Helen Vaughan Burdin Baker Simpson was a professor of History and Humanities and the Head of the Department of History and Geography at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. Born in 1937 to Dr. John J. Burdin, Jr., M.D. and Helen Broussard Burdin, she attended the Academy of the Sacred Heart in Grand Coteau, LA. She received her bachelor’s degree from Tulane University and her master’s and doctorate degrees from the University of Southwestern Louisiana, now the University of Louisiana at Lafayette.

Dr. Baker served as Director of the Women in Louisiana Division of the Center for Louisiana Studies from 1978-1981 and as Director of the University’s Interdisciplinary Humanities Program from 1985-1991. She taught history, humanities, and philosophy courses over the span of her career at UL Lafayette. She was a member of several boards and served as a member in national, regional, and state historical and interdisciplinary organizations, including the Louisiana Historical Association and the Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities. She was also a member of the UL France Advisory Committee. She co-authored two textbooks on twentieth century European history in addition to her many publications, spanning her entire career at UL Lafayette.