Board of Regents selects Matthew Baker, a Kansas native and K-State graduate
TOPEKA — A 30-year higher education administrator at Northwest Missouri State University will return to Kansas for the opportunity to serve as president of Emporia State University.
Matthew Baker, who grew up in Kansas and earned a psychology degree at Kansas State University, has been vice president of student affairs at NMSU in Maryville, Missouri, for the past 14 years. Baker is expected to begin leadership duties at ESU in March. He holds a master’s degree from University of Arkansas at Fayetteville and a doctorate in educational leadership from University of Missouri in Columbia.
“It is the honor of my career to return to Kansas to serve as the university’s next president,” Baker said. “I will forever be grateful to Northwest for all it has done for me and my family. It is because of the experiences Northwest provided me that I am able to step into this role.”
Blake Benson, chairman of the Kansas Board of Regents, said Baker was a “proven leader with extensive experience developing and implementing initiatives designed to help students succeed in college and after graduation.” The Board of Regents unanimously voted to hire Baker.
Baker replaced Ken Hush, who became ESU president in 2021 and was an unusual appointee due to his lack of a graduate degree. Hush received an undergraduate degree from ESU and had a lengthy career in the private sector, including work with Koch Industries.
Benson, on behalf of the Board of Regents, said Hush “consistently exhibited an unwavering commitment to serving ESU’s students and has worked hard to improve affordability and student success.”
Hush invited controversy by deciding in 2022 to fire about 30 tenured or tenure-track faculty and to eliminate a cluster of academic programs, which exacerbated the university’s enrollment decline. Hush’s unilateral dismissal of personnel prompted a wave of lawsuits, which have yet to be fully resolved.
During Hush’s time at ESU, the Kansas Legislature earmarked tens of millions of dollars in special funding to stabilize the university. In addition, an attorney employed by ESU led an effort to persuade the Legislature to retroactively undermine faculty tenure statewide.
Hush, who plans to retire this month from ESU, said he would donate $1.4 million, or the equivalent of his four years of salary at ESU, to the university. The money would be used over three years for student recruitment, scholarships and campus operations, officials said.
“This gift is in appreciation for the meaningful impact ESU has had on our community and on me, both as a student and in my role as president,” Hush said.
Baker has worked at the public, four-year Northwest Missouri State for more than 30 years. He began in 1993 as the university’s residence hall director. He was off campus from 1996 to 1998 while completing a master’s degree in higher education administration in Arkansas. He returned to Northwest Missouri State and moved through several administrative jobs before being named dean of students in 2008.
Baker said he would conduct a listening tour to better understand the needs of Emporia State. He said ESU would be marked, under his tenure, by “shared governance, enhance(d) communication.”
He said he would rely on data to chart ESU future, because benchmarks on student retention or recruitment would reveal “where our opportunities are, where our successes are, what we celebrate.”