Joe Rosenfield Center 311C
1115 Eighth Ave
Grinnell, IA 50112
United States
Mark Baechtel
Lecturer and Director of Forensic Activities & Club Sports
Mark Baechtel grew up in New Carlisle in Southwest Ohio. It’s a small town, not far from the border with Indiana. He earned his B.A. in Communications (Print Journalism) at American University in Washington D.C. His M.F.A. is from the University of Iowa’s Writer’s Workshop, where he concentrated on fiction writing. In his free time, Mark publishes poetry and fiction, he has one book in print and is currently trying to finish a novel. He also runs a book-editing business (Iowa Book Doctors), is renovating an 1880’s house, and has two very active young daughters he tries to keep up with.
Mark said that he values Grinnell College’s sense of community and its academic rigor and that “it tends to attract students who’re pretty serious about their education.”
Mark’s main areas of responsibilities are being staff support for the College’s Debate Union (its oldest student group) and its club sports program. Occasionally, he also teaches classes in the Humanities Division and serves as a board member at the College’s Center for Prairie Studies.
Education and Degrees
B.A. from American University in Communications M.F.A. from the University of Iowa's Writers' Workshop in fiction writing