Wayne Swisher was born and raised in northeastern Colorado. He attended Colorado State University where he met and married Judy Hefner. After completing his Masters Degree in 1967 he joined the staff of the Spartanburg Speech and Hearing Clinic in Spartanburg, South Carolina and became Clinic Director in 1968. In 1970 the Swishers moved to Madison, Wisconsin, and Wayne began work on his PhD at the University of Wisconsin.  He completed his degree in August, 1974, and moved to Enid, Oklahoma, to begin his academic life at Phillips University.

Wayne’s teaching career has spanned more than thirty years in several universities.  From Phillips University he moved to the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque where he taught for ten years and also offered speech therapy services to several school districts, hospitals, and individual clients in a private practice.  In 1985 he made a decision to change pace and accepted a position as chair of the Department of Special Education and Communication Disorders at Northern State College in Aberdeen, South Dakota.  In 1986 he joined the Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders at the University of North Dakota where he became department chair in 1987. He has been at UND for the past twenty-one years, as chair, and more recently as a faculty member in CSD and as Associate Dean of the Graduate School.

In addition to teaching and related activities including advising students and directing student research, Wayne has served his profession as an accreditation site visitor for the Council on Academic Accreditation of the American Speech, Language, and Hearing Association.  He has been a member of ASHA since 1967 and has been active in the various state associations where he has lived.  He is a past president of the North Dakota Speech, Language, and Hearing Association and presently is chair-elect of ASHA’s Council on Academic Accreditation.

Wayne and Judy have two sons, three grandsons and two granddaughters.