Mark Wagner, PhD
Space Educator
Hi, all.
As I look back on the last five years focusing my work on space education, the struggles have been entirely worth it. Getting to contribute to meaningful and impactful work with the Space Prize Foundation, Aldrin Family Foundation, and Slooh has been spectacular. Publishing a book on Space Education, developing an open curriculum for students, and a launching a professional development program for educators has been extraordinarily fulfilling... and boy have the Earth and Space Experience and Camp BTX been an adventure. I'm grateful too for the opportunity to contribute to events like SEEC, SPACE, and the Analog Astronaut Conference... not to mention co-hosting the free online Space Education Summit. Best of all, this has all been mission-driven work for me, focused on preparing others for the growing space economy, and humanity's future in space.
I find myself confronting the financial realities though, and I'm exploring possibilities for the next chapter of my career. To be pragmatic, I'm exploring options outside our field and outside of education entirely... but my strong preference is to continue working on meaningful mission-aligned projects. I hope you'll reach out if you see any opportunity for synergy with your own work - or with others in your network.
I'm a lifelong space enthusiast, one-time astronautical engineering student, former high school teacher, and career educational technologist - now focused entirely on space education. I've been an entrepreneur for almost twenty years. My first company, EdTechTeam, grew to serve over 50,000 teachers a year through hundreds of events all over the world, which culminated in being named the Google for Education Partner of the Year for 2018. (I'm particularly proud of my work leading the original Google Teacher Academy, developing the Google Innovator Academy that followed, and helping to launch many related programs during those years.) We also worked with the Obama administration to launch Future Ready Schools, spun off the venture backed startup Breakout EDU, and launched several educational nonprofits. In the beginning, I wore every hat in my small business, and toward the end I served as CEO for dozens of full time employees and hundreds of contractors across multiple states and countries. As a result, my skill sets include curriculum development, entrepreneurship, event planning, executive leadership, finance, human resources, marketing, public speaking, sales, strategic planning, and more. I've also had one foot in academia, having completed a Ph.D., taught graduate level courses, served on dissertation committees, and edited the Journal of Space Philosophy.
If you see any possibilities where someone with my experience might be valuable, particularly as part of a space education effort or educational technology program... please reply or ring me anytime. Or feel free to grab an open time on my calendar that might also work for you (or let me know if you prefer another time and I'll see if I can make it happen): https://calendly.com/markdwagner
Thank you for all of your support over the years, and thank you in advance for thinking of me... and any help you might be able to provide.
-Mark
Mark Wagner, Ph.D.
Founder, ARES Learning
5325 Alton Parkway Suite C-305, Irvine, Ca 92604
949-639-9743
