The recently renovated Pittsburgh Building houses the Lally School of Management and Technology. Upon entering the reception area, Robert Baron, interim dean of the Lally School, greeted me as he brewed himself a cup of tea and invited me into his office. His office was light and airy with a certain "executive" feel to it that is only too appropriate. Among the papers and books I noticed several pieces of woodwork on his desk. As he offered me a seat, he finished preparing his tea and we sat down to chat.

Born in Manhattan, Baron lived all over New York State during his childhood. "My family has roots upstate and downstate. My great-grandparents owned a farm up here, which we had until I was a teenager. My father also had a cabin up in the Catskills," he said.

Baron attended the City University of New York, and he was a biology major through much of his undergraduate career, but ended up in psychology. "And I flirted with geology, too. I needed two more courses, and I could have been a geology major," he chuckles. "I had a lot of interests, and my senior year I had a girlfriend who kept telling me that I needed to be a psychologist. People have always fascinated me."

After switching to psychology, he moved on to graduate school in 1964, at the University of Iowa for his Ph.D., where he studied experimental and social psychology. "I wanted to be a faculty member, and I had three or four offers, but the one I took was the University of South Carolina, because they were really going to grow management and psychology. This was 1968, so I was really one of the first ‘Yankees’ they ever hired," remembers Baron.

During his career, he has held many visiting positions in psychology and management at various universities including the University of Texas, the University of Washington, Princeton University, the University of Minnesota, and Oxford University, all while a professor at Purdue University. However, in 1974 he took a program director position at the National Science Foundation. This is when his "switch" to management occurred. "I had already been a professor for 11 or 12 years, and it was time for a switch. I wrote my first edition of my organizational behavior text, and I realized that this was what I wanted to do. I wanted to do practical things with my training."

Baron eventually returned to New York to become a professor of management and chair of the psychology department at RPI. "I have this dual identity," he said.

Eventually, his interests at Rensselaer shifted and he became more involved in management and less so in psychology. In March of last year, he was named the Dean R. Wellington ’83 Professor of Management, and then in May was appointed interim dean of the Lally School by President Jackson.

Baron decided to accept the position to get a chance to work with people more. "[As an academic], you do a lot of solitary things. This is more social," said Baron. "I think the Lally School is doing very well. We’re bringing in the best faculty we can find, and for me the faculty is the foundation."

In addition to his academic pursuits, Baron also holds three patents. "I have another identity as an environmental psychologist. I study the effects of the environment on people’s behavior," he remarked. His patents include a compact air filter and a white-noise generator and scent-releaser, all inspired by his daughter’s desire to make her dorm room more comfortable. "I’m a practical person," said Baron.

In his spare time, Baron has a lot of hobbies. Woodworking is one of his passions. "I make boxes at home, and tables," he said. He also enjoys art, music, traveling, cooking (making jam, in particular), and collecting antiques.

In closing, his advice to students is very much in line with his own life. "Pursue your interests. How are you going to be happy if you don’t pursue your interests? The worst thing that can happen to you is that you end up being my age, and you say ‘Oh, I’ve got regrets.’ You don’t want to be mature and have regrets about the things you didn’t do," Baron said.

He also gained insights about people from his travels. "People are pretty much the same under the surface. If you treat people decently, and they know that you have good will, you’ll get along with anybody."

Baron can be reached at baronr@rpi.edu.

NEXT WEEK: Cynthia R. McIntyre, Chief of Staff to the President.