Mark Canada, Ph.D.
About Mark
Mark Canada, Ph.D., is the eighth chancellor of Indiana University Kokomo, home of the KEY, an experiential-learning initiative that provides all IU Kokomo students with opportunities to learn through internships, retreats, research, community projects, and educational trips to businesses, museums, and natural and historic settings in Chicago, Louisville, Detroit, New York, Yellowstone National Park, Disney World, Silicon Valley, and other destinations.
As a scholar of American literature, he has written extensively about Edgar Allan Poe, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Wolfe, Rebecca Harding Davis, Harriet Beecher Stowe, and other authors, as well as the intersections of journalism and literature. His seven books include the Audible Originals Ben Franklin's Lessons in Life and Edgar Allan Poe: Master of Horror, along with Literature and Journalism in Antebellum America and Thomas Wolfe Remembered.
A former journalist, Mark also writes frequently for the mainstream media, as well as scholarly and trade publications. His articles on Franklin, Poe, Henry David Thoreau, Rebecca Harding Davis, truth in the media, student success, and other subjects have appeared in The Conversation, The Chronicle of Higher Education, Southern Cultures, Journalism History, American Literary Realism, and other outlets.
As a guest on public radio programs and a lecturer in numerous public programs, he has spoken on Poe, Franklin, Frederick Douglass, the Lewis and Clark Expedition, the English language, and many other topics in American literature, history, and higher education.
Mark lives in Kokomo, Indiana, with his wife, Lisa. They have two grown children, Esprit and Will. Family adventures have included the renovation of a 200-year-old home in North Carolina, an ascent of the Willis (Sears) Tower, a cross-country RV trip, and many other travels in the United States and Europe. An active runner, biker, and swimmer with a love for history, literature, culture, and the outdoors, he sometimes combines these hobbies in “Moving Experiences."
