Dr. Michael K. Swan

Michael K. Swan is an Emeritus Professor of the Department of Crop and Soil Sciences, Agricultural and Food Systems program at Washington State University.  He was coordinator of the Masters of Science in Agriculture program for many years.  Enhancing student learning through quality practical agricultural systems education has been the focus of Dr. Michael Swan’s life for over 30 years and retired from WSU in 2012.  He received his B.S. (1974) degree from Washington State University and his M.Ed. (1984) and Ph.D. (1990) degrees from Oregon State University. For 13 years, he was a secondary teacher of agricultural education in both Washington and Oregon. He joined the WSU faculty in 1997, having spent three years at Oregon State University and seven years at North Dakota State University. His present work focuses on agricultural systems and distance education teaching and delivery. He has led multi-state and multi-institution distance education projects with funding from the Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service and U.S. Department of Agriculture in addition to programs sponsored by state education agencies. His work has been published in over 70 articles covering agricultural education, especially with regard to distance education and methods of teaching. He has received numerous awards for teaching, research, and international development nationally including the National American Distance Education Consortium Award – Excellence in Distance Education, American Association for Agricultural Education (AAAE) Research Presentation Award, and the Distinguished Service Award form the Association for Career and Technical Education Research. He has served as national president of both the American Vocational Education Research Association and AAAE. His international projects have taken him to 12 countries in Africa and the Middle East.