Dr. Mark Rieger has served at three public universities since receiving a Ph.D. from the University of Florida. He ascended through the ranks of Assistant, Associate and Professor at the University of Georgia, where he also served as Chair of University Council, similar to Faculty Senate President at most institutions. After nearly twenty years at Georgia, Mark moved back to Florida to pursue the position of Associate Dean of the College of Agricultural and Life Sciences at UF, including one year as interim dean of the College. There, he oversaw graduate programs, international education, honors, distance education and off-campus programs across the state of Florida.

In 2012, he became Dean and Director, College of Agriculture and Natural Resources at the University of Delaware. In this role, Mark helped raise over $40 million for strategic initiatives including a completely renovated research and teaching laboratory building and a student-run creamery. He has held leadership roles in the Board of Agriculture Assembly of the Association of Public and Land Grant Institutions (APLU) and served as an associate editor for two journals and for the Multimedia Educational Resource for Learning and Online Training, or MERLOT. His disciplinary expertise lies in plant carbohydrate metabolism, stress response, plant physiology and sustainable agriculture. Mark has maintained a classroom presence at all previous institutions, teaching courses in plant physiology, agriculture, honors colloquium and orientation, and organic farming. He holds BS and MS degrees from Penn State and Georgia, respectively.