Dr. Lauri Baker is an associate professor of agricultural communication in the Department of Agricultural Education and Communication (AEC) at the University of Florida.

Baker earned her bachelor’s degree in agricultural communications from Texas Tech University in 2003. Following her graduation, she served as Vice President and Director of Communication for the Texas Wheat Producers Board and Association. After four years in the industry, Baker returned to school to pursue her master’s degree in agricultural communication, this time at the University of Florida. She stayed to obtain her doctorate from the same department, graduating with her degrees in 2009 and 2011, respectively.

Baker was faculty at Kansas State University for eight years before coming back to Gainesville. While at Kansas, she earned tenure and co-created the Center for Rural Enterprise Engagement (CREE), a faculty driven interdisciplinary research center that serves as a generator and source of knowledge about new-media marketing in an effort to enable rural and agriculture-based businesses to flourish in ever-changing environments. She continues her work with CREE and will integrate that work with her research appointment in the UF/IFAS Center for Public Issues Education.

Throughout her experiences, Baker has developed a research line that is inclusive of communication preferences and impacts on local economies, new-media technologies, strategic communication and audience analysis, Extension communication, and climate change and disaster communication, among others.

For more information, check out Baker's CV!

Awards & Honors

Journal of Applied Communications Board Member, 2019

ACE Research Director, 2016-2019

Excellence in Research Award, presented by ACE, 2016

NACTA Educator Award, 2016