After 21+ years of service to CCFL, Mark is retiring this summer with his final day in the office on May 31st. This week’s Wednesday Workshop will be a “Fireside Chat” with Mark Cooper. Please join us at 4:00 in the Wilson Room to celebrate Mark’s career at CCFL, hear from Mark about his time here, and wish him well on his next adventure.
Over the years, Mark has been involved with the HHS training grant, where he was vitally important in developing the Office of Juvenile Services training as directed by the Department; the State Court Improvement project; and the SAMHSA grant. Most recently, Mark has been working on special projects with Jeff Chambers. Specifically, Mark has worked on the Iowa Parent Partner Evaluation, the Truancy Diversion Evaluation, and the Early Assessment Evaluation.
As the Center has grown, Mark has been right there. He was on the hiring committee for several Field Training Specialists—and what a fantastic job he did with his selections. All of the FTSs that Mark helped to hire are still here working at CCFL!
In his free time, Mark has worked for many years at the state prison system in ministry, sharing his faith with those in need of hope. Mark has also been a mentor, brother, and father-figure to some of the men he has ministered—both while in the institution and afterwards. He has had a tremendous impact on the lives of people in need of assistance.
Join us on Wednesday to hear more about some favorite memories of Mark. Here are just some examples of what to look forward to:
Mark has ALWAYS stepped up to do any task or initiative that was asked of him—and most of the time, he volunteered before being asked. – Kathy Olson
Shortly before the training day started when Mark and I were co-training a unit, Mark asked, “Are you prepared to train this unit?” I responded in my usual high strung tone, “Yeah man! I’m just going to wing it!!” Mark in a flustered tone stated, “Wing it? Wing it? How are we supposed to measure wing it?” – Bryan Poppe
One time Mark performed a person search on me during Office of Juvenile Services training in front of a training class and remarked (to the entire class) that I had lost some weight! This made the class laugh. – Chad Gressley
Although I have worked at the Center for 25 years, I have not had the opportunity to work formally on a project with Mark until the past ten months. It has been a great pleasure to do so. I have known Mark’s incredible dedication to task and detail for a long time but being able to see it first-hand has been tremendous. – Jeff Chambers
I remember when Jeff and Mark would play Nerf football in the hallway outside my office when we were at the Miller & Paine building, along with flying paper airplanes between the cubicles. Those were fun times! -Chris Wiklund