Ken Baker opened his blinds in his office to see out of the Student Recreation Center.

Baker, director of Campus Recreation, joked about how he keeps the blinds open so students know he is working. He closed them for a conference call earlier in the day.

“I was sitting talking on the phone, and I don’t like students looking in and saying, ‘He’s just sitting there. He’s not doing anything,'” he said. “If they look in that window, I better be doing something or they need to look for another director.”

Baker returned to the Student Recreation Center in July after serving as interim athletic director since August 2007. Barbara Burke, previously deputy director of athletics and senior woman’s administrator at the University of Wyoming was named as athletic director in March.

“It feels great to be back,” Baker said. “I missed the rec center. Mostly, I missed the daily contact with the students.”

Getting re-adjusted to director of campus recreation was not difficult for Baker. “My first day back we were scrubbing floors,” he said. “It didn’t take us long to get back in the swing of things.”

Being available to students is one of his goals as director.

“I don’t know if my door has been locked since I’ve been here since 2000,” Baker said. “This is not my office. This is the students’ office. I’m just a tenant here.” Being open to students allows him to get more ideas, he said.

“There are 12,000 brains and I only have one; so I should be listening,” Baker said. “It’s amazing how much you can learn if you listen and if you ask the questions.”

He said his year in the athletic department was an enjoyable one.

“It was a great year with athletics,” he said. “We got a lot of really good people doing a great job up there. It was a very rewarding year.”

While working as athletic director, he did not have as much time to be with students.

“There is so much going on with the AD,” Baker said.

With 21 sports and more employees than at the recreation center, he kept busy.

“You spend so much time just making the machine operate that you don’t have the time to get down and, for instance, go see a practice or visit with the players as much as you would like it,” Baker said. “Here, I’m in contact with students every single day. They’re right outside my door.”

He praised Burke, and has heard praise from others across the country.

“The NFL referee that I work with every weekend was her professor in college and still speaks highly with her,” Baker said. “Barbara Burke is a tremendous asset to this university and we are very fortunate to have her.”

During his time as interim athletic director, Kevin Linker, assistant director of Campus Recreation, and Sarah Daugherty, facilities director of Campus Recreation, served as co-directors.

Linker said he learned a lot as a co-director and that it was a good experience.

He enjoys having Baker back in the office.

“It’s great to have him back,” Linker said.

Plans in the Student Recreation Center this year include rotating new equipment in as usual, new furniture, additional lighting in the cardio area and a new stretching match.

Another idea being looked at is adding an additional nine holes to the campus disc golf course, Baker said.

Speaking about the recreation center, Baker said he is proud of the work his staff is completing there and proud to be a part of Eastern.

“If you catch me with a (University of Illinois) shirt on, just rip it right off of me,” he joked.

Matt Hopf can be reached at 581-7942 or at mthopf@eiu.edu.

Ken Baker spent the past year performing as the interim athletic director and is now back in his old position as director of student recreation. (Robbie Wroblewski/The Daily Eastern News)

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