Joshua R. Barron, M.B.A., is the Director for Student Success & Retention under the Office of the Provost at Texas Tech University. As part of the University Programs & Student Success team, he serves the campus community as the Retention, Effectiveness, and Advising Liaison focusing on catalyzing and maximizing the university’s success-oriented initiatives.

Joshua believes that, with deliberate effort, people and organizations can positively impact every person and situation they encounter. Therefore, Joshua focuses his professional efforts on equipping, organizing, empowering, and supporting efforts to serve students, particularly through advisor professional development, training, retention intelligence, and technological innovation.

From his work in information technology and knowledge management, consulting with global organizations, and investing in one-to-one mentoring of students, Joshua’s experience has proven beneficial in affecting change. His core competencies can be summed up as “4-i’s” … insight, ideas, innovation, and impact. Joshua is interested in the dynamics that produce positive changes within individuals, teams, and systems of people; especially the effects of technology on these processes.

A native of Lamesa, Texas, Joshua graduated from Texas Tech University with a Bachelor of Business Administration in Management and earned his Master of Business Administration in Organizational Strategy and Management Information Systems from the University of Texas at Dallas. Joshua is currently finishing a Ph.D. from Texas Tech in the discipline of Technical Communication & Rhetoric, focusing on influencing positive change by understanding complex audiences and improving professional writing that documents one-to-one interactions in ways that are necessary and appropriate, but also engaging and beneficial.

Away from the office, Joshua is heavily invested in his family (an amazing wife, their four energetic children, and their Canine Muppet) and several community organizations that support positive change in the lives of the people they impact.