Herron has been a visiting lecturer for the ethnic studies department and the urban studies and planning program for the University of California, San Diego, and was a visiting postdoctoral scholar for the School of Welfare at the University of California, Los Angeles. His many awards include the McElroy Award from the Graduate School of Architecture and Urban Planning at UCLA.

Herron earned a bachelor's degree in architecture from Princeton University, and received both a master’s degree and a doctorate in urban planning from UCLA, where he also met his wife.

Outside of academe, Herron is a member of the Saturday Morning Literary Workshop, a group of black writers, actors, and playwrights who meet monthly to critique each other’s work. “I’ve been writing poetry since the late 1970s, when I was working on my dissertation,” he says. “I guess I’m on a 20-25-year plan to put together a manuscript that I hope to one day publish.”

His love of books was fostered early in life. His dad worked for the county library system in Pittsburgh, driving a book mobile into neighborhoods not served by the library. “He used to bring home books all the time,” Herron said. “That’s part of what we did growing up: read.” Herron laughs. In high school I’d help my dad. It was a good way to meet people.”

Herron and his wife, Barbara, enjoy hiking (Griffith Park and Will Rogers State Park are favorite spots), and both met personal goals when they participated in the Los Angeles Marathon several years ago. Herron also enjoys African-American art. Among his other hobbies: collecting Star Trek memorabilia. He’s been a fan of the show ever since the original series debuted. “I have a collection of various items from all the series’ and a few autographs,” he says.

“The one thing that I enjoyed about Star Trek was that it was a series about the future,” Herron says. “It shows the hopes of people whom, no matter how different, manage to get along. I think that was the whole purpose of it: this notion that there may be something better farther down the line.”

One has to wonder whether Herron sees the parallels in higher education.