David E. Sweet

David E. Sweet, (1933–1984), academic, was the founding president of innovative Metropolitan State University and later president of Rhode Island College, where he spearheaded the Leadership Rhode Island program and presided over the college's evolution from a normal college into a multipurpose college.

David Emery Sweet was born July 9, 1933, in Holyoke, Massachusetts, the son of Adrian John Sweet and Elsie King (Jocelyn) Sweet . He received his BA degree from Drury College in 1955, and his MA (1958) and his PhD (1968) from Duke University, where he was an instructor in political science and faculty adviser of the Christian Science Organization on campus.

Sweet was an instructor at Ohio University for the year 1959-1960 and then served as an associate professor of political science at Illinois State University, 1960-1969. From 1969-1971 he served as vice chancellor of the Minnesota State College System.

In 1971 he was chosen to become the founding president of Metropolitan State College, an innovative non-traditional institution in St. Paul, Minnesota, which evolved into Metropolitan State University.

In 1977, Dr. Sweet left Metro State to become president of Rhode Island College, which was then basically a teachers college. During its tenure there, he spearheaded the Leadership Rhode Island program and presided over the college's evolution into a multipurpose college granting bachelors as well as masters degrees in many fields.

David E. Sweet married Arleene Pachl on June 4, 1954. They had two children.

David E. Sweet, a Christian Scientist, died on September 16, 1984, in a Providence, Rhode Island hospital after suffering an apparent diabetic seizure and cardiac arrest. He had been sick for the previous week or so but had refused medical treatment because of his religious beliefs. He was buried with his parents, Elsie King (Jocelyn) Sweet, (1897–1982) and Adrian J Sweet (1903–1963) in Spring Grove Cemetery, Florence, Hampshire County, Massachusetts.

David E. Sweet has been memorialized in the following ways:

• Leadership Rhode Island established the annual David E. Sweet Award.
• Rhode Island College's David E. Sweet Center for Public Policy is named for him.
• Rhode Island College's dormitory Sweet Hall was named for him.