Journalist Joseph W. Shoquist was born on November 30, 1925 in Lone Tree, Iowa. After education in local public schools he attended the University of Iowa, interrupting his education to serve in the Army during 1946 and 1947. He received a B.A. in journalism in 1948 and an M.A. in 1951.
Shoquist began his professional career as a sports writer, working briefly with the Boise Statesman in 1948 before moving to the Idaho Falls Post Register. During the 1951-1952 school year Shoquist was an instructor at the Journalism School of the University of Montana. From 1952 to 1954 he was general assignment reporter for the Great Falls Tribune.
In 1954 Shoquist relocated in Milwaukee to take a position as copy editor for the Milwaukee Sentinel. The following year he became copy editor with the Milwaukee Journal. During the following years Shoquist advanced to become telegraph editor in 1959, assistant news editor and then news editor in 1964, and assistant managing editor in 1966. In 1967 Shoquist was appointed managing editor.
Throughout his career Shoquist has been active in various professional organizations including the Associated Press Managing Editors Association, the American Society of Newspaper Editors, the Wisconsin Associated Press Association and the Accrediting Council on Education in Journalism and Mass Communications. He served as president of the APME in 1979 and president of ACEJ in 1983. Shoquist has a strong interest in issues concerning First Amendment rights and professional ethics. As head of the APME's Professional Standards Committee he wrote the organization's widely-used code of ethics. He was a founder of the First Amendment Congress in 1980.
In 1986 Shoquist left the Journal to become dean of the Journalism School of the University of South Carolina.
