Lauri Baker
UF/IFAS Assistant Dean of Research and Professor
Office 107
1408 Sabal Palm Drive, Level 2
PO Box 110126
Gainesville, FL 32611
352-273-2093
lauri.m.baker@ufl.edu
Dr. Lauri M. Baker serves as Assistant Dean of Research for UF/IFAS and is a professor of agricultural communication in the UF/IFAS Department of Agricultural Education and Communication (AEC) at the University of Florida with a research and extension appointment. She is affiliate faculty in the UF/IFAS Center for Public Issues Education (PIE Center).
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, integrating that research with her appointment at the PIE Center.
Throughout her career, Baker has developed a research line inclusive of new-media technologies, communication preferences and the impact on local communities, public health communication, online technology for economic development, marketing and branding through new and social media, strategic communication and audience analysis, and land-grant university communication, and crisis and organizational communication.
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