Randy Swing serves as Co-Director of the Policy Center on the First Year of College, funded by a grant from The Pew Charitable Trusts and located at Brevard College in Brevard,North Carolina. In his work at the Policy Center Dr. Swing coordinates five higher education regional assessment consortia in Georgia, North Carolina, and Virginia -- each member institution involved in assessment of first-year programs. He is directly involved in the development of assessment instruments and in the Center’s national dissemination of information about assessment methodologies. Until 1999, Dr. Swing worked for 20 years in various first-year programs at Appalachian State University. Most recently, as founding director of the Assessment Office he developed and initiated a longitudinal, campus-wide assessment program with focus on learning outcomes. Earlier, he co-developed the Freshman Seminar Program, Early Start Summer Program, Academic Advising Center for freshmen and sophomores, and Summer Preview Program for marginally prepared students. The Freshman Seminar and Academic Advising programs have each received national awards as exemplary programs. While at ASU, Dr. Swing also coordinated an Upward Bound program serving low-income, first-generation students from rural Appalachia. Prior to earning a doctoral degree in higher education from the University of Georgia, he earned his M.A. and Ed.S. Degrees in Student Development from Appalachian State University and a B.A. in Psychology from the University of North Carolina – Charlotte. He serves on the Review Board for the Journal on Excellence in College Teaching and frequently serves as a grants reader for the U.S. Department of Education. In 1999 he received a National Science Foundation Summer Fellowship to study public opinion of educational policy. Dr. Swing holds active memberships in the American Association for Institutional Research, the Southern Association of Institutional Researchers, the Consortium for Assessment and Planning Support, and the American Association for Higher Education. He has published on the topic of public opinion of the American professoriate. His current work explores assessment methods, instruments, and data analyses – with emphasis on documenting learning outcomes from first-year programs and general education curricula.