Mark Pierce

Mark A. Pierce (1958- ) was born in the town of Streator, Illinois as the sixth of nine children. He left his prairie roots before becoming an adult and set out for California in the late 70's. Eventually, he became a high school teacher in 1999, who taught continuation high school in Compton, CA, to Woodland Hills, and onto the Central Coast in Santa Maria. Pierce received his bachelor's degree from Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo in 1993, where he wrote the first draft of his novel "Four and Twenty Blackbirds." An excerpt of that was used for his senior project and the English department honored it with the Student Arts Commendation. Pierce is also a civil rights activist and has developed educational programs to address cultural proficiency; his book "Microaggressions Across The Great Divide: High Stakes Assessment, The Threat of Stereotype, and Hidden Curriculum" serves as a literary base for training in cultural sensitivity.