This Duke Alumna Is a Steward for North Carolina Nature and Culture

As a policy analyst for the North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources, Anne-Elisabeth Baker coordinates sustainability efforts across the agency’s 100 sites

Three people posing in front of a waterway
From left: DNCR Secretary Pamela Cashwell, Baker, and Jeff Michael, deputy secretary for natural resources, in eastern North Carolina.

This is a summary of a story that originally appeared on Nicholas School of the Environment. 

“I feel like I’m in my dream job right now,” says Anne-Elisabeth Baker, a policy analyst for the North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources (DNCR).

Baker coordinates sustainability efforts for DNCR, leading its agency-wide Green Team, while also supporting policy development across the department. Her purview is vast: The agency oversees the state park system and historic sites, N.C. museums and aquariums, and the state library, among other resources. 

One of her projects is North Carolina the Beautiful, a statewide litter cleanup initiative led by DNCR in partnership with America 250 NC, a yearlong commemoration of the nation’s 250th anniversary. (Duke is also marking the milestone with its We the People initiative.)

The cleanup project ties in to the Green Team’s ongoing goal to reduce the use of single-use plastics across DNCR sites. 

After studying industrial design in college, Baker got interested in the policies that govern waste and applied to various graduate schools with sustainability programs. 

The Master of Environmental Management Program at the Nicholas School of the Environment won her over.

“I thought, oh this is actually where I want to be — part of a community,” says Baker, who lives in Durham.

At DNCR, she has found a similar environment. 

“It’s the people that I’m meeting every day and learning from that make this job so special,” Baker says. “One day I’m interacting with the state’s renowned historians within our archives, and then the next day I’m outside at a state park, getting a crash course on native seed preservation from a park ranger. Every day is so different and dynamic.”

Read more stories about recent alums in this Nicholas Narratives profile series.