Mark Irvan Choate is an American academic and retired colonel and diplomat. He is a history professor at Brigham Young University and adjunct research professor at the Strategic Studies Institute, U.S. Army War College, specializing in international relations, the history of migration and colonialism, and grand strategy. He emphasizes the relationships between international emigration, immigration, and colonialism, and transnational influences in the fields of diplomacy, trade, currency exchange, and military power.
Early life After living in Pago Pago, American Samoa, and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, as a child, Choate grew up in rural Osage County, Oklahoma, and graduated from Charles Page High School in Sand Springs. While a freshman at Yale College, he enlisted as a medic in the 179th Infantry Regiment (United States), Army National Guard, using the G.I. Bill to help pay for school.
Fellowships and memberships He has been a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society since 2008, and a fellow of the Società Italiana per lo Studio della Storia Contemporanea since 2009. He was a visiting fellow at the Centre d'études et de recherches internationales at Sciences Po, Paris, in 2014–2015.
Awards and Distinctions 2017: Daniel M. Lewin Cyber-Terrorism Technology Writing Award, U.S. Army War College 2009: Howard R. Marraro PrizeThe Ninetieth Annual Meeting of the American Catholic Historical Association, The Catholic Historical Review 96.2 (Apr 2010): 289-304 2010: Council for European Studies Book Award 2010: BYU Class of 1949 Young Faculty Award teaching prize 2002: Hans W. Gatzke Prize, Yale University 1998-1999: Fulbright Fellow in Italy
Military service
Choate enlisted in 1989 as a Private first class in the Oklahoma National Guard. He completed basic training at Fort Jackson and advanced individual training as a medic at Fort Sam Houston. Choate ended his enlistment at the rank of staff sergeant upon being commissioned as a mustang officer through Officer Candidate School in 1994.
As a United States defense attaché, he served in United States embassies in Khartoum, Sudan; Bangui, Central African Republic; and N'Djamena, Chad.
Dates of rank
+ Promotions Rank Date Second Lieutenant1994 First Lieutenant1997 Captain2001 Major2007 Lieutenant Colonel2013 Colonel2018
Decorations and badges
Choate's decorations and badges include the following:
U.S. military decorationsLegion of MeritBronze Star Defense Meritorious Service Medal (with Oak Leaf Cluster)Meritorious Service MedalJoint Service Commendation Medal (with Oak Leaf Cluster)Army Commendation Medal (with 3 Oak Leaf Clusters)Army Achievement Medal (with 2 Oak Leaf Clusters)U.S. unit awardsJoint Meritorious Unit Award (with Oak Leaf Cluster)U.S. service (campaign) medals and service and training ribbonsArmy Reserve Component Achievement Medal (with Silver and 4 Bronze Oak Leaf Clusters)National Defense Service Medal (with 1 Service star)Afghanistan Campaign Medal (with 1 Service Star)Global War on Terrorism Expeditionary MedalGlobal War on Terrorism Service MedalArmed Forces Service MedalArmed Forces Reserve Medal with Gold Hourglass and "M" DevicesArmy Service RibbonArmy Overseas Service Ribbon (with award numeral 2)Army Reserve Component Overseas Service Ribbon (with award numeral 6)International decorationsNATO Medal for ISAF Afghanistan Operation Enduring Freedom XVI German Armed Forces Badge for Military Proficiency Gold U.S. badges, patches and tabs Army Staff Identification Badge Special Forces (United States Army), 3rd Special Forces Group (United States) worn as his Combat Service Identification Badge 179th Infantry Regiment Distinctive Unit Insignia 1 Overseas Service Bar
Works Emigrant Nation: The Making of Italy Abroad (Harvard University Press, 2008) Italianos no mundo: uma nação emigrante (Contexto, 2023, translated by João Fábio Bertonha) “Liberal Economics or Racial Exclusion: Competing Political and Cultural Narratives in Italian-American Transatlantic Migration,” in “Managing Migration in Italy and the United States” (Berlin and Boston: De Gruyter, 2024) “Emigrazione italiana, rimesse e ascesa del « made in Italy »,” in “Storia degli italoamericani” (Milan: Le Monnier Mondadori, 2019) "Italian Emigration, Remittances, and the Rise of Made-in-Italy,” in “The Routledge History of the Italian Americans” (New York/London: Routledge, 2018) “The Frontier Thesis in Transnational Migration: The U.S. West in the Making of Italy Abroad,” in “Immigrants in the Far West: Historical Identities and Experiences” (Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press, 2015) "New Dynamics and New Imperial Powers, 1876-1905," in The Routledge History of Western Empires (Oxford/New York: Routledge, 2014)
"National Communications for a Transnational Community: Italy's promotion of italianità among emigrants, 1870-1920," in Transnational Political Spaces: Agents - Structures - Encounters (Frankfurt/New York: Campus Verlag, 2009)
References