Raymond Swisher

Raymond Swisher, Ph.D., is a Professor and Department Chair in the Department of Sociology and Demography at the University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA), within the College for Health, Community and Policy. His research focuses on adolescence and the transition to adulthood, violence and crime across life courses, parental incarceration, and social mobility, particularly among first-generation students. He holds a Ph.D. in Sociology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, alongside advanced degrees in City and Regional Planning and Geography.

Swisher has secured significant grants, including a $417,000 grant on neighborhood change and violence in adolescence (2013–2017) and a $131,159 grant for constructing an AddHealth Wave III Contextual Database (2004–2006). His recent presentations include discussions on adverse childhood experiences among first-generation students and subjective life expectancy comparisons with life table estimates. His work frequently employs longitudinal data from Add Health, CHAPS, and other national surveys to analyze sociological and criminological phenomena.

Swisher’s publications span journals like the Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency and SSM - Population Health, addressing topics such as neighborhood disadvantage’s role in adolescent violence, racial disparities in health behaviors during the pandemic, and the impact of paternal incarceration on youth outcomes. His scholarship emphasizes the interplay between structural factors, individual behaviors, and life course trajectories.