Roald Tweet is a Professor Emeritus of English at Augustana College and a historian of the upper Mississippi River. Roald is the husband of Margaret Tweet, the brother of David Tweet, father of Randall Tweet, Gretchen O'Brien, and Jonathan Tweet. Roald also is a grandfather and a great grandfather. Roald is currently part of the Agustin's Historical Society, St. John's Lutheran Church, Contemporary Club, Eagle Scouts, and a member of Sons of Norway. He holds a master's degree in English and a Ph.D. in American Literature from the University of Chicago. He creates three-minute vignettes about local history for his radio series, "Rock Island Lines," which earned the Illinois Humanities Council's Lawrence W. Towner Award in 2001. He earned the Studs Terkel Humanities Service Award in 2006. His published books include History of Transportation on the Upper Mississippi and Illinois Rivers,A History of the Rock Island District Corps of Engineers, 1866-1983, and The Quad Cities: An American Mosaic. In 2014 he began co-hosting the writing-related radio show Scribble.