In conjunction with the exhibition Treasures of Heaven at the Walters Art Museum, she developed a seminar on reliquaries in Christian, Buddhist, and African traditions. She also has specialized training in numismatics. Earlier in her career she held positions as Keeper of Coins at the Harvard Art Museums, Numismatist for the Sardis Expedition in Turkey, and Museum Specialist in Numismatics at the Smithsonian Institution. As a guest curator at the American Numismatic Society, she authored the exhibition catalogue The Beaux-Arts Medal in America. She was a Graduate Lecturing Fellow at the National Gallery of Art, and later worked as a museum educator at the Baltimore Museum of Art and the Walters Art Museum. She has taught at UMBC, Stevenson University, and Howard Community College in addition to MICA. Baxter holds an MA in Fine Arts from Harvard University and a BA in Art History from the University of Delaware.