University counsel Joe Barron is a self-proclaimed sufferer of the itchy foot syndrome.

After almost seven years at Eastern, the 68-year-old is ready to move on to something different.

“It just felt like now was the time,” Barron said. “Time to do something else.”

A retired captain from the Air Force, Barron is used to moving from one place to the next and has never kept with the same job for more than 11 years. The Connecticut native has lived in Spain, Germany, Florida and Kansas, and now he’ll move to Texas when he leaves Eastern at the end of May to join his wife, who has been living in Texas since September.

He left a previous position with the Kansas Board of Regents before coming to Eastern to serve as the university counsel.

“It looked like a nice place to be,” he said of Eastern. “It’s been fun.”

His duties at Eastern usually amount to 50 hours or more of work a week.

He handles Eastern’s litigation issues, reads over large purchasing contracts, receives Eastern’s Freedom of Information Act requests and much more.

But the biggest time-consuming part of his job is advising the university on legal matters including the President’s Council, Judicial Affairs, the ethics officer, faculty and staff as well as Eastern’s Board of Trustees.

He tries to “advise them how to avoid getting in trouble,” he said, rather than how to get out of trouble after it happens.

He meets with Eastern President Lou Hencken at least twice a week to discuss legal issues.

“He gives us the advice and lets us make the decisions,” Hencken said. “I think Joe always looks out for what’s best for the university and its faculty, staff and students.”

Hencken said he always feels confident when Barron is working on litigation issues because he knows Barron won’t settle out of convenience. If it is appropriate, then the university will settle a case, but if it isn’t appropriate, he’ll fight for the university, Hencken said. “He takes his job very seriously.”

Marcia Lawhead, Barron’s secretary, said he is constantly researching to keep up with new and changing laws to make sure the university is in compliance.

“He is very thorough and will research the law until he is absolutely sure he is correct on issues that are brought to his attention,” Lawhead said.

His good sense of humor and listening skills have made it easy for Lawhead to work with Barron for the past seven years.

“I have been blessed to have had such a wonderful person to work for and will miss him when he leaves,” she said.

But Barron isn’t all work.

He is devoted to his family of eight children, 17 grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.

He has also been very involved with the Civil Air Patrol, is the inspector general for the State of Illinois Civil Air Patrol and is involved with the 328th Composite Squadron based at the Coles County Airport. He is an incident commander for emergency services and a mission pilot.

He spends about five hours a week with the Civil Air Patrol, but he also owns his own small, single-engine airplane, which he flies once or twice a month. He also dabbles in photography and ham radios.

“My wife says I have enough hobbies,” Barron said. “I can’t have anymore.”

The details of what he’ll be doing in Texas are a little blurry, but Barron knows he’ll be practicing law.

He might be retiring, but he’s not going to sit in his driveway and watch the cars go by, he said. The law is too much fun for him to give it up.

While he’s happy he’ll be getting away from the snow and ice of Central Illinois, he is going to miss the people of Eastern.

“Everyone you run into is friendly,” he said. “Universities are interesting places. You meet such a wide variety of people.”

A seven-member search committee has begun looking for a replacement to take over for Barron, and he’s confident a good match can be found.

“There are good lawyers out there that have experience in higher education that will be able to come in here and do an equal or better job,” he said. “They just have to find the right one.”

Beth Hackett/The Daily Eastern News Joe Barron, general counsel for Eastern for nearly seven years, is retiring as of June 1, 2007.

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