Mark Anderson
Miramar College
Health
Vice President, Adjunct Faculty
Board Member, San Diego County Board of Education
With a bachelor's degree in social work, Mark initially worked in mental health counseling for a number of years. As a trainer for a crisis counseling center, he was responsible for the quality of service being provided to the community. His efforts to ensure regular evaluation of the counseling staff and provide on-going training on mental health and related issues contributed to an increase of funding from public and private sources. Later, working with a community health clinic, he was part of an educational team that reached out to schools, businesses, and churches in an effort to reduce drug abuse. This included a feasibility study of providing EAP services to small businesses through publicly-funded agencies.
Returning to school for a graduate degree, Mark chose Public Health, due to the emphasis on prevention rather than treatment. Upon graduation, he established himself as a consultant's consultant working with EAP firms, organizational development companies, educational institutions, and non-profit agencies. Having contracts with some of the largest companies in San Diego, as well as some of the smallest, Mark has provided training, employee counseling, policy development, and grant writing. His involvement and dedication is demonstrated by his membership in and having served on the executive board of the local chapter of the Employee Assistance Professionals Association, and the local and national boards of the Society for Public Health Education.
Having moved into teaching at the college level somewhat late in his career, Mark enjoys the challenge of working with a room full of students. Taking a concept as potentially boring as infectious diseases, and turning it into a discussion involving most of the class is what he does best. College teaching also provides a unique window on the development of the next generation of employees for San Diego companies, which synergizes well with his consulting work. Working primarily at Miramar College, Mark has also taught at Mesa, Southwestern, Chapman University, 2 vocational schools, and SDSU. Mark isthe SDCCD faculty representative on the VEBA program, which coordinates our health benefits. In this capacity, he works with the consortium to ensure comprehensive and cost-effective prevention and treatment programs. In 2008 Mark was elected to the San Diego County Board of Education, which services all 42 K-12 school districts. Mark's desire to ensure high quality education for all students has shown in the increased outreach and training programs of the County Office of Education.
When not teaching, Mark enjoys reading, photography, and target shooting.