[1] He attended Camden High School and spent a year at Colgate Academy before transferring to Hamilton College.
In 1921, Swetman was elected president of the Washington State Education Association and took particular interest in the issue of school equalization.
Meanwhile, the school grew in other ways; a women's athletic association was created in 1925, and Humboldt staged its first intercollegiate football contest in 1927.
Swetman ordered that no faculty member who did not get a master's degree would stay beyond 1935, and he also made it clear that he wanted more men on staff.
Many of the longtime faculty of the school resigned in response, but the effect of the decision was to catapult Oswego State into the top 20% of teachers colleges in the country.
[1] Swetman's time included new highs and new lows; under his guidance, Oswego State established its first extension service, and in 1940, the school granted its first industrial arts degree.
Swetman also advocated for the conversion of New York's normal schools, including Oswego State, to teachers colleges, which occurred in 1942.
In 1947, Swetman retired from Oswego, having suffered serious physical fatigue,[1] including a severe heart attack on November 3, 1946.