Thirteen years ago, Dr. Micah Parzen was living in the Navajo Nation. Today, he’s sitting at a shiny conference table on the 26th floor of a downtown high rise. On Monday, August 9, he’ll settle into a new office at the San Diego Museum of Man in Balboa Park.
When the Museum of Man announced on July 14 that Micah would be its new executive director, I skimmed through the press release. Corporate attorney? That’s random, I thought.
But after a more thorough reading of the release—and a discussion with Micah—it’s clear that he’s the perfect person for the job. In addition to his legal education and expertise as an attorney for a top San Diego law firm, Micah has a Ph.D. in anthropology and significant nonprofit leadership experience. He has worked on a pro bono basis for the Museum of Man and the San Diego Natural History Museum, and served for two years as the board president of ElderHelp of San Diego. These days, Micah is as likely to mention nonprofit buzzwords like “strategic planning,” “cross-cultural perspectives,” and “sustainability” as he is to say any kind of legal jargon.
In 2000, Micah earned his Ph.D. from Case Western Reserve University and conducted extensive fieldwork with the Navajo community. He said he enjoyed graduate school and the various internships he had that focused on mental health advocacy but that he wasn’t sure if the life of a scholar was for him.
“I thought, I don’t know if I want to teach and do research for the rest of my career.”
Micah then went to law school at the University of California, Davis and, upon graduation, he moved back to his hometown of San Diego to work at Luce, Forward, Hamilton & Scripps, LLP.
“I became an employment attorney, which is really a perfect home for an anthropologist. What I’ve done is help employers solve human behavioral problems in the workplace.”
Micah said that he’ll continue to apply his psychological anthropology knowledge to his new role at the Museum of Man.
“It’s all about people, understanding people, working with people,” he said. Emphasizing the divided nature of the post-9/11 global community, he said that an institution like the Museum of Man couldn’t be more relevant.
“There is a lot of tension between various individuals and groups in the world right now. We have the potential to help the community learn about themselves and others. I know it sounds idealistic but we can change the world.”