Mark Bannister is the Chair of the Department of Information Networking and Telecommunications at Fort Hays State University. He is also a Senior Policy Fellow of the Docking Institute of Public Affairs.
Bannister teaches course work on legal issues and management of information technologies.
Bannister supervises and participates in research and programing on telecommunications and community development. He administers the Information Community Project and participates as a consultant and researcher in this federally funded project which assists economically distressed rural communities. Bannister has testified several times before the Kansas Legislature on telecommunications issues, has contributed to research documents cited by both Senators Pat Roberts and Tom Dschle on the U.S. Senate Floor, and has provided formal and informal consulting for the state telecommunications plans of Kansas, Nebraska, and Colorado. In his career, he has previously served as Director of the Docking Institute of Public Affairs, Chief of Staff for the Kansas Senate President and Associate General Counsel to the Kansas Board of Regents.