Dr. Ron Swager is Director of Economic Development Education and Research Professor for the Institute for Economic Advancement at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock where his focus is on training and practical research for community and regional economic development. Prior to joining IEA in 2003, he served for twenty years as Professor and Director of the Masters Program in Economic Development at the University of Southern Mississippi. Ron is Course Director for the Mid-South Basic Economic Development Course, offered in Arkansas each year in March, and was director of the Mississippi Basic Economic Development Course for 10 years.
Dr. Swager received his Ph.D. in geography and economic development from the University of Illinois in 1975. He served for five years on the faculty of East Carolina University, then on the Charlotte-Mecklenburg County (NC) Regional Planning Commission, and later as Assistant Vice President for marketing at United Virginia Bank (now Suntrust) in Richmond, VA.
Ron is a Certified Economic Developer (CEcD) and a graduate of the Economic Development Institute (EDI). He holds memberships in the International Economic Development Council (IEDC), Business Retention and Expansion International (BREI), ACCRA, the Southern Economic Development Council, and the Arkansas Economic Developers Association. He is a Fellow Member (FM) of IEDC and received the Richard Preston Award for excellence in economic development education from IEDC in 1999.
Swager currently serves on the BREI Board of Directors, on the IEDC Education and Certification Advisory Committee, on the Executive Board of Directors of the Economic Development Institute at the University of Oklahoma, and on the Editorial Board for the Economic Development Journal. He also serves as Chair of the Basic Course Directors Committee for IEDC. He has written several publications for IEDC and several published articles. His main interests are economic development education, community and regional economic development, research (especially economic impact and community analysis), regionalism, and strategic planning.
