WAYNE, Neb. -- A longtime Wayne State College professor has passed away.

According WSC administration, Dr. Kenneth Hallgren died late last month in his home in rural Winside. He was 73.

Hallgren was born in Norfolk and graduated from Newman Grove High School.

He received his Associate’s Degree from Norfolk Junior College in 1970, B.A.E. from Wayne State College in 1977, master’s degree from Wayne State College in 1977 and his doctorate from the University of Northern Colorado in 1980.

Hallgren was awarded a fellowship in the Fulbright Scholar Program with the University of Brasov in Romania for the 1994-1995 academic year. He also taught at Norfolk Senior High from 1974 to 1977, was the general manager for a food development group, director of a small business development center in Maine, and associate professor of marketing at Husson College.  

He was a professor of business at Wayne State College starting in 1986. He retired in May of 2017.