Directory

A 1995 graduate of St. Mark’s, William Atkinson ’95 joined the faculty as a Humanities teacher before being appointed Head of Upper School. A participant in the Pecos Wilderness program, he is also an assistant varsity football football coach and assists with assorted Middle School sports. He holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Southern Methodist University. After graduating from St. Mark’s, Atkinson attended West Point for two years before pursuing a career in law enforcement, teaching situational awareness to elite military personnel around the world. An accomplished artist, his work is exhibited in professional art galleries on the east and west coasts and Europe.

Paul Mlakar is the director of Academic Information Systems and a member of the Mathematics Department, where he teaches AP calculus courses to junior and senior students. Beginning his St. Mark’s career in 2003, he also serves as scheduler for Upper and Middle Schools and coaches the Upper School Academic Quiz Bowl team. He earned a Master of Education degree in curriculum and instruction from the University of Houston after earning a Bachelor of Science degree in mathematics education from The Ohio State University. Mlakar has worked in various aspects of education throughout his career, first as a high school math teacher in Pasadena, TX followed by an education specialist position at the Space Center in Houston, the visitor center for NASA’s Johnson Space Center. He left that position to serve as an education specialist at the Region IV Education Service Center in Houston, where he provided training and professional development to math teachers. He has authored numerous mathematics curricula for geometry, algebra II, and mathematical modeling.

As a member of the Upper School office, Leila Wright joined the St. Mark’s staff in 2022 as assistant to the head of Upper School and registrar. She earned a bachelor’s from the University of Texas at Austin. Before joining St. Mark’s, Wright worked at a non-profit focused on providing extracurricular opportunities to students and was part of the Dallas Independent School District’s Teacher Excellence Initiative team. She also taught math in Oak Cliff as part of the Teach for America program. Wright founded Girls Rock Dallas, a summer music program for girls and young women.