Baker, Jayne

The main research questions Prof. Baker addresses in her dissertation concern the ways in which elite single-gender private schools simultaneously create and reproduce class and gender.  She explores the circumstances in which class and gender become more and less salient.  She analyzes the extent to which elite, single-gender private high schools are focused on developing and sustaining notions of class and gender identity and how these institutional-level processes are accepted or rejected by students.  Her data were derived from an ethnographic study of two Toronto-area single-gender elite private schools.  Aside from her dissertation work, Prof. Baker has been involved in other research projects connected to her interests in gender and education.  In particular, along with Dr. Ann Mullen (of UTSC) she investigates patterns of gender segregation in majors in U.S. institutions, segregation in different types of institutions, and the degree of institutional segregation among Canadian university institutions. 

While Prof. Baker sees research as a crucial component of sociology and an important link to teaching, her interest has always been in teaching.  She enjoys teaching and mentoring undergraduate students and introducing them to sociological thinking.  Aside from teaching methodology and introduction to sociology, she has also taught courses in classical and contemporary theory and the sociology of education.