Doug Swanson joined the University of Missouri in February of 2017 as the UMSL Labor Studies Program Coordinator after over 20 years of working in a variety of roles with Labor Unions, such as member activist, officer, staff and administrator. Doug has an associate degree in Management from Sauk Valley Community College, a bachelor’s in Union Leadership and Administration from the National Labor College, and a Master’s in Labor Studies from the University of Massachusetts in Amherst.
Doug’s work in labor has taken him from Illinois to Wisconsin, Alaska and Maine before arriving at UMSL. Before beginning his career in the labor movement, Doug had worked for the Illinois Department of Transportation doing bridge and highway construction running multimillion dollar highway projects. While working as a worker advocate, Doug acquired considerable skills in member and leadership development, collective bargaining, organizing, and administration. Other teaching interests for Doug include labor history, workplace empowerment, and patterns of shifting work, the changing definition of employment as well as equity of wages and their impact on communities.
Doug is a member of Board of Directors for Bread and Roses Missouri, as well as the Workers’ Rights Board with Jobs with Justice. Doug is also a member of Labor and Employment Relations Association (LERA). He also serves on the board for the LERA Gateway Chapter.
