Dominique J. Baker is an Associate Professor of Education and Public Policy with a joint appointment in the College of Education & Human Development and the Joseph R. Biden, Jr. School of Public Policy and Administration at the University of Delaware. She is also a John and Patricia Cochran Scholar of Inclusive Excellence, an endowed faculty position that recognizes outstanding UD faculty members whose scholarship and service reflect excellence, creativity, and a commitment to inclusiveness, both on campus and beyond.

Her research focuses on the way that education policy affects and shapes the access and success of minoritized students in higher education. She primarily investigates student financial aid/finance, admissions policies, and policies that influence the ability to create an inclusive & equitable campus climate. In recognition of the impact and promise of her scholarly career, she was the 2023 American Educational Research Association Early Career Award winner (see her Award Lecture from the 2024 annual meeting). She is also a past recipient of a National Academy of Education/Spencer Foundation postdoctoral fellowship, the Association for Education Finance & Policy’s Early Career Award, and the Association for the Study of Higher Education’s Excellence in Public Policy Award.

She is currently conducting research focused on the media’s racialized portrayal of student loans, test-optional admissions in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, the local sources of funding for community colleges, and the impact of unrestricted philanthropy on Historically Black Colleges and Universities. For the first project, she leads a team examining the media’s role in constructing the public and policy actors’ understanding of race, racism, and student loans (funded by the Russell Sage Foundation and the NAEd/Spencer Foundation). They are exploring both the ways explicit language around race and racism are incorporated into student loan news articles and the relationship between the college backgrounds of authors and the language used in articles (working paper links noted). The second project focuses on test-optional admissions policies in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic (funded by the Gates Foundation). The third and fourth projects are both focused on exploring the ways that colleges are funded and how that might enhance or diminish equity (funded by the Gates Foundation and SERN, respectively). All of these projects focus on better understanding how higher education policy relates to creating a more just society.

Her research has been published in a variety of journals, including the American Educational Research Journal, Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, Educational Researcher, the Journal of Higher Education, and the Journal of College Student Development. Dr. Baker has testified before the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs’s Subcommittee on Economic Policy on race, racism, and student loans. Her work and expertise have been highlighted by The Atlantic, The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, National Public Radio, the Chronicle of Higher Education, and Inside Higher Ed, among others.

Dr. Baker earned her Ph.D. in Higher Education Leadership and Policy Studies (education policy) from Peabody College at Vanderbilt University. She earned her M.Ed. in Student Affairs Practice in Higher Education and B.A. in Psychology from the University of Virginia. Prior to pursuing her Ph.D., Dominique served as an Assistant Dean in the Office of Undergraduate Admissions at the University of Virginia. She teaches public policy and policy analysis courses at the graduate level. Explore her teaching page to see “movie trailers” she created for courses or the resources page for successful grant proposals.