Marcia Lynn Whicker

Whicker was born in 1950.[1] She attended the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where she obtained a B.A. degree in political science and economics.[2] Whicker then studied at the University of Tennessee, where she obtained an M.P.A. degree, and she also completed an M.S. degree in economics from the University of Kentucky.[2] She continued to study at the University of Kentucky, graduating with a PhD in political science in 1976.[2] While she was a graduate student, Whicker worked as a dancer.[1] Whicker was a Congressional Fellow of the American Political Science Association in 1975, and in that capacity she worked with Massachusetts member of congress Joe Moakley.[3]

Whicker was a member of the political science faculties at Virginia Commonwealth University, the University of South Carolina, Temple University, and Wayne State University, before becoming a professor of political science at Rutgers University.[2] While working as a professor at the University of South Carolina, Whicker studied electronic engineering at Midlands Technical College and completed an associate degree there.[1] Whicker served as the Chair of the Department of Public Administration in the Graduate School at Rutgers University beginning in 1994.[2] After she died, Rutgers created the Marcia Lynn Whicker Memorial Endowed Scholarship for M.P.A. students in her memory.[4]

Whicker was an author or an editor of 16 books during her career,[3] in addition to dozens of journal articles and book chapters.[2] Whicker's research largely focused on how the institutions of governance affect policies, and the role of executives and legislative leaders in American politics.[2] Whicker's 1996 book Toxic leaders: When organizations go bad coined the concept of a toxic leader, which describes those who abuse their position of control over an organization and leave their supporters and organization in a worse situation than before.[5] 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.[6] Whicker's other research included work on the roles of race and gender in political campaigns, state-level political leadership,[7] and the state of the American constitutional system.[8] 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.[9] In addition to her research, Whicker also served as an editor of academic journals including the Presidential Studies Quarterly.[3]

• The constitution under pressure: A time for change, coauthored with Raymond Moore and Ruth Ann Strickland (1987)[8]
• Computer simulation applications: An introduction, coauthored with Lee Sigelman (1991)[6]
• Getting tenure, coauthored with Jennie Jacobs Kronenfeld and Ruth Ann Strickland (1993)[9]
• Legislative leadership in the American states, coauthored with Malcolm E. Jewell (1994)[7]
• Toxic leaders: When organizations go bad (1996)[5]