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Karl J. Skutski _________________
Karl has published one novel, wrote another (that will probably never see the light of day), authored a play that had a reading at the Pittsburgh Playhouse (there's still hope for it), and has written and published numerous articles, book chapters, and a workbook in the public relations field. In his former life as a businessman, he handled PR assignments for over 250 clients (ranging from IBM to the horse racing industry), traveled to eighteen countries, was president of an international PR organization, won a bunch of awards (he's a charter member of the Pittsburgh PR Hall of Fame and has won a PRSA Silver Anvil), and was once hustled off a train and forced to spend the night in a remote village in Morocco.
He has presented papers on cinema at academic conferences in the US and Europe (they are posted on this site).
In 2001, Karl co-founded a humanitarian program called Computers for Ukraine (see video below). He has served as chairman of the board of the World Trade Center of Pittsburgh and the Ward Home for at-risk teens, and has also served on the boards of the MIT Enterprise Forum, the Area Health Education Corporation, the Pittsburgh Philharmonia, plus advisory boards at Ball State University and Robert Morris University.
In 2001, he received the Distinguished Alumnus Award from the McAnulty College and Graduate School of Liberal Arts.
He recently formed a new business, which provides financial and management consulting services to owners of public relations and advertising firms, and continues to serve on the board of several local organizations. In addition to teaching, he is a member of the university's Human Rights Film Series committee and coordinates the Department of Modern Languages and Literatures' technology-in-education inititative.
TRAVELOGUE:
"My Journey to Ukraine in Search of My Roots" (Velikyj Bereznyj)
Check out how one computer has helped a village in Ukraine (one of 1000 reburbished computers sent to the country as part of the Computers for Ukraine program)
Ukraine Village Discovers the Internet
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Karl started his college career as a music major in Kentucky, way back in the "hippie era," and eventually earned a couple of degrees in English from Duquesne. After grad school, he wrote a history book about Central Ohio, taught writing and English classes at local colleges, then took a job in employee communications at a nuclear power laboratory. He spent seven years with Burson-Marsteller, one of the world's largest public relation firms (teaching writing and lit classes on the side), became a VP, quit one day and decided to start his own business. He founded Skutski & Associates in 1980, which became the largest independent public relations firm in the region. He recently sold his firm, and, for the past eleven years has been teaching film courses in Duquesne's Department of Modern Languages and Literatures.