Michael H. Ebner is the A.B. Dick Professor of History and department chair at Lake Forest College, where he has been a member of the faculty since 1974. He also has been a visiting professor at the University of Chicago. He received his Ph.D in American history at the University of Virginia.

Ebner has written widely on aspects of American history for learned publications in North America, England, Germany, and Israel. He is best known as the author of the prize-winning book entitled Creating Chicago's North Shore, A Suburban History (University of Chicago Press, 1988). He is currently a member of the editorial boards of Planning Perspectives (UK) and Journal of Urban History; he also is the founder and co-chair of the Urban History Seminar of The Chicago Historical Society, established in 1983.

He has held numerous research awards, including designation as a fellow of The National Endowment for the Humanities. He also has served since 1990 as a trustee of The Chicago Historical Society. From 1988 until 1999, Ebner served as the executive secretary-treasurer of The Urban History Association, an international learned society with nearly 450 members. During 1988, underwritten by the Hewlett-Mellon Presidential Discretionary Fund at Lake Forest College, he led a faculty field study visiting universities in Japan, China, and Tibet. He also served as chair of the Academic Innovations Group at Lake Forest College during 1997-98. He chairs the program committee for the Organization of American Historians, a professional association with 10,000 members, for its annual meeting in April of 2001 in Los Angeles.

The American Historical Association recognized Ebner with its Nancy Lyman Roelker Mentorship Award (1994) and the Chicago Tribune (1994) named him to its all-star team of college professors. Lake Forest College has recognized him with its Charlotte Simmons Prize for distinguished public service (1998), with its annual Trustee Award for Teaching Excellence and Campus Leadership (1998), and with its Senior Class Award as the Great Teacher (2000).

Michael Ebner is a resident of Lake Forest, IL. Active in local affairs for many years, he served as ward chairman of the Committee on Candidates of the Lake Forest Caucus and has chaired the city's Building Review Board and its Historic Preservation Commission.