News

Salem State names interim dean of school of graduate studies

Salem State has recently named Dr. Emerson W. Baker, a member of the college’s history faculty since 1994, to serve as interim dean of its school of graduate studies until a permanent dean can be appointed.

“With the recent resignation of longtime dean, Marc Glasser,” noted Salem State’s president, Patricia Maguire Meservey, “the college has begun the process of identifying the right person for this critically important position through a national search, which will take time. It gives me great pleasure to announce that Professor Emerson W. Baker has agreed to serve as interim dean of the college’s school of graduate studies until a search committee is formed and has named a permanent dean."

Baker, who served as an historical archaeologist and a museum director before coming to Salem State in 1994, has authored a number of books, the latest of which, The Devil of Great Island: Witchcraft and Conflict in Early New England, was published in October 2007. In addition to his teaching duties at the college, he is a working historian whose fieldwork has included excavations in Massachusetts and Maine. In several of those, he has included Salem State students. Baker has also served as historical consultant to the PBS series, Colonial House.

"We have an amazing graduate school,” Dr. Baker noted recently, “and I am honored by the prospect of working more closely with our talented faculty and staff. It is truly an exciting time for the school of graduate studies as the college continues its quest for eventual university designation."

Salem State is a comprehensive, publicly supported institution of higher learning located 15 miles north of Boston. It enrolls approximately 10,000 undergraduate and graduate students representing 27 states and 52 nations. Salem State College is the third largest public institution of higher education and the largest state college in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

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