Mark Shankle grew up in Trenton, TN on a soybean, ear corn, hay, and cattle farm. His
experience includes working on a 7500-acre farm in the Arkansas Delta (BlackCat and Midway
Farms), an agriculture retail/wholesale business in Tennessee (Tennessee Seeds), and Agri-chem
industries in the mid-south that included Mobay Chemical aka Bayer Crop Science, American
Cyanamid during the heyday, Monsanto during development of RR Soybean, and FMC. He
attended the University of Tennessee at Knoxville for BS degrees in Ag Engineering Technology
(1987) and Plant & Soil Science (1991), followed by an MS degree in Plant & Soil Science
(1993). He also attended Mississippi State University where he received a PhD in Plant & Soil
Science with an emphasis in Weed Science (1999).
After the formal education journey, he worked as a research scientist with Mississippi State
University until retirement in 2024. During this time his research program generated more than
$10M in grant funding, authored or coauthored over 300 publications, delivered over 150
presentations to national and international audiences, and trained numerous students to help
prepare them for a professional career in society. His research objectives have always been
focused on vision with a purpose that fosters trans-discipline collaboration to solve difficult
problems for the stakeholder community. In addition, his contributions are always delivered with
integrity that honors organizational goals and respect for cultural values.
Mark currently resides in Pontotoc, MS with his wife Heatherly where they raised 4 children.
When not working in the field or office, he is involved with helping maintain and manage
family-owned real estate in farmland and residential markets, playing alto saxophone in the
orchestra at West Heights Baptist Church, serves community as a vender at the local farmers
market, and enjoys hunting whitetail deer and catching crappie with his son near Water Valley,
MS.

Favorite Quote: “How far you go in life depends on your being tender with the young,
compassionate with the aged, sympathetic with the striving and tolerate of the weak and strong.
Because someday in your life you will have been all of these” George Washington Carver