David B. Swoap, 1959
B.A., Denison University
M.A., Claremont Graduate School
D.S., University of Osteopathic Medicine
Citation awarded June, 1984
A Phi Beta Kappa member of the class of 1959, David Swoap received his M.A. in government from Claremont Graduate School and a D.S. from the University of Osteopathic Medicine and Health Services in 1981. He has spent approximately 20 years in government service. He is currently serving as secretary of the Health and Welfare Agency of the state of California. Prior to that appointment, he served President Reagan as under secretary of health and human services.
Throughout his government services, David has worked to find appropriate governmental approaches to the needs of the poor, the aged, and the disadvantaged. In his present post, he is involved in the development of concepts and legislature implementation of competitive strategies to achieve health care cost containment in order to avoid heavy regulatory approaches or other arbitrary governmental action that has an adverse impact on program delivery.
While at Denison, David was elected to Blue Key and Omicron Delta Kappa. Upon his graduation, he won both the Walter LeRoy Flory and the Proctor & Gamble Scholarships for graduate study.
In addition to his positions of responsibility in the state and national government, he has also been an elder at St. Stephen’s Presbyterian Church in Sacramento for many years.
