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What Ever Happened To...
Joan S. Swedberg
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Ever wonder what happened to a great CCRI teacher, administrator or student who left a lasting impression on you? "What Ever Happened To...?" is a series of articles on individuals who helped shape the fabric of our college through their teaching innovation and excellence, their forward-thinking contributions to the college's long-term success, and their achievements in their career and community.
Nearly 37 years later, professor Joan Swedberg still remembers the words of Dr. William F. Flanagan, founding president of Rhode Island Junior College, who told a group of young faculty in the early years of the college, “Never worry about trying different things; you have the right to be wrong.”
Guided by these words, Swedberg, now 77, had a distinguished teaching career at CCRI, helping train hundreds of young people for the Rhode Island workplace. While it’s been nearly 20 years since her retirement in 1987, Swedberg fondly recalls her 18 years at CCRI. “It was exciting to be part of growing a college, and to see our graduates succeed in the workplace.”
Swedberg was born in Providence and attended Central High School. Assisted by a scholarship, she graduated from Bryant College with a teaching degree. After a semester of student teaching, she began a career in teaching in the Warwick school system that would last for 17 years.
In 1969, Swedberg was recruited to join RIJC by Dick Anderson, a vocational technical teacher in Warwick. She accepted and became head of the Secretarial Sciences Department where she trained students to become more refined in providing secretarial services. “It was important that the State of Rhode Island provide this program of study to students who could not afford the high tuition at private schools like Bryant and Katharine Gibbs,” Swedberg recalls.
Student recruitment for the new college was a priority, and Swedberg, assisted by faculty members Sandra Johnson and Ruth Broderick, visited more than 30 high schools throughout the state introducing students to the junior college. Their efforts were successful as more than 120 students registered for the new program in the fall semester of 1969.
In 1973, the college relocated to the new Warwick campus and more change was underway. Secretarial Sciences was combined with Retail Management and Computer Science in a department headed by Sol Solomon, who today is a member of the Rhode Island Board of Governors for Higher Education. Soon, Solomon moved into a new position as director of college admissions, and Swedberg once again became head of the department. Several years later, Swedberg yearned to be back in the classroom, and she resumed teaching until she retired in 1987.
While she may have retired from teaching, Swedberg never retired from leading her active life, and she approached this new era with great enthusiasm. She conducted training programs for state employees looking to upgrade their skills, and also wrote several workbooks and developed programs for students taking telecourses. In 1994, she was elected to the CCRI Hall of Fame.
Today, she helps her daughter, Holly Armstrong, who has taken over the family business, RI Horse Supply, located in Scituate. Swedberg, along with her husband, Carlton, lives in Warwick and she continues to meet regularly with friends from the college, including Terry Squizzero, now department chair for Administrative Office Technology, as well as faculty members Ellen Silva, Donna Steele and Jeanne Nordquist.
Swedberg continues to be an enthusiastic cheerleader for CCRI, and recently said of the college, “CCRI is a wonderful learning institution that gives students an incredible opportunity to excel.”
If you know of subjects for future "What Ever Happened To" articles, contact Dennis Moore at dwmoore@ccri.edu.
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