Founded in 1858
At each of our four schools—College of Arts and Sciences, School of Nursing, School of Professional and Graduate Studies, and School of Education—faculty provide creative learning experiences while challenging students to analyze issues with depth and clarity.
Students fully engage in their education and connect with peers, faculty, and staff. Small class sizes and extensive interaction with instructors and fellow students promote a community of belonging and connections that last a lifetime. We embrace diversity of community, thought, and expression. From this foundation, Baker students and alumni are able to address the civic, social, health, and environmental needs of our global community.
Our Vision
Academic Excellence
Baker University is a premier private university with a tradition of academic excellence and student engagement in a respectful, inviting, and values-based learning community. The faculty provides creative, student-focused learning experiences that challenge students to analyze issues with depth and clarity. Students fully engage in their learning; connect with peers, faculty, and staff; and develop lifelong relationships with diverse groups of people. Graduates realize their potential to become confident, competent contributors to society.
Awards & Recognitions
Highest ROI in Kansas (Private Colleges)
Baker University is consistently recognized for its excellence in and out of the classroom. Baker University delivers a return on investment for its students. In fact, the U. S. Department of Education recently revealed that Baker graduates earn higher average salaries than their peers from other universities in Kansas and Baker is the university in Kansas most likely to land its graduates a job. Baker offers the highest return on investment of private colleges in Kansas, according to Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce (2022).
Founded in 1858 as the first university in Kansas, Baker is an institution with a storied past.
While standing in the center of our beautiful campus in Baldwin City, a person can do a 360-degree turn and see three buildings on the National Register of Historic Places. Lady Margaret Thatcher dedicated our Osborne Chapel, which was moved brick by brick from Sproxton, England. Abraham Lincoln personally donated to the construction of Parmenter Hall.
William Howard Taft, the 27th president of the United States, delivered the first speech on the topic of world peace 100 yards from where our current political scientists study. Given the university’s rich tradition of academic excellence and historical significance—and our parklike campus, which is a registered arboretum and Tree Campus USA award-winner—it’s no surprise that George Will once called Baker University a “Midwestern Hidden Gem.”
Our Founding
Spiritual Life
Since our founding, Baker has held close ties with the Methodist Episcopal Church—which became the Methodist Church in 1939 and then the United Methodist Church in 1968—and has retained this affiliation. As one of 196 colleges and universities in the United States with connections to the Church, we seek to continue a tradition of devotion to the Christian faith and academic excellence.
Our Leadership
A leader known for raising the national and international profiles of educational and nonprofit institutions, Dr. Lynne Murray became the 29th president of Baker University on July 1, 2014. Murray previously served as the vice president for development, international and alumni relations at Washington, D.C.-based Gallaudet University, the world’s only university for deaf and hard of hearing people. For more than 20 years, she has worked collaboratively with community organizations, initiating national and global partnerships, and spearheading fundraising efforts.
