Mark A. Miller is the Director of Community Content for www.learn2grow.com
Born and raised in N.E. Ohio, Mark is an 8th generation Ohio gardener who can tell you anything you might ever want to know about the great buckeye state. He completed a B.S. in Horticulture at The Ohio State University in 1982 as an advisee of Dr. Steven Still, originator and executive director of the Perennial Plant Association. After two years as a landscape designer in Washington, DC, he joined the US Peace Corps. Mark served as a tree crop specialist, agricultural researcher, and educator on the Caribbean island of St. Lucia – and went to the beach just about every day. Upon returning to Ohio in 1987, he initiated a vocational horticulture program at the Ohio Reformatory for Women and survived the toughest student audience he ever had. Subsequently working for the Ohio Cooperative Extension Service in agricultural engineering and water quality, Mark completed a Master's degree in Agricultural Education from Ohio State. His research focused on rural community readiness to participate in extension education programs. For several years, Mark designed landscapes and taught horticulture part-time in Columbus, Ohio; San Antonio, Texas; and Washington, DC. In 1995, he accepted the position of Director of Horticulture and Co-Director of Education for the American Horticultural Society (AHS). Two years later, Mark returned to Ohio State to pursue a Ph.D. in Environment & Natural Resources with a major emphasis in environmental communications, education, and interpretation. During his tenure at Ohio State, Mark worked for the Environmental Education and Training Partnership (EETAP) as a program associate and acquisitions manager. After a summer studying Spanish in Ecuador, Mark took a hiatus from his dissertation research and became the Deputy Director of National Programs for AHSHaving received an avuncular you-must-finish lecture from Dr. H. Marc Cathey, he completed his doctorate at Ohio State in 2005 with a research focus on several aspects of children's gardens. He has served as a consultant and evaluator on a variety of projects and has authored, co-authored, or contributed to a number of published works. Mark is currently guest-editing a professional journal in his free time and enjoys tennis, swimming, painting, and traveling to great gardens around the world. Mark's mother Joan and step-father John gamely attempt to maintain his designed masterpiece in Louisville, Ohio; his sister Christine has given up becoming the yard of the month in Houston, Texas; his daughter Morgan could care less about plants in Melbourne, Australia (“PLEASE, Dad, don't drag me to another garden!”); and he keeps in touch with many plant-loving friends and family throughout the US and abroad.