LEWISTON — Bates College President Elaine Tuttle Hansen announces that Associate Dean of the Faculty Pamela J. Baker, the college’s Helen A. Papaioanou professor of biological sciences, has accepted a two-year appointment as the institution’s vice president for academic affairs and dean of the faculty, effective July 1.

Baker earned a bachelor of science degree in biology, cum laude, from Bates in 1970. She received a master’s degree and doctorate from the State University of New York at Buffalo, joined the Bates biology faculty in 1989 and was promoted to associate professor in 1996. A distinguished researcher and teacher, she was named the inaugural Papaioanou professor of biological sciences in 2005.

At Bates, Baker’s teaching and research have focused on cell and molecular biology and immunology. She has developed a laboratory model for periodontal disease that she has used to demonstrate the roles of genetics and the immune system in bone loss in the jaw. Widely recognized in the field of immunology, her research has earned major grant support from the National Institutes of Health.

In the area of academic administration, she was instrumental in establishing Bates’ interdisciplinary program in biological chemistry and served as chairwoman of the faculty’s Division of the Natural Sciences before becoming associate dean of the faculty, overseeing faculty research and scholarship, in 2002.

Baker lives in South Paris with her husband, David Baker, also a 1970 Bates graduate. He is acting director of academic operations for finance at Bates and a clinical dentist.