Mark West
Mark West
Mark I. West is currently serving as the Interim Chair of the Department of Theatre at UNC Charlotte. He is also a professor in the English Department, where he has been teaching courses in children’s and young adult literature since 1984. In addition to teaching, he has served in numerous administrative positions at UNC Charlotte, including the Chair of the English Department, the Associate Dean for General Education, the Interim Chair of the Department of Art and Art History, the Director of the M.A. Program in Liberal Studies, and the Director of the American Studies Program. He has written or edited more than 25 books, the most recent of which is “Once Upon a Toy: Essays on the Interplay Between Stories and Playthings” (2025), which he co-educated with Kathy Merlock Jackson.
Before entering academia, West worked as a professional puppeteer in Wisconsin. Among the highlights of his career as a puppeteer were performing at the Governor’s Mansion, appearing on Wisconsin Public Television.