An anonymous donor has established a new criminal justice scholarship in memory of George Barron, the first director of campus police and security at the University of Pittsburgh at Bradford, who died in December.
Barron came to Pitt-Bradford in 1979 to supervise the campus’s Pinkerton security guards while establishing the police department. He served as the first chief of police and director of public safety from 1980 until 1996.
His time at Pitt-Bradford capped a law enforcement career that began after he served for three years in the U.S. Coast Guard. In 1952, he graduated from the Pennsylvania State Police Academy and went on to serve with the state police until 1978, when he retired as the commander of the Kane station.
During his time with the state police, he graduated from the Federal Bureau of Investigation National Academy in Quantico, Va.
Following his retirement from the state police, he continued to live in Kane and remained active in the Kane Volunteer Fire Department before joining Pitt-Bradford.
Upon his retirement from Pitt-Bradford, the Bradford Exchange Club selected Barron as its Policeman of the Year. Dr. K. James Evans, vice president and dean of student affairs, who had hired Barron in 1979, spoke at the dinner held in Barron’s honor.
“He is a teacher at heart,” Evans said of Barron, noting how he taught resident advisers about fire safety, created tests for fire alarms and safety evacuation plans, instituted programming for crime prevention and rape crisis and even stepped into classrooms as a guest lecturer on sociological disorders.
Dan Songer, who would follow in Barron’s steps as chief of Pitt-Bradford police, first met Barron in his role as a trainer.
“He was a great instructor,” Songer said. During Songer’s tenure as chief, Barron continued to provide training for the campus police.
“He taught me a lot of what to do and what not to do as a chief,” Songer said. “He was a mentor. I would call him up and ask him for advice all the years that I was chief.”
Songer also continued a tradition started by Barron of inviting federal, state and local law enforcement agencies to campus each year in September for Law Enforcement Awareness and Familiarization Day, better known as LEAF Day.
“We got a lot of students interested in law enforcement through that program,” Songer said.
Evans noted that Barron’s professionalism benefitted more than just the Bradford campus. Barron created a comprehensive campus security manual that was adopted in part by dozens of other colleges and universities.
While chief of police at Pitt-Bradford, he also served on the board and as president of the Northeast Colleges and Universities Security Association and was awarded its Lawrence W. Joy Presidential Award for Outstanding Services in 1989.
To make a gift to the George J. Barron Memorial Scholarship or establish a scholarship at Pitt-Bradford, contact the Office of Philanthropic and Alumni Engagement at 814-362-5091.
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