UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – Penn State’s 45th annual Renaissance Fund celebration on Oct. 28 honored President Eric J. Barron and First Lady Molly Barron. The event, which was livestreamed from the Penn Stater Hotel and Conference Center, hosted more than 200 in-person and online attendees and raised more than $3.6 million, a new Renaissance Fund record, for endowed scholarships to benefit students with financial need.
This year’s fundraising total included a $525,000 gift from the Barrons to establish the Eric and Molly Barron Student Food Security Endowment, which will provide funds to purchase University meal plans for undergraduate Penn State students who encounter food insecurity, with first preference given to recipients of Renaissance Scholarships.
“Our gift is focused on food security because we need to think about the whole package,” said Eric Barron, speaking to the importance of well-rounded support for student success and well-being. “The people in this room make an extraordinary difference because you give to scholarships that are truly helping students to be successful in significant ways. We help those people who are here today, but just as important, we also help those who are not yet even born.”
The annual Renaissance Fund celebration raises support for Renaissance Scholarships, which are awarded to academically talented Penn State students who have great financial need. Each year the Renaissance Fund honors community leaders, and contributions are used to endow scholarships in their names. Since the Renaissance Fund's inception in 1969, the total endowment has grown to more than $18 million. Last year, 753 Renaissance Fund scholarships were awarded to Penn State students, offering more than $1.1 million in financial support.
Mimi Barash Coppersmith, a 1954 graduate of Penn State and a member of the Renaissance Fund Committee, spoke to the Barrons’ qualifications as the fund’s 2021 honorees, saying, “The Barrons are equally committed to their home community as they are to the University … Rarely do we encounter a couple so wholeheartedly dedicated to student success at all levels, including the economic heartbeat of the communities we serve. And rarely do we have such a fitting opportunity to honor a remarkable legacy like theirs.”
A native of Lafayette, Indiana, Eric Barron earned a bachelor’s degree in geology from Florida State and master's and doctoral degrees in oceanography from the University of Miami. Following graduation, Barron pursued postdoctoral research at the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colorado, and then joined the faculty of Penn State in 1986, where he spent the next 20 years of his career, first as founding director of the Earth System Science Center, then director of the Earth and Mineral Sciences Environment Institute, and finally as dean of the College of Earth and Mineral Sciences.
Barron left Penn State to serve as dean of the Jackson School of Geosciences at the University of Texas at Austin and then as director of the National Center for Atmospheric Research. In 2010, he assumed the presidency of Florida State University, a position he held until 2014, when he returned to State College as Penn State’s 18th president.
At Penn State, Barron’s administration has been defined by a dedication to student access, affordability and opportunity. Under his leadership, the University established the Achieve Penn State initiative, a series of programs that support students and families through institutional scholarships, summer school, on-campus employment, financial literacy education and campus transition programming. Another signature initiative of Barron’s leadership, Invent Penn State, encourages entrepreneurship and innovation on Penn State campuses and throughout local communities with education, mentorship, maker spaces and other business resources. In both cases, the president has pledged institutional money to underscore his office’s commitment to these efforts and encourage and recognize private philanthropy.
Penn State First Lady Molly Barron, of Oceanside, California, earned a bachelor’s degree in education from Central College in Iowa and began her teaching career at Palomar Mountain School, where she taught grades four through eight in a single classroom and served as principal. In 1981, she moved to Boulder, Colorado, where she and Eric were married and began their family. After the couple and their two young children, Emily and James, moved to State College in 1986, Molly Barron dedicated herself to the community, serving as president of the Parent Teacher Organization, a frequent library volunteer, a kindergarten aide, a substitute, and a contributor to the middle school computer technology program. With her husband’s leadership appointments, she became a visible and welcoming presence at University functions and alumni and student events. She currently serves as a volunteer on Penn State’s Women’s Philanthropic Advisory Board and the Schlow Library Foundation Board.
The Barrons have also dedicated their personal philanthropy to ensure Penn Staters stay on track to earn their degrees and achieve their dreams. The couple has invested across the University, supporting the College of Earth and Mineral Sciences, The Arboretum at Penn State, Four Diamonds, the Renaissance Fund, and the Palmer Museum of Art. They have established two endowments through the Trustee Matching Scholarship Program, the Jim and “Mel” Barron Trustee Scholarship and the Walin and Dorothy Hatter Trustee Scholarship, named for the couple’s parents, in the College of Earth and Mineral Sciences. They also have created the Alice Battistini Open Doors Scholarship, named after their granddaughter, and the Staff Excellence Award to benefit high-achieving Penn State employees. The Barrons were welcomed into the Mount Nittany Society this past spring.
“You’ll be hard-pressed to find a couple like the Barrons anywhere, and we’re fortunate they ended up at the helm of our institution,” said O. Richard Bundy, III, vice president for development and alumni relations. “Their impact has been tremendous and is evident in the University’s continued success. They are equally valued for their contributions to our community as they are for their leadership of it, and the success of this year’s fundraising effort in their honor is a truly fitting gesture of our collective appreciation for their commitment and impact.”
Gifts to the Eric and Molly Barron Renaissance Scholarship are still being accepted. To learn more, visit raise.psu.edu/Renaissance2021 or contact Kathy Kurtz, associate director of annual giving, at klk13@psu.edu or 814-863-2052.
Giving to enhance the Eric and Molly Barron Renaissance Scholarship will advance "A Greater Penn State for 21st Century Excellence," a focused campaign that seeks to elevate Penn State’s position as a leading public university in a world defined by rapid change and global connections. With the support of alumni and friends, “A Greater Penn State” seeks to fulfill the three key imperatives of a 21st-century public university: keeping the doors to higher education open to hard-working students regardless of financial well-being; creating transformative experiences that go beyond the classroom; and impacting the world by serving communities and fueling discovery, innovation and entrepreneurship. To learn more about “A Greater Penn State for 21st Century Excellence,” visit greaterpennstate.psu.edu.