Brian Guss was born in Philadelphia. He received his B.A. (1965) and M.A. (1967) from Temple University, where he also completed his doctoral coursework in Renaissance Literature. In addition, he studied at Exeter College, Oxford; the Shakespeare Institute, Stratford-upon-Avon, and the University of Florence. He is fluent in Spanish, fairly fluent in Swedish, and is conversant with Hungarian.
Mr. Guss has worked as a reemployed annuitant for the Department of State since 2006, and is currently Special Assistant to the Office Director, Office of International Visitors.
He first joined USIA/State in 1978 and has been posted to Chile, Argentina, Venezuela, Sweden, and Hungary, where he served as Cultural Affairs Officer (1999-2001), and to which he returned as a Political Officer in 2011. His domestic assignments have included Special Assistant to the Site Negotiator, Voice of America; Special Assistant to the Director, USIA; Operations Center Watch Officer, USIA; Program Officer in Arts America, and Program Officer in the Washington Foreign Press Center.
Before joining the Foreign Service, he served as Historian and Bicentennial Coordinator for the Philadelphia District, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. In that capacity, he co-authored The District, a history of the Corps in Philadelphia. He is married to Dr. Lucille Guss, Chair of the Liberal Studies Program, Marymount University. They have two children, Ariana and David, one grandchild, and are expecting a second.
218th Central High School 