(Burce ’79) Warlick Dedicates Career to Foreign Service

Mary (Burce ’79) Warlick’s career has spanned decades and continents.

Mary (Burce '79) Warlick

A career Foreign Service officer and member of the Senior Foreign Service, Warlick joined the State Department in 1983. Since then, she has served with her husband, Jim, also a Foreign Service officer, in Manila; Dhaka, Bangladesh; Bonn, Germany; Moscow; and Washington, D.C. She now is director of the Office of Russian Affairs at the U.S. Department of State.

At Valpo, Warlick majored in political science and humanities and was a Christ College scholar.

“As a daughter of American Lutheran missionary parents, born in Papua New Guinea and graduating from a Lutheran high school in Adelaide, South Australia, I came to Valpo with an international background but also a strong desire to expand my knowledge and understanding of the United States,” she says.

Initially interested in pursuing a major in music, she was encouraged by her Christ College adviser and political science professors to explore an interdisciplinary major in international relations. Among her mentors: Warren Rubel, Albert Trost ’62, Arlin Meyer, the late Sue (Stonebraker ’51) Wienhorst, Ted and Kathy (Plackemeier ’59) Ludwig, the late Kenneth and Jeanne Korby, and Norm and Betsy Nagel ’82 (honorary).

In 2006, Warlick received the Secretary of State’s Award for Public Outreach.

“The strong written and oral communication, critical thinking and analysis skills that I learned and developed at Valpo, particularly through my Christ College studies, were invaluable in preparing me for graduate school and the Foreign Service,” she says.

“These same skills also equipped me to engage effectively in numerous public outreach and speaking events, both in the U.S. and abroad.”