He attended high school at Brigham Young Academy and later took college courses there as well.
He was dean of the college division of BYU from 1904 to 1910 (this was when it had just transitioned from being BYA, and the student body still was largely high schoolers).
From 1921 to 1925, Swensen served as acting dean of BYU's College of Education.
Swensen and his wife Margaret Ellen Davis had ten children.
In the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Swensen served as a stake high councilor for 23 years.