Mark House

Information

"Knowledge is real knowledge only when it is acquired by the efforts of your intellect, not by memory. Only when we forget what we were taught do we start to have real knowledge."  - Henry David Thoreau

I am a graduate of the University of Florida and have worked in both Industry and academia over the past decade.  My professional experience and my unique background have given me a valuable perspective on business practices that I try to bring to my classes at Santa Fe College.

My background is in the social sciences, specifically anthropology. However I am also trained in business and have worked in a corporate America as a research consultant.  In both environments, I have been fascinated with understanding consumers and consumption. My dissertation examined how consumption patterns changed as immigrants moved from one culture to another.  During my time at UF, a professor from the business school co-taught a class in my department which I thoroughly enjoyed. I briefly considered transferring to a business program, but felt that social sciences gave me a broader set of tools and a wider perspective to understand consumer behavior. After graduation, I continued to explore this area with my work in industry as a consumer researcher. In this role I would develop and implement market research projects for Fortune 500 companies that wanted to better understand their customers.

In school, I was well trained on data collection and analysis methods, but I never was taught how to communicate that data. Over the past decade, I’ve tried to understand how research findings can be communicated effectively in a range of environments. In industry, I would have a limited time to summarize the findings of a project that was 6 months or more in the making. The audience was often somewhat disconnected from the project and had a limited interest in the findings. Communication had to be clean, simple and very efficient. Teaching presents a similar challenge. As an instructor I have to take an extensive body of knowledge and refine it to the correct level for the students to understand and appreciate. I certainly have more to learn in this area, and I look forward to the challenge.

In high school, I was allowed to take courses at a junior college in a nearby town. During my senior year I transferred over full time and had some of the best teachers I have encountered across four institutions of higher learning.  The instructors at that college were dedicated to helping students and they made a difference in the lives of so many. I am hoping that I can give a similar experience to students at Santa Fe College.

Education

2007 PhD -  University of Florida - Anthropology

2004 National Science Foundation Summer Institute for Research Methodology, Duke University Marine Lab

1998 MBA -  Mississippi State University - Marketing & Management

1993 BA -  Kansas State University - Anthropology

1990 AS -  Colby Community College - General Science