Mark Larese-Casanova

Mark Larese-Casanova is the Project Director of the Public & Schol Partnership Americorps VISTA program at USU.  Mark is originally from Connecticut and received Bachelor and Master of Science degrees in Wildlife Conservation and Management from the University of Connecticut.  He began his career as a seasonal intern for the U.S. Forest Service where he learned the value of service to communities and agencies. Since 2003, Mark has devoted his career at Utah State University to developing partnerships with non-profit organizations and state and federal agencies to build educational capacity. He developed, taught, and directed several education programs from multidisciplinary K-12 field trip programs to statewide training program for adults.  Through these programs, Mark has trained tens of thousands of youth and thousands of adults.  Utah Master Naturalist, Mark's flagship program, trained over a hundred volunteer naturalists, Americorps members, K-12 teachers, and agency professionals every year.  To further build educational capacity in his field, Mark has shared his experience directing and evaluating programs through professional presentations, fact sheets, and peer-reviewed publications.