A longtime print journalist, Kirk Baird joined The University of Toledo Marketing
and Communication team in October, 2020, as Internal Communications Manager, in the
chief role of providing and editing content for UToledo News.
A Dallas native, Baird graduated from Texas Tech University with the stubborn dream
of being a features writer and film critic at a daily newspaper.
His first career stop was at the Odessa American in Odessa, Texas, where, as a copy
editor-turned entertainment editor, Baird came to see the beauty in the scrub tree
desolation of West Texas (and to appreciate the hardscrabble resolve of those who
defined themselves by it).
A few years later, he accepted a position at the Las Vegas Sun – a life-changing career
move where Baird met his wife and became a father. At the Las Vegas Sun, Baird wrote
feature and entertainment stories about Sin City eccentrics and strip mall neighborhoods,
and quickly learned the fun in name-dropping celebrities he had interviewed. Baird
considers his hourlong phone interview with Hunter S. Thompson to be his second favorite
Las Vegas Sun story to share. His first? When Thompson called Baird back minutes after
they hung up just to chat.
Baird joined the newspaper staff of the Toledo Blade as the paper’s film critic and
pop culture editor in July, 2008. In his dozen years at The Blade, Baird expanded
his newspaper presence to include weekly columns (which the Associated Press deemed
to be among the best in Ohio), and generated more stories about those who live in
Northwest Ohio than he can remember.
During his formative years as a journalist, Baird learned that everyone has a story
to tell. They just need someone to tell it.
He is excited about telling those stories of the incredible students, faculty and
staff at UToledo. When not telling stories, Baird is likely to be at home playing
classic video games on his full-size arcade cabinet … and explaining to his beloved
wife and daughter why there is a full-size arcade cabinet in their home.
