Rex E. Wallace (born September 13, 1952) is an American linguist and classical scholar specializing in the Etruscan language, the ancient languages of Italy, epigraphy, and historical linguistics. He is Professor Emeritus of Classics at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, where he served on the faculty from 1985 until his retirement in 2018.
Rex Ervin Wallace completed his B.A. and M.A. at the University of NebraskaâÂÂLincoln before earning his Ph.D. in Linguistics from Ohio State University in 1984.
In 1990, Wallace was awarded the Rome Prize as the Oscar Broneer Fellow in Classical Studies at the American Academy in Rome. His research has focused on the paleography and linguistics of Pre-Roman Italy, with a significant emphasis on the inscriptions from the archaeological site of Poggio Civitate.
He was a co-founder and co-editor of Rasenna, a peer-reviewed electronic journal for Etruscan studies. In 2019, he was the dedicatee of a Festschrift, The Etruscans and the History of Dentistry, in recognition of his contributions to the field.