Barton Robert Herrscher is a native of St. Louis, Missouri and a product of the St. Louis Public Schools (Oak Hill Elementary, Cleveland High, and Harris Teachers College).  He prepared for a teaching career in St. Louis, but chose to pursue graduate education at Southern Methodist University instead.  He earned his master’s degree from SMU in 1957.  After a stint in the military, he served on the faculty at SMU until 1960.  He migrated to California.  The University of California at Berkeley was his first stop where he witnessed the birth of the great student revolution of the ‘60s.  He moved to the University of California at Los Angeles where he received his Doctor of Education degree in 1967.  At UCLA he held the prestigious Kellogg Fellowship in Community College Leadership.

In 1968, Bart moved to Durham, NC where he worked in educational research and development at the National Laboratory for Higher Education.  He held adjunct faculty positions at Duke University and North Carolina State University during this time.  Mitchell College in Statesville, NC invited him to become president in 1970, a position he held until 1974.  He moved to Austin, TX, then Houston where he joined the Educational Leadership faculty at the University of Houston in 1976.  After 25 years at UH, he was named emeritus professor upon his retirement in 2001.  His love for the Rio Grande Valley dictated a move to Edinburg, TX where he now serves as visiting professor at The University of Texas – Pan American.

Harris-Stowe State College (formerly Harris Teachers College) honored Bart with its Distinguished Alumnus Award in 1986.  At UH, he received the Alumni Faculty Service Award in 1997.  Bart is married to his SMU sweetheart Stephanie Fitzsimmons of Sacramento, CA and Mexico City, Mexico.  They have on daughter, Stephanie, Jr.