Kenn Barron
Fellow, James Madison University
Kenn Barron is a Fellow of Motivate Lab at the University of Virginia and a Professor of Psychology and Director of the Motivation Research Institute at James Madison University. His research focuses on motivation and the scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL) and has appeared in the Journal of Educational Psychology, Contemporary Educational Psychology, Educational Psychologist, the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Teaching of Psychology, Journal of Excellence in College Teaching, and New Directions for Teaching and Learning. Kenn has been teaching in higher education for over 25 years and is passionate about creating and participating in spaces where we can learn with and from each other to improve our teaching. Throughout his career, he has received numerous teaching, research, service, and advising awards. For example, in 2012, he was named both a fellow of the American Psychological Association and one of Princeton Review’s Top 300 professors in America. Finally, Kenn's father was the first member of either side of his family to go to college. So, knowing how education changed the trajectory of his family, Kenn feels compelled to pay it forward by providing similar support and encouragement to the students he works with, especially first-generation students.