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President David C. Sweet    

When David C. Sweet became Youngstown State University’s sixth president in July 2000, he brought with him distinguished state and national
experience for his work in economic development and building
university-community partnerships.

President Sweet’s leadership at YSU has resulted in eleven consecutive semesters and sessions of increased enrollment, strengthened partnerships throughout the region, a strategic plan that will guide the University toward its centennial in 2008 and a master planning process.

He has guided the development of the $22 million University Courtyard Apartments, a 408-bed student facility that is playing a key role in the revitalization of the Smoky Hollow neighborhood adjacent to campus.

President Sweet was a catalyst, along with Rev. John Horner of St. John’s Episcopal Church, in bringing together educational, cultural, civic and religious leaders to form the Wick Neighbors, a non-profit community organization, with the purpose to enhance the Wick District and rebuild the Smoky Hollow neighborhood as a collaborative enterprise.

“Our vision of YSU is to increase the educational attainment, economic prosperity and environmental vitality of the region,” said Sweet. “We are committed to a strong network of community partnerships to achieve this vision.” (outquote)

And he is working with the Mayor George McKelvey of Youngstown to devise an urban development plan, Youngstown 2010, that will lead YSU and the city into the twenty-first century.

Sweet also has provided leadership in raising private funds to support a new $12.1 million Andrews Student Recreation and Wellness Center, the first one to be built entirely with private funds at a state public university. Currently under construction, the center is scheduled to open in the fall of 2005.

Prior to coming to Youngstown, Sweet was dean and professor of the Levin College of Urban Affairs at Cleveland State University from 1978 to 2000. His success earned national recognition for the college’s graduate program and its specialty of city management/urban policy.

Dr. Sweet also is noted for his role in formulating and obtaining funding for the Ohio Board of Regents’ Urban University Program and serving as its chairman from 1979 to 2000.

Prior to his career as a university administrator, Dr. Sweet was appointed by the governor of Ohio to a number of state cabinet posts,
including the State Department of Development. He also served as commissioner of the Ohio Public Utilities Commission and head of the state’s first energy agency. He also was director of regional economic research at the Battelle Institute in Columbus.

Dr. Sweet has the distinction of being the only academic elected to serve as president of the American Economic Development Council (AEDC). He previously served as chairman of the board of the Northeast-Midwest Institute, a Washington, D.C., policy research center. In 1998, he was elected a Fellow of the prestigious National Academy of Public Administration. He recently co-edited the book, “The New American City Faces Its Regional Future.”

Dr. Sweet holds a Ph.D. from The Ohio State University, an M.A. from the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, and a B.A. from the
University of Rochester. He and his wife, Pat, live in Liberty, Ohio, and have two daughters and two sons and six grandchildren.

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