Carolyn D. Baker Memorial Prize

BAKER, Associate Professor Carolyn D. BA, MA, PhD Toronto Associate Professor, 26 May 1946 - 12 July 2003

Dr Carolyn D. Baker joined The University of Queensland in 1991, after relocating from Canada to the University of New England, Armidale in 1976. An elected member of Academic Board 1997-2001, she was a member of the Standing Committee of Academic Board during that time. She was also our Director of Research and Postgraduate Studies.

Dr Baker’s research interests in interactive language and how people create meaning continues to resonate with contemporary education issues, as we navigate dramatic shifts in learning environments and digital engagement.

Carolyn was also an initiator of the School's Annual Postgraduate Research Conference. The Carolyn D. Baker Memorial Lecture is held on the evening prior to the conference, a fitting tribute to an academic who dedicated her career to nurturing education researchers.

Her legacy lives on through the success and research of her former students. Dr Baker was an outstanding PhD advisor, who supervised 25 candidates to conferral and won a University Teaching Award. She strongly believed in the importance of candidates presenting their work in progress and thesis papers, often inviting them to join her in attending international conferences.

The Carolyn D. Baker Memorial Prize was established by her son, John Baker, with contributions from her family and friends to honour her memory. The prize provides support for an outstanding Education candidate to present at a prestigious international conference. Many past recipients have forged key professional relationships at international conferences, developing international networks and opportunities for collaboration.

In 2023, we are working toward a goal of endowing the Carolyn D Baker Prize in perpetuity, to ensure that Education HDR candidates continue to grow their impact through participation in leading Education conferences. 

We are therefore hoping that you would consider making a contribution to create this important endowment. Together, we can continue to create positive change in education at a local and global level. 

Online donations can be made here, or please call Amy Henderson on 33461640.

With your support, we can continue to offer this prize each year, ensuring that candidates from UQ School of Education benefit from participation in international conferences.

Thank you for helping us to build on Carolyn’s remarkable legacy, through inspiring future generations of education researchers.

2023 Carolyn D Baker Prize Application Form - click to download

Book chapters
  
Chen, H., Christensen, C. A. & Baker, C. D. (2003). Pedagogy and the construction of learning disabilities: Identifying students as "disabled". In Vadeboncoeur, J. A. & Rawolle, S. (Eds.), Educational Imaginings: On the Play of Texts and Contexts First ed. (pp. 126-151) Brisbane Australia: Australian Academic Press.
 
Freebody, P. & Baker, C. D. (2003). Categories and accounts in literacy research and education: Changing targets. In Bull, G. & Anstey, M. (Eds.), The Literacy Lexicon 2nd ed. (pp. 225-239) Australia: Prentice Hall.
 
Baker, C. D. (2002). Ethnomethodological analyses of interviews. In Gubrium, J. F. & Holstein, J. A. (Eds.), Handbook of Interview Research: Context and Method (pp. 777-795) Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
 
Baker, C. D. & Freebody, P. (2001). The crediting of literate competence in classroom talk. In Fehring, H. & Green, P. (Eds.), Critical Literacy: A Collection of Articles from the Australian Literacy Educators' Association (pp. 58-74) Newark, DE: International Reading Association.
 
Baker, C. D. (2000). Locating culture in action: Membership categorisation in texts and talk. In Lee, A. & Poynton, C. (Eds.), Culture & Text: Discourse and Methodology in Social Research and Cultural Studies (pp. 99-113) St Leonards, NSW: Allen & Unwin.
 
Baker, C. D. & Campbell, R. (2000). Children, language and power. In Campbell, R. & Green, D. (Eds.), Literacies and learners: Current perspectives (pp. 15-29) Sydney: Prentice Hall.
 
Danby, S. & Baker, C. D. (2000). Unravelling the fabric of social order in block area. In Hester, S. & Francis, D. (Eds.), Local Educational Order: Ethnomethodological Studies of Knowledge in Action (pp. 91-140) Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
 
 
Journal articles
 
Baker, C. D. (2005) Review essay: Surviving a winter of desolation. International Journal of Disability, Development and Education, 52 3: 259-263.
 
