It is not often that the Economics Department has an alumni that retired as a full Colonel. Gary Swenson earned both his master’s (1973) and doctorate degree (1976) in economics from Iowa State University before serving in the U.S. army for 30 years. He retired from the army in 2005.
A native Iowan, Swenson graduated from Storm Lake High School in 1967. He was determined to succeed from the start. During his junior year of high school Swenson created a detailed analysis of the top economic graduate school programs in the United States. Iowa State ranked “acceptable plus”. Basically, Gary had a lifelong dream of attending the ISU Economics program.
Gary Swenson had come to ISU from the University of South Dakota with a B.S. in Business Administration. He also came with a deferred commission as a Second Lieutenant received from the Reserve Officers Training Corps.
Swenson was inducted into the U.S. army on December 30, 1975, and he began serving as a field artillery officer. He initially served in the 56th Field Artillery Brigade in Germany, that had nuclear missiles at the time. He then spent several years working on an intermediate range nuclear forces treaty between the U.S. and the Soviet Union. This assignment transitioned into being Chief of the Treaty Data Center for NATO. Towards the end of his distinguished military career he was assigned to the Pentagon to work on army budgeting.
During his military career Gary completed the United States Air Force Command and Staff College in 1986, a Masters of Business Administration in 1994 from Marymount University of Virginia, and the United States War College in 1998.
Disciplined is a word most often repeated when discussing the life and legacy of Colonel Gary G. Swenson, Ph.D. Gary passed away in 2025.
On Gary’s passing his estate endowed the dean of library services at Iowa State. It is extremely fitting that Swenson left a behest to the ISU library as he spent countless hours there, often seven days a week, over a five-year period. Gary had an unquenchable thirst for knowledge. He loved books and was a vociferous reader.
“The library has long been celebrated as the heart of Iowa State University” said Iowa State University President Wendy Wintersteen. “The Swenson’s generous gift will foster services that support research and learning across campus and beyond”.
Hilary Seo was formally installed as the inaugural Colonel Gary G. Swenson, Ph.D. Dean of Library Services during a medallion ceremony on November 3, 2025.
Friend Jim Gibson sums it up: “Swenson was a serious and disciplined man, but he could be a pretty funny guy: he was clever and he had a quickness of the mind. He accumulated few toys. He worked hard, saved his money, and invested wisely. All this effort was done while patrilocally serving his country, and he was still able to make a generous bequest to the ISU Parks library. We should all applaud this achievement.”