Randall Baker

Education

• Ph.D., London University, 1968
• M.A., University of East Africa, 1966
• B.Sc., (with honors) University of Wales, 1965

Biography

Professor Emeritus Dr. Randall Baker is an international expert on historical perspectives in the analysis of contemporary environmental policy and problems. He is also Distinguished Professor at New Bulgarian University in Sofia, Bulgaria, where he now resides. Baker is a sought-after speaker, respected researcher, and accomplished author of nearly two dozen books that range from academic to personal memoir. Baker''s research focuses on the fundamentals of American civic and political life in terms of historical process on a comparative basis with Europe, the persistence of political anomaly and challenges to models of sovereignty, and the isolation of change as an independent variable and process in positioning for the future.

Baker served as director of International Programs at SPEA for 16 years, taking the lead in internationalizing the school''s curriculum. He developed the Comparative and International Affairs concentration in the Master of Public Affairs program and several internationally focused courses such as Environmental Management in the Tropics. Baker developed exchange and overseas study programs with universities in countries such as the Netherlands, France, Bulgaria, Haiti, and Thailand. He also started the Returning Peace Corps Volunteers Program.

Baker has lent his expertise and knowledge to academics and policymakers all over the world and has worked in 93 countries throughout his distinguished career. He advised the government of Bulgaria on its entry into the European Union, established schools and academic programs at Western University, Azerbaijan, as well as institutions in Bulgaria, the United Kingdom, Spain, Sudan, Bolivia, and Lesotho. A two-time Fulbright Senior Scholar in Bulgaria, he served as chair of the Fulbright Program''s Aegean/Black Sea Region Peer Review Committee for three years. Baker served as project planning advisor to the government of Fiji, advisor to the prince of Mecca, and advisor to Sultanate of Brunei.

Baker has been honored with awards from numerous organizations, two Fulbright fellowships (served in Bulgaria), and two honorary degrees, one from Western University in Azerbaijan and one from the New Bulgarian University in Sofia. Indiana University presented him with the John W. Ryan Award for distinguished contributions to international programs in 2008. He was made an Honorary Member of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, an Honorary Professor of Western University in Azerbaijan, and received a Distinguished Service Award from NIDA in Thailand in 2002. He is an Honorary Graduate of Moscow State University, was named an Honorary Citizen of Breze, Bulgaria, and appointed an Honorary British Consul in Rwanda.

Baker received his bachelor''s with honors in Natural Sciences and Economics from the University of Wales in 1965. He then earned his master''s and Ph.D. from the University of London in 1968. He also received a Certificate de la Langue et de la Civilisation Française 1st Class in Sorbonne, Paris in 1978.