Associate Vice President for Academic Affairs (E. Jo Baker) Records
Collection
Identifier: UA304
These records consist of the professional papers of E. Jo Baker, Associate Vice President for Academic Affairs at the Georgia Institute of Technology. The records document Baker's activities as Associate Vice President, including her involvement with the founding of the President's Scholarship program. The collection also documents her work relating to recruitment, committee work, promotion and tenure, affirmative action, and professional associations.
(38 document cases and 4 oversize boxes)
Series 3, Subseries 3 is restricted, as is part of Series 4. In addition, access to several individual folders in other series is restricted. These are noted in the box-folder list.
Permission to publish materials from this collection must be obtained from the Head of Archives and Special Collections.
20.2 Linear Feet
The Associate Vice President for Academic Affairs records include reports, correspondence, and other manuscript material documenting E. Jo Baker's professional activities. The papers contain information on Baker's work with academic departments and scholarships, particularly the President's Scholarship program. General office files consist of manuscripts relating to committee work, advocacy of summer programs at Georgia Tech, promotion and tenure, and professional associations.
Dr. E. Jo (Ethel Jo) Baker served as Associate Vice President for Academic Affairs at the Georgia Institute of Technology from 1979 to her retirement in 1993.
E. Jo Baker began her career by receiving a degree from the Atlanta Law School in 1948. Shortly afterwards, she redirected her career to psychology. She received her bachelor's degree from the University of Georgia, Master's in general psychology at Emory University in 1960, and doctoral degree in experimental psychology from Emory in 1962. After graduating, she joined the faculty at the Georgia Institute in Technology, and spent the next sixteen years teaching psychology at Georgia Tech.
A major turning point came in 1979 when Baker was given a one-year appointment as Assistant to the Vice President for Academic Affairs at Georgia Tech. At the time, Academic Affairs was one of five administrative areas (Academic Affairs, Research, Business and Finance, Development and Institute Relations, and Planning), each of which was headed by a Vice President who reported directly to the President of the Institute. By 1979 Baker had become Associate Vice President for Academic Affairs, a position she held until her retirement in 1993. By the time Baker retired, under the reorganization of the Institute by President John Patrick Crecine, the office of the Associate Vice President for Academic Affairs had become a part of the office of the Executive Vice President. Later in the 1990s, the Institute's Provost took on the duties of Vice President for Academic Affairs.
During the 1980-1981 academic year, when a family visited Georgia Tech inquiring about a merit scholarship for their high-achieving son, Baker had to explain that no Georgia Tech scholarships based solely on merit were available. As a result she sought to establish merit scholarships at Tech. The Georgia Tech President's Scholarship program, a program designed to attract students with high academic and leadership skills, was established the next year, with Baker as one of the principal founders. A special award honoring Baker's contribution to the founding of the program, the E. Jo Baker Outstanding Presidential Scholar award, was established in 2001.
As Associate Vice President for Academic Affairs several departments came under Baker's direction, including Faculty Services - Tenure and Promotion, Coordination of Research Promotion, Student Services-Super Student Weekend, the National Merit Weekend and many other programs. She also interacted with recruiting programs and various outreach programs, including Futurescape, Summerscape, and summer programs for teachers. Baker participated in and chaired several institutional committees, such as the Honors Program, Residency Appeals and Lecture Series Committees.
Baker belonged to numerous professional organizations and received many honors. In 1972, she was awarded the Georgia Psychological Association Award for Outstanding Contributions. Through her work at Georgia Tech and in the academic community, she earned a national reputation. She held membership in the American Association of University Administrators, the National Association for Institutional Research, and she served on the Board of Directors for the National Physical Science Consortium for Graduate Degrees for Minorities and Women. She also served as a trustee for the Tech Resource Center and the Georgia Tech Athletic Association.
This collection is divided into four series (Series 2 and 3 are further subdivided into subseries):
A print copy of this finding aid is available in the Georgia Tech Archives reading room.
The office of the Vice President of Academic Affairs transferred these papers to the Archives in 2000. Accession #2000.097.
The photographs in this collection have been removed and will be processed separately as VAUA304.
(38 document cases and 4 oversize boxes)
Yolanda Strayhorn processed these papers in October 2006.
Part of the Archives and Special Collections, Library, Georgia Institute of Technology Repository