Richard Anthony Baker, MPA, JD, PhD

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  Richard Anthony Baker, MPA, JD, PhD 

  President — American Association for Access, Equity, and Diversity (AAAED) 

Despite Dr. Richard Anthony Baker being a native of Compton, California, he considers Texas to be his home. Soon after his arrival in 1994, Dr. Baker began college and eventually matriculated from the University of Texas at Austin with honors. After graduation, Dr. Baker attended Texas Tech University where he had the distinction of being the first African American to graduate with a doctorate of jurisprudence and a Ph.D. (Higher Education). Dr. Baker is currently Executive Director for Institutional Equity and EEO at Rice University. Previously, Dr. Baker served as the Assistant Vice-Chancellor and Vice President of the Office of Equal Opportunity Services (“EOS”) for the University of Houston System and University of Houston (“University”). As a clearinghouse for best practices in the area of diversity, affirmative action, and equal opportunity, EOS coordinates and enforces the federal and state equal opportunity regulations for the University. Specifically, Dr. Baker was responsible for managing the University’s affirmative action, anti-discrimination, and anti-harassment efforts, including providing administrative guidance, conducting formal investigations of complaints as well as providing prevention training for the entire University community. Dr. Baker has been re-elected for a second term as president of AAAED (2020 – 2022).