MRC Members for 2012

Lou Swanson is the Vice President for Engagement and Director of
Colorado State University Extension. He oversees CSU Extension,
Continuing Education, economic and community development, the Colorado
Water Research Institute, and the Bighorn Leadership Development
Program.

Dr. Swanson, a rural sociologist, obtained his bachelor’s degree in
political science at St. Andrews Presbyterian College, his master’s of
technology in international development from North Carolina State
University and his doctorate in rural sociology from Pennsylvania State
University. He was a professor in the University of Kentucky’s
Department of Sociology before joining CSU in 1997. He has served as
professor and chair of the CSU Sociology Department and associate dean
of the College of Liberal Arts. He has spent the majority of his career
focused on public policy associated with the sociology of agriculture
and rural community studies. A past president of the Rural Sociological
Society, he maintains an active research agenda centered on policy
issues associated with agriculture and rural development and community
change. He has written numerous journal articles and book chapters and
has authored or co-authored six books on rural communities in the United
States. He served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Tunisia, as a Resident
Fellow at Resources for the Future, and in 2009 was recognized as an
Outstanding Alumni in the College of Agricultural Sciences at Penn State
University.