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PPRC News
Todd Swanstrom,
Ph.D.
is named as the
Des Lee Endowed Professor of
Community Collaboration and Public Policy Administration
at the University of Missouri - St. Louis
The Public Policy Research Center is pleased to announce that Todd
Swanstrom, Ph.D., has been named as the Des Lee Endowed Professor
of Community Collaboration and Public Policy Administration.
Since 2001, Dr. Swanstrom has been Professor of Public Policy Studies
at Saint. Louis University. From 1982 – 2001, he was Professor
of Political Science at Rockefeller College of Public Affairs and
Policy, State University of New York at Albany. While there, he
was Director of Strategic Planning for the City of Albany. He has
also worked as a neighborhood planner for the City of Cleveland.
Professor Swanstrom is a member of the MacArthur Foundation-funded
Building Resilient Regions Network, which seeks to build the field
of metropolitan studies and to translate scholarly research for
practitioners. As part of this effort, he is conducting research
on the metropolitan response to the foreclosure crisis in six metropolitan
areas, including St. Louis. Professor Swanstrom is also engaged
in research for the Annie E. Casey Foundation on employment opportunities
in the construction industry. This project arose from his work with
Metropolitan Congregations United (MCU) in St. Louis, which won
an agreement with the Missouri Department of Transportation (MoDOT)
to invest $2.5 million to include more women, minorities, and disadvantaged
persons in the construction of I-64.
Dr. Swanstrom is the author of six books, including Place Matters:
Metropolitics for the Twenty-first Century, 2nd ed. (co-authored
with Peter Dreier and John Mollenkopf). This text, published in
2001, examines the relationship between suburban sprawl and the
decline of central cities and inner-ring suburbs. He also co-authored
City Politics, 5th ed., a comprehensive examination of urban politics.
Dr. Swanstrom holds an M.A. in Political Science from Washington
University (1971) and a Ph.D. in Politics from Princeton University
(1981).
Dr. Swanstrom will begin his new role at the University of Missouri
– St. Louis on August 15, 2008. His appointment is shared
among the Public Policy Research Center, Public Policy Administration,
and the Department of Political Science. He will work with the PPRC
to achieve of its mission of producing and disseminating applied
analysis and evaluation of public policies and programs. In particular
he will enhance PPRC’s capacity to fulfill its mission of
conducting theoretical research on public policy issues.
"The Des Lee Collaborative is an incredibly exciting initiative
in higher education and I am proud to be part of it,” said
Professor Swanstrom. “I firmly believe that engaging the university
more intensively in community issues leads to both better scholarship
and a better region."
His role will include building collaborative partnerships within
the university as well as university-community relationships. "Collaboration
does not occur spontaneously. It has to be nurtured by supportive
leaders and laws,” he said. “Universities have a crucial
role to play in regional collaboration, and they fulfill it best
when they provide a forum where diverse interests can come together
to devise workable solutions.”
“Todd’s professional experience as a city and neighborhood
planner, combined with his research and writing on urban and regional
theory, provide a unique fit with PPRC’s mission of engaging
the metropolitan St. Louis community,” said PPRC Director
Mark Tranel. “His work here will be invaluable.”
We welcome Dr. Swanstrom and look forward to working with him.
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