Leah Marangu

Leah Marangu (born 2 July 1952) is a Kenyan academic. She is considered to be one of Kenya's most distinguished and decorated scholars. and two Master of Science degrees in Home Economics and Family Environment from Northern Illinois University. She subsequently obtained a Ph.D. in Home Economics from Iowa State University.

Career

Marangu joined the faculty of Kenyatta University in 1978, where she was appointed a full professor and chair of the Department of Home Economics in 1988, becoming the first female full professor in East Africa. She became the chair of the board of directors of the Jomo Kenyatta Foundation in 2005, with her appointment marking the first time a woman had held such a post in a parastatal in Kenya. She is also the co-founder of Education for All Children, an education-to-employment NGO based in Nairobi.

Awards Marangu is an honorary alumni of Kenyatta University. She is a recipient of Olivet Nazarene University's Outstanding Alumni Lay Award (1996), Doctor of Letters, and the Maggie Sloan Crawford Award.

The University of Nairobi has also recognized her as one of the Women Trailblazers in Kenya as an educator.