About Mark Kavanaugh

Born on February 10, 1965 I began my life journey with my mom (Barbara), Dad (Hubert), and two older brothers (Jim and Alan).

I started my life in Montreal, PQ Canada and I remain a Canadian Citizen though I was Naturalized as an American Citizen later in life.

After 4 years of growth my family left Canada to relocate to St. Agatha, ME. This small town became my major home and stomping ground. With a 2-year absence from St. Agatha when my mother's second husband was transferred to Guam, I stayed in St. Agatha until I graduated from High School.

From that point I went to study Marine Biology (with ambition to be a Marine Veterinarian) at Southampton College in Long Island NY. Not be be intimidated by the culture shock of moving from a one-road-town to the "big city" I spent as much time in NYC as possible soaking up the musicals, people, cultures, and most of all...FOOD!

Unsatisfied with my progress in Marine Biology and enamored with my experience as a manager of the Psychology Department's Rat Lab I transferred to a Canadian university, St. Thomas University.

At STU I completed my Bachelors of Arts in Psychology and graduated with High Honors with distinction. The Honors Psychology program at STU mandated original research so I designed, conducted, and defended a study on music psychology.

"The effect of pre-rated familiar and unfamiliar and pre-rated stimulating and sedative music samples of mood state as measured by Cattel's 8-States Questionnaire"

(I won the unofficial award for the most wordy title!)

Seemingly determined to prove that taking the more difficult path can make all the difference I deferred going to graduate school in favor of moving back to Maine and attending the Jazz and Contemporary Music program at the University of Maine at Augusta.

This fabulous experience put me in touch with great musicians (Chuck Winfield of Blood, Sweat and Tears fame, Dave Dempsey, Rick Edmiston, and others), taught me to move beyond my country/rock roots and play more than three chords, and showed me that I am not talented enough to make a living playing music!

Working in Human Services (what else can you do with a BA in Psychology) I became interested in Mental Health and disability services in general. I attended graduate school at the University of Southern Maine and began a 13 year career in Mental Health.

Meanwhile I started a family with two kids (Hannah and Mara), married Katie, and I'm enjoying mid-life having made a lot of very good decisions (that made up for a lot of the very bad decisions)!

I currently find myself teaching full time, in graduate school pursuing my PhD in Educational Psychology, the Chair of my Department, playing bass in a rock band while I work out on my Bowflex (I should have been the one in that commercial!), and enjoying watching my kids grow up!