Mark Gesner is the Director of Community Development & Dialogues at UW-Parkside's Center for Community Partnerships (CCP). Mark oversees the CCP's efforts in the areas of workforce development, diversity programs, facilitation services, and program evaluation and research. He serves on the CCP Leadership Team, chairs the Mentor Kenosha & Racine Advisory Council, and co-teaches the university's Community Based Learning 101 course.
Mark's current evaluation projects have included a variety of federal and local efforts ranging from a 1.67 million dollar U.S. Department of Education Title III grant to support and enhance UW-Parkside student success initiatives, to local community efforts to reduce youth drug use. He was the lead author and is now the principal investigator for a half million dollar grant from the U.S. Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention that supports mentoring for middle school students. Mark's research efforts have focused in the areas of educational attainment, mentoring, work readiness assessments, and intercultural competency.
Rooted in his prior community work as a nonprofit organizational consultant specializing in directional and strategic planning, Mark's emerging focus is to grow a facilitation services capacity at the CCP. The facilitation services initially include strategic planning, meeting facilitation, and coalition building. Based on the principles of community development, collaboration, and civic engagement, the purpose of the facilitation services will be to help grow social and economic capital in the region. Mark also currently serves as a member of the UW-Parkside Strategic Planning Leadership Team.
Prior to moving to Southeastern Wisconsin, Mark spent 15 years working for Hostelling International - USA, a nonprofit educational organization with a mission of promoting intercultural exchange through educational travel. Mark began his tenure with HI-USA as a youth hostel manager and eventually became the organization's national director of education and development. Other work experiences for Mark have included being an elementary school educator, a university staff development director, and a mental health counselor. Mark received his Bachelors degree from the State University of New York at Albany and his Masters degree from the Harvard Graduate School of Education.
Mark is active as a volunteer in the community and he currently serves as the President of the Temple Beth Hillel Leadership Council in Kenosha. He is an avid traveler, a sailing enthusiast, and a hacker on the golf course. He lives in Racine with his wife Margaret and daughter Sarah.
