Baker was associate dean at Harvard University and tenured professor with Harvard Business School when he was offered the presidency of Ohio University in 1944. At that time, it was against the popular thinking that you give money to a state university. No one could forecast it at the time. It started very slowly, and finally it took hold. Now all public universities are in the ballgame.
Nothing can transcend that.
When Baker became president of Ohio University in 1945, America was at war and university enrollment hovered at 1,500. When he left in 1962, enrollment was six times that number and heading toward today's 27,000 on the Athens and five regional campuses. The regional campuses also were Baker's idea, created to serve the returning World War II veterans. And thanks to Baker, Ohio University developed an international character that lives on today in more than 100 international agreements and the presence of 1,100 international students from 100 countries. Baker is known as a plain-speaking New Englander, and remembered for having the common touch as president.