Dr. Christopher Baker is the Director of the Central Asian Studies Institute and an Assistant Professor in the Core Humanities. He is also part of the Master of Arts in Central Asian Studies program, in which he works as an Assistant Professor and the Coordinator of the Literature and History concentration in the Liberal Arts and Sciences department. He holds a Ph.D. in Central Eurasian Studies (2019, USA) and a Master of Arts degree in the same field from Indiana University (2006, USA). Dr. Baker earned a Master’s degree in European History from the University of Toronto (1993, Canada) and did work toward a Ph.D. in European Intellectual History at the same institution. He did his undergraduate work at the University of California at Davis, earning a Bachelor of Arts in European History (magna cum laude) in 1992.

Dr. Baker joined AUCA in 2013, and was the Head of MACAS Program from 2019-2023. He is currently serving his fifth term as Chair of the Academic Senate Research Committee, a body tasked with managing research awards to AUCA faculty. This is in addition to coordinating various grants at AUCA, including a multi-year award from the Experimental Humanities Collaborative Network (EHCN), and managing its research exchange with Indiana University.

Dr. Baker is the chair and organizer of the “Literature and History in Central Asia Workshop,” a forum for scholars committed to illuminating the literary art of the region, and recently received an OSUN research grant to coordinate network expertise on “Global Borderlands.”