Background
John Edward Hallwas was born on the 24th of May 1945 in Waukegan, Illinois, United States. The son of Emil Ferdinand and Ruth Edna (Wells) Hallwas.
Western Illinois University
University of Florida
Western’s Malpass Library
educator historian speaker writer
John Edward Hallwas was born on the 24th of May 1945 in Waukegan, Illinois, United States. The son of Emil Ferdinand and Ruth Edna (Wells) Hallwas.
John Edward Hallwas received his Bachelor of Science in Education degree (with honors) in 1967 and his Master of Arts degree in 1968 from Western Illinois University, Macomb. He also received his Doctor of Philosophy from the University of Florida in 1972.
In 1992 and 1993 John hosted his weekly radio program "Prairie State Journal", focused on Illinois history. He was also an archivist at Western’s Malpass Library from 1979 to 2005. He was the founder and editor of a scholarly journal "Essays in Literature" during the 1970s, and he was the editor of another journal "Western Illinois Regional Studies" from 1980 to 1991. John E. Hallwas was a Professor of English department at Western Illinois University from 1970 to 2004. For more than thirty years Hallwas has also functioned as a public intellectual, bringing historical and cultural insights to the people of Illinois and adjacent states through a wide range of publications, lectures, and workshops focused on literature, history, community life, and creative nonfiction. He is currently a Distinguished Professor Emeritus at Western Illinois University.
He was a member of the Society for the Study of Midwestern Literature, Association for the Study of Literature and the Environment, Illinois State Historical Society, Phi Beta Kappa, Phi Kappa Phi.
John is married Garnette Verna Stockstad on January 3, 1966, and has two children.