Ed Baum is Professor Emeritus of Political Science. He received his B.A. and Ph.D. from the University of California at Los Angeles (U.C.L.A.). His areas of concentration are public administration and public personnel administration. He taught at California State University, Northridge, before coming to Ohio University in 1964. He was deputy chief of party for the Ohio University/USAID program in Kano, Nigeria, 1965-69. 

He was Associate Provost for International Studies 1975-1981. He has published several monographs and articles, mostly in the area of African studies. He retired from full-time teaching in 1996 but continues teaching part-time.