Mark worked his way through CSU-Sacramento, where he graduated with a B.A. in English in 1981. He was awarded the Top Twenty Senior Award at graduation. Mark then attended a year of graduate work at CSU-Sacramento, studying Old English, Middle English, German, Latin and Greek. At the end of the year, Mark received a fellowship to teach American Literature for a year at Johannes Gutenberg Universitaet in Mainz, Germany.
