Retha Warnicke

Retha Marvine Warnicke (born 1939) is an American historian and former professor of history at Arizona State University.

Career Warnicke graduated from Evansville Central High School. She then graduated with a Bachelor of Arts from Indiana University Bloomington, magna cum laude, in 1961. She then moved on to Harvard University, where she earned her Master of Arts and PhD in 1963 and 1969, respectively. During her junior year, she joined Phi Beta Kappa and in her senior year, she was granted the Listenfelt Scholarship, for outstanding Undergraduate History Major, following in 1961 with the Woodrow Wilson Fellowship.

From 1965 to 1966, Warnicke was an instructor at Phoenix College. She went on to teach at Arizona State University (ASU) as a lecturer from 1966 to 1967. She then left to pursue her PhD before returning to ASU to continue as a lecturer from 1969 to 1973. Warnicke rose through the ranks to assistant professor, then associate professor and finally professor in 1973, 1976 and 1984, respectively. She was the director of graduate studies at the history department from 1987 to 1992, and she was chair of the history department from 1992 to 1998. Warnicke retired from her position at ASU on January 1, 2018.

Warnicke was the first woman hired in the history department of ASU, and was one of the first to teach a women's history course. Through her advocacy, lobbying efforts and participation in numerous search committees, the history department began to add women and minority men to the department – and as a result, the history department is nearly half female and has a large minority presence. In addition to her efforts in the history department, Warnicke has also devoted much of her time to affirmative action and faculty rights.