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Ramblings Alumni Spotlight

Mark Barnes '93

Mark Barnes '93
2025 Distinguished Alumni Award Honoree

Born and raised in the socially, economically, and environmentally stressed neighborhoods of Philadelphia, PA, Dr. Mark Barnes ’93 proudly holds a baccalaureate degree in Geography & Planning from West Chester University and advanced degrees in urban studies and geography from Temple and Rutgers Universities, respectively.

He has a love of learning about the world and its peoples. Exposures to conscientious geographers laid the groundwork for his leadership; his presidential roles in the Zeta Psi Chapter of the Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity as a collegian and Black Alumni Chapter while an alumnus further built his leadership competencies.

His hometown provided fertile ground upon which Dr. Barnes grew further in leadership stature and influence. The Urban League of Philadelphia, University of Pennsylvania, and City of Philadelphia are but a few of the many institutions that benefited from the geographic thought and geospatial tools he applied to corporate workforce and education discrimination, community-university partnership, and neighborhood economic development initiatives. As former President and Director of the Pennsylvania Association of Alpha Chapters, his expertise extended to other large and small municipalities of the Commonwealth in service to the mission of his Fraternity.

Today, Dr. Barnes works at Morgan State University in Baltimore, MD as a geographer, instructing and researching the crippling causes and consequences of environmental decision-making of a built, natural, and social nature. This work emphasizes water hazards and climate change, natural resource equity, geospatial technology growth and asset management, geography pedagogy, and college enrollment trends among Black males. He also serves as a National Councilor of the American Association of Geographers and on the Board of Directors of American Rivers, a national conservation organization.

Dr. Barnes cherishes his children: Ryan, Madison, and Jordyn.

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