Mark Houser, MA in Slavic and East European Studies, Class of 1992

Where do you work and what is your current position?

I have my own business, Skyscraper Stories, as a professional speaker and author of two books, Highrises Art Deco and MultiStories, about the best antique skyscrapers in America. From coast to coast, I have gone in search of magnificent urban landmarks from a century ago that are still standing today. Audiences in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, and many cities in between have heard my inspirational stories of the entrepreneurs, tycoons, and visionary architects who left behind legacies in stone and steel. This year I also am serving as president of my local chapter of the National Speakers Association.

Tell us how you got there.

I studied Russian and journalism at OSU, planning to be a foreign correspondent. After graduation my wife, Diane, and I went to the Siberian steel town of Novokuznetsk for four months, where we were liaisons for a delegation of economic, industrial, public health, and civil society experts from Pittsburgh. It was an adventure, and it also convinced us that we wanted to return to the United States to start our family.

For 15 years I was a reporter for the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, and then I worked in PR and marketing for a local university for almost as long. It was then I started writing freelance magazine articles and giving lectures about historic skyscrapers in my hometown, and soon I broadened the scope to the whole United States. Most every city has a lovely pre-war skyscraper or two, and each represents a tale of striving and ambition that fundamentally shaped its city and holds a lesson for us today.

How has your CSEES MA helped you throughout your post-graduate life?

At the newspaper, I occasionally translated Russian and French newspaper articles when major events occurred to find excerpts that would give readers a foreign perspective. For a while in the ‘90s I compiled Russian stock and bond reports for an investment data firm. I also used Russian over the years hosting international visitors through exchange programs including the German Marshall Fund of the United States, where I was a journalism fellow. It still comes up by surprise sometimes — for instance, I was able to talk to a Russian taxi driver in Barcelona.

Beyond the language, the habits of researching, thinking, and synthesizing that I developed earning my master’s have served me well as a writer. And our adventures broadened horizons for our family — our four adult children have traveled far and wide, not only through Europe but to Tanzania, South Korea, India, Israel, and Argentina.

If you are a traveler, what is one of your favorite trips you have taken?

Last year Diane and I visited Vienna, Prague, and Budapest and were absolutely enthralled by each city. Very few antique skyscrapers, but their Art Nouveau buildings are exquisite, unlike anything we built in America during that era. If only our architects had combined the two styles!

What inspires you?

The feeling of surprise and delight when I discover something new and interesting.