MEN'S GOLF – 2000-04
Mark Johnson was a four-year letterwinner for the MSOE golf team, twice earning all-conference honors and helping the Raiders to the 2003 Lake Michigan Conference Championship. He won two career tournaments, which is tied for third in school history, and finished in the top 10 with an 80.62 average score. He is also ranked fifth with a 63.1 finish percentage.
Where are you now? I am an engineering supervisor at Modine Manufacturing in Racine, Wis. My wife and I have been married for seven years and we have one son. In August 2009 I graduated from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign with a Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering.
Where did you get your start? While finishing my senior at MSOE in 2004, I accepted an entry level engineering offer with Modine Manufacturing. During my 10 years at Modine I have worked in a variety of engineering roles and am currently very happy to be leading an application engineering team of six people.
What was your favorite moment as a Raider? My favorite moment as a Raider was the golf tryouts each year in late summer. This three day event occurred just before school started, so the entire golf team would be together during this time building bonds that ended lasting well beyond our college years. I have some great memories of the cookouts held with the team during these tryouts that I will always cherish.
What role did being a student-athlete play in starting your post-collegiate career? The opportunity to be a student athlete-taught me the importance of time management and responsibility to a large entity than just myself. Also, I was fortunate to be a multiple-year captain of the team, which taught me how to be a better leader and mentor to the team. In hindsight, I now see that I could have done some things better, but I also realize that was part of the learning and maturation process for me.
How did being a student-athlete complement your collegiate experience/help you on the academic side? Student-athletes can either bond and work together to excel in the classroom and on the field, or they can become distracted and struggle. I think MSOE does a good job with their coaches and councilors to support the student-athletes bonding together to help each other achieve their classroom and athletic goals.
What is your role with your former program? Since graduating from MSOE I still keep in touch with the golf coach, Joe Meloy, and a number of the golf players that I interacted with during my four years at MSOE.
How did playing Division III sports influence your decision to come to MSOE? The major reason why I wanted to attend MSOE was the high quality of the university, but I recognized that having the opportunity to be on the golf team would be a nice benefit.
Why MSOE? I chose MSOE because of the strength of its engineer programs and location in Milwaukee. I knew that I wanted to attend one of the top engineering schools in the nation and stay relatively close to home. In the end, MSOE was the perfect for me.
How did the academics prepare you for your career after school? The academics at MSOE prepared me to excel professionally, but I did have some doubts when I started pursuing my MSME at UIUC. Those doubts about not being prepared for a post graduate degree were quickly erased, as I had no problems completing the MSME program. Since graduating from MSOE I have worked very hard to achieve my goals, but I do recognize that MSOE prepared me very well to meet the challenges that I have faced in my career.
Who was your favorite professor or what was your favorite class? Why? My favorite class was anything taught by Dr. Kern or Dr. Musto. Based on their reputations of being tough professors, I originally dreaded taking classes with Dr. Kern and Dr. Musto. I soon realized that they were great teachers, and even though my GPA might suffer a little the lessons learned in their classes would pay dividends in the future.
