Dr. Marta Tienda

Marta Tienda is Maurice P. During ’22 Professor of Demographic Studies and Professor of Sociology and Public Affairs, emerita, at Princeton University, where she directed the Office of Population from 1998-2002 and was founding director of the Program in Latino Studies. Dr. Tienda held appointments at the University of Chicago, where she served as chair of the Department of Sociology and the University of Wisconsin at Madison. Dr. Tienda is past president of the Population Association of America, a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the National Academy of Education, and the American Academy of Political and Social Science, where she served as President.

Professor Tienda’s research has focused on the demography of racial and ethnic inequality, poverty and social policy, international migration, and social stratification. She directed a decade-long study about equity and access to higher education that included an evaluation of the Texas top 10 percent law, and in 2003 was recognized as Outstanding Graduate Alumna of the year by the University of Texas at Austin for that work. As a Phi Beta Kappa Visiting Scholar she delivered several lectures about the perils of underinvestment in public education.

Dr. Tienda currently serves on the boards of the Urban Institute and the Robin Hood Foundation. Past board service includes the Teachers Insurance Annuity Association (TIAA), Brown University, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, the W.T. Grant Foundation, the Rand Corporation, the Carnegie Corporation of New York, the Kaiser Family Foundation, the Russell Sage Foundation, the Jacobs Foundation of Switzerland, and the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, where she served as board chair. She was awarded four honorary degrees, including from her Alma Mater, Michigan State University.

Dr. Tienda received a B.A. from Michigan State University (Spanish, 1972) and a Ph.D. in sociology from the University of Texas at Austin (1976).