Colorado University Athletics
Staff Directory
- Title:
- Associate AD/Impact & Strategic Engagement
- Email:
- Phone:
- 303-492-0551
DaWon Baker serves as the Associate Athletic Director for Impact & Strategic Engagement at the University of Colorado Boulder, where he leads the department’s strategy, organizational performance, and inclusive excellence portfolio. He oversees CU Athletics’ multi-year strategic plan and manages the Quarterly Progress Review (QPR) system—a department-wide framework that aligns priorities, metrics, and accountability across every sport program and administrative unit. Through this work, Baker ensures CU Athletics operates with clarity, focus, and measurable progress toward its strategic intents, reinforcing a culture of data-informed decision-making and operational excellence.
Baker also directs a broad Impact & Engagement portfolio that includes belonging and visibility initiatives, student-athlete development, leadership education, and cross-campus partnerships. His work includes stewarding CUnited, the Colorado Athletics Visibility Award, heritage-month programming, and innovative identity- and culture-based engagement experiences for staff and student-athletes. He has helped design CU Athletics’ “train-the-trainer” model and co-created an LMS module on inclusion in athletics, strengthening staff capacity and institutional alignment around culture-building work.
In addition to his administrative leadership, Baker serves as a part-time adjunct professor in Ethnic Studies at CU Boulder, where he teaches courses focused on culture within sport organizations and the systems, histories, and leadership practices that shape athletic environments.
Baker brings experience across the collegiate landscape, previously serving at the University of Nebraska as the Diversity & Inclusion Director for Life Skills and Enrichment. There, he advanced department-wide DEI programming, facilitated career development and post-eligibility placement for student-athletes, coordinated the annual Diversity and Inclusion Summit, launched the N-Vest Mentoring Program, and served on the university’s Inclusion Council. Earlier, as a graduate research assistant with The Institute for Diversity & Ethics in Sport (TIDES), he deepened his commitment to leveraging sport as a platform for systemic change and organizational impact.
A nationally respected facilitator and industry leader, Baker is a graduate of the NCAA Dr. Charles Whitcomb Leadership Institute and has served as a facilitator for the NCAA Student-Athlete Leadership Forum. He also serves on the Professional Development Planning Team for the Black Student-Athlete Summit, contributing to one of the nation’s premier gatherings for athlete development, leadership, and equity in sport. Baker is the co-founder of DIECE, a professional collective created to support, develop, and elevate leaders who work at the intersection of culture, impact, community, and equity in athletics.
His contributions have been recognized nationally; both Nebraska and Colorado received Honorable Mention recipient of the NCAA Diversity and Inclusion Award, led by Baker’s leadership.
A former long jumper on the University of Missouri Track & Field team, Baker earned his bachelor’s degree in Parks, Recreation & Tourism before completing both an MBA and an MS in Sport Business Management at the University of Central Florida.
Beyond his professional work, Baker enjoys podcasts, pickup basketball and flag football, and, above all, spending time with his wife Brandy and daughter, Nori. His career is grounded in the belief that athletics is a powerful engine for institutional impact, individual development, and community connection—where strategic clarity and inclusive culture work hand-in-hand to help people and organizations thrive.
