Historic Saint Paul

Carol J. Swenson is the Community Liaison with District Councils Collaborative and former senior research fellow and interim director of the University of Minnesota’s Design Center for American Urban Landscape—recently renamed the Metropolitan Design Center. She began working in the field of historic preservation during her tenure as administrator of the Otter Tail County Historical Society from 1977 to 1984. During that time, she was a member and chairperson of the Fergus Falls HPC and joined the Preservation Alliance of Minnesota board of directors. After leaving Fergus Falls, she served as coordinator of the Governor’s Residence Council from 1984 to 1986 and was president of the Preservation Alliance from 1987 to 1989. When she was at the U of M Design Center from 1989 to 2003, she participated in a variety of projects ranging from the Minneapolis Armory Reuse Study to research on urban design and the use of cultural and historical contexts and resources in neighborhood planning and regional growth management. Author and co-author of several publications on urban design and historic preservation, Swenson brings to the Historic Saint Paul board background in historic preservation at the local and statewide levels and expertise in nonprofit and research project management, grant writing, and urban design at all scales of development.