Candidate Spotlight

Mark Peterson

Mark Peterson is an educator, an enthusiastic community servant, and an energetic triathlete.

As an educator, Mark's career began in Korea where he taught university classes while serving as the director of the Fulbright Program there. After relocating to Provo he began a sidelight of teacher-training and has led numerous seminars throughout the U.S. and Korea. He has taught Korean language and literature in the Asian and Near Eastern Languages Department at Brigham Young University for 26 years.
 
Mark has always been active in community and church service. He has been a neighborhood chair and vice chair, a long-time member of the board of The Center for Women and Children in Crisis, a member of the Provo bicycle advisory board and an active member on numerous boards and committees for the teaching of Korean. In church service, he has been a missionary and mission president in Korea, a bishop (twice) and now a Sunday School teacher. In the category of national service, Mark has served in the Utah National Guard and has been awarded a Fulbright grant for study in Korea. Later, he became the director of the Fulbright exchange program in Seoul for six years.

Mark was born near West Jordan, Utah, where he grew up, and attended USU for one year and then transferred to BYU. After graduation he attended Harvard for a master's and PhD in Asian Studies. He has lived in Korea for a total of 15 years off and on since 1965. Mark and his wife Randy are the parents of two daughters and are currently foster parents of another child.

Mark's older brother suffered a brain injury when he was born and has special needs – thus Mark has special concerns for those with physical and mental challenges. Mark and Randy are adoptive parents and have been foster parents, too. They have great interest in issues related to adoption and foster parenting. The idea of running for state legislature was planted when he sat in the big leather revolving chairs of the House of Representatives as a participant in the high school mock legislature. He knew that some day he wanted to return and participate in the actual legislature.

Mark is an energetic competitive athlete. He has competed in an Ironman Triathlon (twice), as well as numerous other long distance running and biking competitions.  He's run the St. George marathon twice, but his favorite event of all time is the Alcatraz Triathlon, which he's completed twice. If a man can swim from Alcatraz, then bike 25 miles, then run 10 miles, he's got the endurance to sit in the Utah legislature for forty-five days at a time!

Mark did not seek this opportunity to run for the legislature, but when he was invited to do so, he thought of a relative of his who always used to say that we would have a better government if we elected people who did not seek public office.  In addition, Mark recognized the problems that come from single-party government, and he knew that many of these problems would be corrected if the dominant party did not act with the attitude that they are untouchable or beyond the control of the people. 

Mark’s campaign slogan is "mature, sensible representation," and this captures how he would approach his role as a legislator.  Let’s do all we can to help him in his goal to serve our state.