

Launched in 2015, just one year into Barron’s tenure, Invent Penn State leverages Penn State’s existing infrastructure, expertise and research profile to help bring the University’s intellectual property to the marketplace. Invent Penn State supports entrepreneurial faculty, students and alumni through enhanced programming, and advances Penn State’s service-to-society mission by promoting statewide economic development.  

Today, Penn State’s LaunchBox and Innovation Hub Network — part of Invent Penn State — encompasses 21 locations across the commonwealth that are open to anyone, with 96% of Pennsylvanians having a LaunchBox or innovation hub within 30 miles of where they live or work. A six-story, state-of-the-art, multi-use building fully focused on innovation was opened in November 2021 in State College as the cornerstone of the Penn State entrepreneurial ecosystem. 

To date, the network has supported 4,976 entrepreneurs; graduated 464 startups from accelerator programs; and helped start 218 new Pennsylvania companies. Additionally, over 19,000 students from 169 majors have enrolled in at least one course offered from the University’s Intercollege Minor in Entrepreneurship and Innovation over the past 10 years.  

Strategic planning

To help guide Penn State, Barron and University leadership developed an institution-wide strategic plan for 2016 through 2020, comprising five overarching thematic priorities: Transforming Education, Enhancing Health, Stewarding Our Planet’s Resources, Advancing the Arts and Humanities, and Driving Digital Innovation. 

The plan has spawned five signature initiatives, including One Penn State 2025 (Transforming Education), the Consortium to Combat Substance Abuse (Enhancing Health), the Humanities Institute (Advancing the Arts and Humanities), the Center for Immersive Experiences (Driving Digital Innovation) and the Consortium for Integrated Energy Systems (Stewarding Our Planet’s Resources). 

To continue the plan’s momentum and realize various initiatives, Penn State’s Board of Trustees approved extending the plan through 2025. 

Arboretum expansion and new art museum

Barron is a strong advocate for the arts and the humanities at Penn State and their positive impact on the campus and local communities. His administration supported the construction of a new Palmer Museum of Art and the expansion of the Arboretum at Penn State. 

The new art museum, slated to open in spring 2024 on the University Park campus, replaces the existing Palmer Museum of Art and includes expanded gallery and exhibition space, providing greater access to its 10,300-object collection; enhanced learning, creative and social opportunities for students; and areas for events and community gatherings. 

The new museum will be located next to the Arboretum at Penn State, which unveiled its three-acre Pollinator and Bird Garden expansion in June 2021. The new garden includes a bird blind and honeybee observation hive, with parts of the garden designed for research to advance the goal of attracting all native pollinators to the local region. 

Barron envisioned the combined facilities as a cultural hub and destination, drawing visitors to the Centre Region. 

Musser Gap to Valleylands

As part of the University’s sustainability efforts , Barron announced in 2019 Penn State’s intent to conserve 355 acres of land it owns in the Musser Gap area in State College near the University Park campus. 

Partnering with the local nonprofit ClearWater Conservancy and soliciting community input, the University is developing a plan for the property — dubbed Musser Gap to Valleylands — that will protect the environment while providing natural recreation for the community. 

Commitment to veterans

Under Barron’s leadership, the University affirmed and deepened its commitment to support those who served in the military. One of the most high-profile efforts to support student veterans was realized with the opening of the Student Veteran Center in Ritenour Building on the University Park campus in 2019. 

Located in the core of campus, the Student Veteran Center consolidates many of the key services for student veterans under a single, dedicated space. The center serves as a hub of activity for student veterans, a place to gather and a place where they can take part in peer-to-peer mentoring and virtual events and programs with Commonwealth Campuses. 

Six imperatives 

After his inauguration in May 2014, Barron quickly introduced his six presidential priorities, which have served as his administration’s guiding principles during the course of his tenure: 

• Excellence: Soon after becoming president, Barron wrote, “As a University, we are the keepers, creators and transmitters of knowledge, and we must excel in each across a broad spectrum of fields.” Barron’s drive for Penn State excellence in fulfilling its core missions has resulted in significant progress in key areas such as applications and enrollment, fundraising, research rankings and expenditures. The president has pointed to the growth of Invent Penn State, rising graduation rates, smaller course section sizes, improved student-to-faculty ratios, and increases in the percentage of underrepresented students as some of the indications of Penn State’s broad and inclusive excellence. 

• Student engagement: Barron believes strongly that students should take full advantage of their time at Penn State, getting involved in campus life, internships, international experiences, leadership opportunities, research and service. “Many of our students are making the most out of their time at Penn State,” he said early in his presidency. “But Penn State has an obligation to target barriers — particularly financial ones — that are preventing more students from being engaged. Steps can be taken so more students are happier, healthier and primed for success.” To promote the effort, the University launched the Student Engagement Network to connect students with experiences that empower them to make a positive impact as citizens and future leaders.

• Diversity and demographics: As a moral, educational and business imperative, Barron has led Penn State in making ongoing investments in diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) across every campus. As incoming students continue to be more diverse, he has worked with students and a broad range of stakeholders to revise the Student Code of Conduct to reflect new language to address racism and advance equality and foster a more welcoming and inclusive campus community through services and support; education and scholarship; recruitment and training; dialogue; and awareness. 

  During Barron’s tenure, DEI efforts served as a core component of the Penn State Strategic Plan, and much of the work to foster and support DEI is detailed in the University’s Action Together website. Barron convened a Select Penn State Presidential Commission on Racism, Bias and Community Safety and also launched a number of initiatives to help address these challenges. The University inaugurated a Center for Racial Justice in 2021 and has launched a national search for a founding director. Penn State also has seen a rise in enrollment of underrepresented students three years in a row.  

  While substantial progress has been made in this area, Barron has indicated that more work is still needed. 

• Student career success and economic development: Barron believes the University can deliver greater support for students’ professional achievement while also helping to grow the state’s economy. To accomplish those goals, he has worked to foster a culture of entrepreneurship on and off campus by promoting patents, licensing and startups; investing in innovation; encouraging economic development in the regions surrounding Penn State campuses; embedding student career success in the curriculum and advising; and advancing career readiness through the University’s Career Services. A May 2020 survey of corporate recruiters ranked Penn State 5th in the nation by top corporate college recruiters for preparing students for careers after graduation. The findings echoed a 2018 LinkedIn study in which Penn State ranked No. 2 among top universities for producing CEOs. 

• Access and affordability: Making sure students are able to afford a high-quality Penn State degree has been a top priority for the University under Barron’s leadership. The collective efforts aimed at access and affordability were unified under the “Achieve Penn State” initiative. Penn State has taken significant steps to keep the cost of tuition in check while also providing support to help students graduate on time and manage debt.

• Technology and curriculum delivery: Barron envisioned leveraging innovative technology to help Penn State offer a seamless 24/7/365 online experience while making the University more integrated and flexible, allowing students, faculty and staff to achieve their goals regardless of their location in the world. Additionally, the use of technology like AI and virtual reality has been integrated into the curriculum of cutting-edge research and educational programs — from engineering and agriculture to special education and music. 

  Under his One Penn State 2025 vision, the goal is to provide a seamless student experience; offer a unified curriculum that can be delivered across multiple modes and digital platforms; design academic programs that meet professional and societal needs in a timely manner; engage learners throughout their lifetimes; and achieve the highest level of efficient use of University resources. 

  Because of this strong infrastructure and the fact that many faculty were already used to teaching within a flexible environment, the University quickly moved 18,000 courses and 97,000 students to remote delivery in the spring 2020 semester when COVID-19 mitigation efforts impacted universities across the world.