BIOGRAPHY & FAMILYBiography
Vern was born on a small dairy farm not far from Gettysburg, PA. On the farm he learned the value of hard work, a valuable lesson because he had to work his own way through college. He worked on road maintenance and as a union construction worker. Vern earned his masters and doctoral degrees from Penn State, where he met his wife, Nancy, in a crops class. They raised six children on their small farm while Vern taught high school agriculture. During those years, he organized and taught night classes on ways of making farmers’ operations more profitable. He led an effort to help school children overcome their lack of knowledge about their natural environment by taking 100 6th graders at a time to the mountains for a week of outdoor living. Today that program has served to educate thousands of children and stands as a model for other communities. Not having enough to do, he worked through his church in the city of Reading, PA, to establish an inter-denominational consortium of six churches to address inner-city issues. He served as chairman of the board. In 1978, just after receiving his doctorate, Vern and family left the farm and moved to State College, PA, where he took a position at Penn State. There, in addition to his teaching, he reorganized the department's publishing business to put it on a sound financial basis.
Vern also has an assignment as a leadership development specialist for UNL Extension. He has worked many years state-wide to help communities develop the leadership capacity to solve their own problems. He and his wife lived for a short time in Chile where he served as a leadership consultant to the governor and staff of the Bio Bio Province, and taught leadership to faculty and staff at the University of Concepcion. He also taught in Argentina and Mexico. 
Presently, he and his wife live in rural Saunders County. Some of Vern’s hobbies are home maintenance, carpentry and wood working. They travel to other countries with their grandchildren, often to visit several of their seven former exchange students. Vern is seeking election to the Nebraska Legislature because he believes his experienced leadership can serve the state of Nebraska with ethical, productive government. The Barrett Family
Frontrow: Nancy and Vern 
Frontrow: Beth |
Experienced leadership for the challenges of tomorrow! |
In 1980 a call came from Ozzie Gilbertson at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln to join his staff to teach and lead a new effort to develop a leadership program. That leadership development program has grown, with the help of many dedicated faculty, to be a premier undergraduate and graduate program with 75+ masters and 35+ doctoral students. One of Vern’s favorite courses is an advanced graduate course on leading change in organizations and communities. He and colleagues led a national effort with 27 universities to change the reward system for teaching.