Mark Ortiz, PhD

Mark Ortiz, PhDMark Ortiz, PhDMark Ortiz, PhDMark Ortiz, PhD
  • Home
  • Research
    • Intergen Politics
    • Students & Sustainability
    • Expanding the Story
    • CJ & EJ in the U.S. South
    • STAGES Lab
  • Writing
  • Teaching
  • Speaking
  • CV
  • Music

Mark Ortiz, PhD

Mark Ortiz, PhDMark Ortiz, PhDMark Ortiz, PhD
  • Home
  • Research
    • Intergen Politics
    • Students & Sustainability
    • Expanding the Story
    • CJ & EJ in the U.S. South
    • STAGES Lab
  • Writing
  • Teaching
  • Speaking
  • CV
  • Music
A diverse group of nine people posing in a classroom with two projection screens.
Group photo of diverse young adults at Penn State's Global Youth Storytelling and Research Lab.
Group of professionals posing at the COP28 UAE 2023 climate change conference in Dubai.
Poster for COP 29 student sessions hosted by UNA USA and GYSRL at Penn State.
Group of students posing in a classroom with a presentation on the United Nations COP process.

I am the Creator and Director of the STAGES Lab (Storytelling Across Generations, Environments and Societies) at Penn State. The STAGES Lab is a research and storytelling Lab ecosystem. The STAGES Lab began in 2023 as the Global Youth Storytelling and Research Lab, but in late 2025 evolved in name and scope to reflect the expansion of our work across generations. While we still maintain a strong focus on youth, much of our work now is multigenerational.


Our work is broadly concerned with engaging the complexities of human experiences of environmental and climate change across generations and geographies. We engage creative geographies methods like multimedia storytelling, poetic inquiry, oral history and interview methods,  participatory mapping, critical analysis, memoir, and memory studies. We work in collaborative relationship with community-based organizations to develop research that has impact and that prioritizes public accessibility.

For More on the Lab

Check out the Lab website

Copyright © 2026 Mark Ortiz, PhD - All Rights Reserved.

Powered by

This website uses cookies.

We use cookies to analyze website traffic and optimize your website experience. By accepting our use of cookies, your data will be aggregated with all other user data.

Accept