From 1980 to 1985, Barron was employed as a post-doctoral research fellow and scientist by the
National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) in
Boulder, Colorado. He subsequently was named an associate professor at the
University of Miami, where he served from 1985 to 1986. In 1986, Barron was named a faculty member at
Pennsylvania State University in the
College of Earth and Mineral Sciences, becoming the
dean until leaving Penn State in 2006, to become dean of the
Jackson School of Geosciences at the
University of Texas at Austin. There, he held the Jackson chair in earth system science. In 2008, Barron left the University of Texas to become director of the National Center for Atmospheric Sciences (
NCAR) from 2008 to 2010, until being named president of
Florida State University in December 2009. Barron was the 14th president of FSU from February 1, 2010, until stepping down on April 2, 2014, after being named the president-elect of the Pennsylvania State University in February 2014. Following the departure of
Rodney Erickson on May 12, 2014, Barron became the 18th president of Penn State. During his term as Penn State president, he resided in Schreyer House, the official president's residence of the university. In February 2021, Barron indicated to the
Penn State Board of Trustees his intent to retire at the end of his contract, in June 2022. Barron's tenure ended in May 2022, when he was succeeded by
Neeli Bendapudi. During his presidency, one of Barron's focuses was attempting to transform the
Greek life system at Penn State following the
death of Tim Piazza. Barron is a fellow of the
American Association for the Advancement of Science and has been chair of numerous
National Science Foundation,
NASA and
United States National Research Council (NRC) committees and panels, including the NRC climate research committee, the NRC board on atmospheric sciences and climate and NASA's earth observing system science executive committee. ==References==