Robin W. Winks (December 5, 1930 in Indiana – April 7, 2003 in New Haven, Connecticut) was an American academic, historian, diplomat, writer on the subject of fiction, especially detective novels, and advocate for the National Parks.

[1] After joining the faculty of Yale University in 1957, he rose in 1996-1999 to become the Randolph Townsend Professor of History and Master of Berkeley College.

Born in Indiana in 1930, Winks graduated magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa from the University of Colorado in 1952.

He held visiting lectureships and conducted research at universities around the nation and the world, including at Sydney University in 1963 where he lectured memorably on American History, Canada, Great Britain, New Zealand, South Africa, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, and the Middle East.

They subsequently established the honor as an annual award named the Robin W. Winks Award for Enhancing Public Understanding of National Parks[6] In a statistical overview derived from writings by and about Robin Winks, OCLC/WorldCat encompasses roughly 180 works in 460 publications in six languages and 24,000+ library holdings.