Who’s Who at MU: Dean of the Honors College

Out of every 10 undergraduates at Miami University, one is an honors student. The Dean of the Honors College strives to help these students to extract as much value from their Honors College participation, so by the time they graduate, they can look back and say: “This really meant a lot.”

For the last year and a month, that role has belonged to Zeb Baker.

In his role, Baker thinks about the strategic vision and direction of the Honors College. He’s responsible for finding ways to provide the 2,100 students in the program with differentiated opportunities to deepen their engagement with learning while they’re here at Miami.

“I think that in any one day, I'm really meeting with my team, with our campus partners, with our students,” Baker said, “And all those conversations are really about, ‘How do we really make the Honors College even better than it already is?’”

Leading the team of faculty and staff in the Honors College is also a part of his job. He makes sure they also work in the direction of that vision and put their students at the center of everything that they do.

Baker started working in the Honors College on Jan. 1, 2019, and took on the job of dean on March 1, 2025. Alex Wrobbel, a junior mechanical engineering major in the honors program, said Baker is one of the faces of the Honors College.

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“He does a really good job of being present in honor-specific situations, but also just across campus, making sure that the students, especially those in the Honors College, know who he is, and sort of can start to form that personal relationship with him,” Wrobbel said.

He begins his day at 8 a.m. Between phone calls and wall-to-wall meetings, he doesn’t leave campus until about 12 hours later. Baker doesn’t let himself go home until he’s answered every faculty email and most student emails in the same day.

“I just want to make sure that our students and our faculty know that I'm actually responsive, and that when I say you can reach out to me, that they actually hear from me,” Baker said.

Baker said his least favorite part about the job is budget meetings, but what makes up for it — his favorite part — is the students.

“I've learned as much from our students as they've ever gotten from me,” Baker said. “And I think that's the really fun part of it for me, is just continuing to try to learn from our students, learn alongside our students, learn what their concerns are… You know, I think all of those things are really at the heart of what makes my job so enjoyable.”

Samantha Brotherton, a first-year honors student who studies biomedical engineering and regulatory affairs, has seen Baker’s efforts to get students as much meaning and purpose out of their Miami education as they possibly can.

“I think he's great for opportunities, like he's very knowledgeable,” Brotherton said. “I think he's easy to contact as well. He's definitely there when we need it.”

Baker said the Honors College is a very unique institution in that it isn't a full fledged division, but in many ways, it's expected to function like that. He collaborates with other departments at Miami to make sure students get the classes and opportunities they need and connects with students on a day-to-day basis.

“I think he's very energetic as a person,” Wrobbel said. “You can tell that he really does enjoy what he does for his job, and it's nice to see that and know that someone who's supposed to be helping you on your academic journey actually cares about you and cares about the journey that you're on.”

Baker said he also attracts outstanding students to Miami and to the Honors College. He does this by building opportunities that get them to commit to Miami and getting them involved on campus once they're a student here.

“So how do we continue to improve?” Baker said. “That's really my number one focus. And I’m very much focused on the students and the faculty and doing the most that I can to get both of those groups the greatest possible experience that we can provide to them.”

obrie175@miamioh.edu