Marietta Baba

Executive Director and President of the Foundation for Women and Children Enslaved in War (WCEW)

Professor and Dean Emeritus
Michigan State University

Marietta Baba is Executive Director and President of the Foundation for Women and Children Enslaved in War (WCEW), a 501(c)(3) organization based in Washington DC. She also is Professor and Dean Emeritus at Michigan State University. Dr. Baba a leader and scholar who has transformed large organizations, founded new research and professional organizations, led fundraising campaigns, and consulted to a wide range of public and private sector agencies and corporations.

Dr. Baba was Dean of the College of Social Science at Michigan State University for 14 years (2001-2015) where she led a large and diverse college of 12 disciplinary departments and professional schools, and over 330 tenure stream faculty members, with a focus on data-driven improvements in research, teaching, and the service/outreach missions. As Dean, she exceeded the goals of a major capital campaign for her college.

Previously, Dr. Baba was Professor and Chair of the Department of Anthropology at Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan (1996-2001) where she founded the first business anthropology education program. At the National Science Foundation (1994-96) she co-led NSF’s first industry-funded grant program — Transformations to Quality Organizations (now called Science of Organizations). Dr. Baba also was a co-founder of the National Association for the Practice of Anthropology, a section of the American Anthropological Association.

Dr. Baba’s research interests include the anthropology of work, organizations and institutions, technological innovation in organizations, the anthropology of policy, and the history and theory of applied and practicing anthropology. She is the author or co-author of more than 100 scholarly and technical publications.

Dr. Baba holds an MBA from the Advanced Management Program, Eli Broad Graduate School of Management, Michigan State University, and a PhD in Anthropology from Wayne State University. The mission of WCEW is inspired by her family’s history as Christian cultural minorities and war refugees from Persia (now Iran) during World War I.