Biography of Mark G. Eckel

Mark Eckel is Instructor of Sociology at McHenry County College, Crystal Lake, Illinois.

He is a graduate of Crystal Lake Community High School, and received his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Sociology from the University of Chicago. He has been at MCC since 1982. Professor Eckel has also taught at the University of Illinois at Chicago, Oakton Community College, College of Lake County, and the University of Chicago.

Mark Eckel was chosen Outstanding Young Educator by the Crystal Lake Jaycees in 1988, and MCC Faculty of the Year in 1994. He was co-chair of MCC’s accreditation self-study in 1989-92, has chaired the Curriculum and Academic Policy Committee, and served on the Long-Range Planning Council. Professor Eckel served four times as Chief Negotiator for the McHenry County College Faculty Association, and has served on the Faculty Association Executive Board in various capacities since the middle 1980s. He has also been a faculty member in the MCC Academy for High Performance since 1998. Mark Eckel served as Chair, Department of Sociology and Anthropology, from 1998 through 2003.

Professor Eckel’s other professional accomplishments include serving on the national advisory committee for the development of Dallas Telecourses’ The Sociological Imagination. He is currently co-chair of the Illinois Articulation Initiative panel on the Sociology major.

Mark Eckel wrote a chapter in Botterweck, ed., Everyday Sociology. He wrote instructor’s manuals for Anthony Giddens’ Introduction to Sociology, and to Randall Collins and Scott Coltrane’s Sociology of Marriage and the Family. He also has published in the journal Teaching Sociology.

Professor Eckel’s leisure pursuits include reading, following the Chicago Cubs, ethnic food, jazz, and everything about New Orleans. He coached recreational girls’ softball for ten years, and after serving for two years as President of the Crystal Lake Girls’ Softball League, no professional challenges seem very difficult anymore.

Eckel lives in Crystal Lake with his wife Mary Ellen. They have three grown children, Sarah, Ellen, and Michael.