The Woodward Alumni Hall of Fame Association
Mark A. Kowalski Inducted 2014 - Class of 1983
A member of the Woodward Booster Club from his freshman through senior years, coupled with a love of baseball culminating in City Honorable Mention, Mark was certainly involved in making the most of his days at Woodward. Mark’s love of languages started with French and continued throughout his career as he is fluent in Nepali, Hindi, and Japanese. Mark credits the late Dick Hoffman with being a mentor while at Woodward and throughout his career.
After graduating from Woodward in 1983, his first westward trek Involved Central Avenue and a slight jog to Bancroft and The University of Toledo's College of Education. Mark graduated Magna Cum Laude with a Bachelor of Education degree in 1987.
Mark taught American Literature and Practical English during the 1987 school year to five classes of eleventh and twelfth grade students at Penta County Joint Vocational High School. While at Penta County, Mark expanded the existing textbook-based curriculum to include many contemporary
writers.
Mark's continuing westward journey took him to rural Nepal, where he toiled as a Peace Corp volunteer teaching elementary school children English , while mastering the Nepali language.
Realizing that he needed to further develop his language skills, Mark's next rung in his career ladder was in Boston where he planned and taught, intensive, one on one English language skills to business professionals. As Mark developed his model for teaching English, he was invited to join the Kanazawa International Design Institute in Japan in 1992. As a founding member of the Language Department at the Parsons School of Design, Mark developed the curriculum and taught specific classes in English as a second language to Japanese students.
Returning to the Midwest to further his education at the University of Michigan, Mark earned a Master of Public Policy and a Master of Arts in South Asian Studies. While continuing his education, Mark was the program assistant for the Center of South and Southeast Asian Studies. Mark’s thesis indicated his next area of concern: HIV/AIDS Policies in Nepal.
Mark has used his training and abilities to teach rural children in Nepal, Cambodia, and, currently, in Uganda. Not content with educating just the children, Mark has developed and taught prevention programs for HIV and AIDS and other ways of preventing life-threatening illnesses. Mark currently lives In Nakawa, Kampala, Uganda, with his wife Karen, and their two children, Leela and Jeevan.