Ivy Tech Community College in Columbus has appointed a new vice chancellor of student affairs.
Heather Baker, formerly with the Indiana Department of Education, replaces Keith Hansen, who left the college to take a management position in the private sector.
The vice chancellor position supervises several different ongoing initiatives at the college including enrollment planning and retention programs and efforts to make college level courses available to high school students, a news release announcing the appointment said.
Baker, who just completed her doctoral dissertation last January, said after more than a decade working at the elementary and high school levels, Ivy Tech seemed like the next natural step.
“My goal was always to work in higher education,” she said.
Baker spent three years working in a variety of capacities at the Indiana Department of Education. Before that, she spent almost nine years as a teacher at the Bartholomew Consolidated School Corp., followed by three years as an instructional coach with the district, assisting other teachers with information on Common Core standards.
While her responsibilities will take her to campuses in Batesville, Lawrenceburg and Madison, she will primarily work out of Columbus, where she has lived with her husband for the last 19 years. Her three children and two step-grandchildren also live in Columbus.
Ivy Tech Chancellor Chris Lowery said Baker was hired after an intensive three-month search process involving 45 to 50 applicants and five finalists. The deciding factor was Baker’s experience managing complex college and high school partnerships, he said.
Baker is the third vice chancellor to hold the job since Roger Bingham left the position in 2013 to pursue a business professorship at Grace College in Winona Lake.
[sc:pullout-title pullout-title=”Heather Baker” ][sc:pullout-text-begin]
Age: 45
Educational background:
- Doctorate in Educational Leadership from Indiana University,
- Masters in Education from Olivet Nazarene College
- Bachelor’ degree in elementary education from Indiana University.
Work experience:
- Indiana Department of Education 2012 to 2015
- Bartholomew Consolidated School Corp., 2000 to 2012
[sc:pullout-text-end]
