Marcia Lynn Whicker

Marcia Lynn Whicker (1950 – March 23, 1999) was an American political scientist. Whicker was a professor of political science at Rutgers University, where she served a term as the Chair of the Department of Public Administration. She specialized in the study of executive and legislative leaders in American politics, coining the idea of a toxic leader, and also focused on the ways that policy outcomes are shaped by governing institutions. Whicker was one of the first political scientists to research the use of computer simulations in the study of political phenomena.

Education and positions Whicker was born in 1950. She attended the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where she obtained a B.A. degree in political science and economics. She continued to study at the University of Kentucky, graduating with a PhD in political science in 1976.

Research Whicker was an author or an editor of 16 books during her career, in addition to dozens of journal articles and book chapters. Whicker also conducted innovative research in political methodology; for example, in 1991 she and Lee Sigelman co-authored a book on the use of computer simulations in political science, called Computer simulation applications: An introduction. Whicker's other research included work on the roles of race and gender in political campaigns, state-level political leadership, and the state of the American constitutional system. In 1993, Whicker co-authored the book Getting tenure with Jennie Jacobs Kronenfeld and Ruth Ann Strickland, to assist professors without academic tenure in understanding the tenure process. In addition to her research, Whicker also served as an editor of academic journals including the Presidential Studies Quarterly.

Selected works The constitution under pressure: A time for change, coauthored with Raymond Moore and Ruth Ann Strickland (1987) Computer simulation applications: An introduction, coauthored with Lee Sigelman (1991) Getting tenure, coauthored with Jennie Jacobs Kronenfeld and Ruth Ann Strickland (1993) Legislative leadership in the American states, coauthored with Malcolm E. Jewell (1994) Toxic leaders: When organizations go bad (1996)