Baker, C. D. (2005) Review of counseling children and adolescents (3rd ed.) edited by Ann Vernon. Australian Journal of Guidance & Counselling, 15 1: 117-118.
 
Baker, C. D. (2005) Review of counseling families: An introduction to marriage and family therapy (3rd ed) by David L. Fennell & Barry K. Weinhold. Australian Journal of Guidance and Counselling, 15 2: 241-242.
 
Moni, K. B., Van Kraayenoord, C. E. & Baker, C.D. (2003) An investigation of discourses of literacy assessment in two first year high school English classrooms. Australian Journal of Language and Literacy, 26 1: 67-83.
 
Christensen, C. & Baker, C. (2002) Pedagogy, observation and the construction of learning disabilities. Pedagogy, Culture and Society, 10 1: 73-93.
 
Moni, K., Van Kraayenoord, C. & Baker, C. (2002) Students’ perceptions of literacy assessment. Assessment in Education, 9 3: 319-342.
 
Danby, S. & Baker, C.D. (2001) Escalating terror: Communicative strategies in a preschool classroom dispute. Early Education and Development, 12 3: 343-358.
 
Honan, E., Knobel, M., Baker, C.D. & Davies, B. (2001) La produccion de posibles anas: La teoria y el objeto de la investigacion. Desencuestros: Revista de Analisis Educativo y Social, 2 2: 14-38.
 
Roulston, K., Baker, C.D. & Liljestrom, A. (2001) Analyzing the researcher's work in generating data: The case of complaints. Qualitative Inquiry, 7 6: 745-772.
 
Baker, C. D. (1999) Review of N. Yelland (Ed.) 'Gender in early childhood'. Educating Young Children: Learning and Teaching in the Early Childhood Years, 5 2: 54-54.

“The Carolyn D. Baker Memorial Scholarship was established in 2004 and 2005 is the first year it has been awarded. The purpose of the scholarship is to provide an annual contribution to allow a postgraduate research student studying in the discipline of Education at The University of Queensland to attend and present a paper at an international conference. Carolyn often presented her work at national and international conferences. She believed in encouraging students to present their “work in progress” or papers from their completed theses - often inviting them to join her in attending conferences overseas. Thus the purpose of this scholarship fits in well with her aims and intentions. The value of the scholarship is $2500 per annum. The award was instigated by Carolyn Baker’s son, John Baker, and the award that will be given tonight is a wonderful way in which her son, her family, friends, and colleagues have honoured her memory.

The Scholarship Committee in 2005 was chaired by Professor Adrian Ashman, Head of the School of Education, John Baker, Professor Peter Freebody, Professor Susan Danby of Queensland University of Technology and myself. Susan was one of Carolyn’s PhD students and colleague and co-author. Susan gave the inaugural Carolyn D. Baker Memorial Lecture in 2004.

The applicant who will receive the Carolyn D. Baker Memorial Scholarship this year wrote in her application the following:

‘My involvement with the PhD program was due in no small part by the encouragement and support I received from Associate Professor Carolyn Baker in the latter stages of my Honours Program. With her excellent guidance in the beginning year of my PhD and the continued excellence of supervision from Associate Professor Pam Christie and Dr Susan Danby I now find myself in the final year of my PhD program.’

The applicant will be presenting a paper at the International Conference on Conversation Analysis, in Helsinki, from May 10-14, 2006. The applicant described the conference in the following way:

‘This is an international multidisciplinary meeting on conversation analysis. It brings together researchers of language, culture and society from different parts of the world. It aims at sharing the latest research, promoting co-operation among researchers, and discussing new openings in the quickly developing field of conversational studies. The theme of the 2006 conference is “Comparative Perspectives in Conversation Analysis”. The aspects of my research that I plan to present at this conference compliment this theme in that it compares interactional practices of members representing two different educational sectors as they work together to form an Education Alliance.’ 

The Carolyn D. Baker Memorial Scholarship is awarded in 2005 to Paula Jervis-Tracey. I would like to ask her to come up to receive the Scholarship. [Letter from John Baker handed to Paula Jervis-Tracey. Paula Jervis-Tracey responds.]”  Spoken by C. E. van Kraayenoord, 2005

The following speakers have presented at the School's annual Carolyn D Baker Memorial Lecture.