John Willingham

John Willingham
John Willingham, 2011
Born
Waco, Texas, U.S.[1]
NationalityAmerican
Alma materUniversity of Texas at Austin
Occupations
  • Writer
  • editor
  • historian
Known forThe first and only in-depth quantitative evaluations of public university honors programs; essays on Texas history and literature; historical novels set in Texas
Websitehttps://www.johnwillingham.net/

John Willingham is an American writer and editor known for his collections of reviews about honors programs at public universities in the United States,[2][3] for his essays about history, literature, politics, and religion,[4] and for The Edge of Freedom: A Fact-Based Novel of the Texas Revolution.[5][6] The Revolution was his subject once more in his paper "Should We Forget the Alamo?: Myths, Slavery, and the Texas Revolution (2023).[7] In 2011, he founded and became editor of Public University Honors, a website that evaluates more than 50 college honors programs and provides information about honors programs in general.[2][8]

He is opposed to numerical rankings of colleges or honors programs, asserting in the 2018 edition that "Rankings presume a perfection that they cannot meet." His reviews place programs in groups, with the top group of 10 or so receiving the highest rating.

Willingham has been a contributor to the History News Network, which has published about two dozen of his essays and opinion pieces.[4] During the same period, his work appeared in a variety of publications including The Texas Observer online,[9] Religion Dispatches,[10] and the San Antonio Express-News.[11]

Born in Waco, Willingham graduated from Richfield High School and holds a bachelor's degree with honors and a master's degree in history from the University of Texas at Austin.[6] He served as McLennan County, Texas, elections administrator from 1984 through 1992, and Williamson County, Texas, Elections Administrator from 1993 through 2009.[6] In September 1998, he served as an Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) election coordinator for the general election in the district of Brcko, under the dual sovereignty of Bosnia and Serbia. During 2001–05, he was a member of the National Task Force on Election Reform. Assisted by funding related to the Help America Vote Act of 2002, the task force worked to improve the security and integrity of U.S. elections.[12]

  1. ^ Huddleston, Scott (March 25, 2011). "Remembering the 'Goliad Massacre'". San Antonio Express-News. Hearst Newspapers. Retrieved December 6, 2016.
  2. ^ a b Bruni, Frank (August 8, 2015). "A Prudent College Path". The New York Times. Retrieved December 7, 2016.
  3. ^ Berlinerblau, Jacques (August 26, 2017). "Starting a college admission search? Here are a professor's tips". The Washington Post. Retrieved September 4, 2017.
  4. ^ a b "John Willingham". History News Network. Retrieved December 8, 2016.
  5. ^ Bob, Cavendish (April 2012). "The Edge of Freedom: a Fact-Based Novel of the Texas Revolution". The Southwestern Historical Quarterly. 115 (4): 428–429. doi:10.1353/swh.2012.0028. JSTOR 41617051. S2CID 144161340.
  6. ^ a b c Smith, J. B. (March 16, 2011). "Former McLennan Elections Official John Willingham to Sign Copies of His Book". Waco Tribune-Herald. BH Media Group. Retrieved December 6, 2016.
  7. ^ Board, Editorial (June 4, 2023). "Texas historical association is a treasure. Its future is under threat". Houston Chronicle. Retrieved June 4, 2023.
  8. ^ "Public University Honors". Public University Honors. Retrieved December 7, 2016.
  9. ^ {{cite journal}|last=Willingham|first=John|title=At Glenn Beck University, Hatred is the Curriculum|url=https://www.texasobserver.org/at-glenn-beck-university-hatred-is-the-curriculum/journal=The Texas Observer|date=October 12, 2010|accessdate=December 12, 2016}}
  10. ^ Cite error: The named reference Sarah Palin was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  11. ^ Willingham, John (April 21, 2011). "Post San Jacinto: Gratification, Ire for Houston". San Antonio Express News. Retrieved December 12, 2016.
  12. ^ "Election 2004: Review and Recommendations by the National Election Administrators" (PDF). The Election Center. 2005. pp. i–iv. Retrieved December 9, 2016.