Scott Cutlip

When I first met Scott Cutlip, I really didn’t know who he was and how famous he was. He was so down-to-earth and approachable. I was a student at the University of Wisconsin-Madison walking down the hall on the 5th floor of Vilas Hall, when he happened to call me into his office. He was a professor and had that rumpled, elder statesman look. I was a journalism major who wrote for the Daily Cardinal, a kid in t-shirt and jeans. 

He sat me down and asked me if I’d ever considered a career in public relations. I answered that I didn’t even know what public relations was. And, he handed me a brochure called “Why Girls Should Get into PR,” saying we need good writers like you in the field. Mind you, this was during the days of Ms. Magazine and Gloria Steinem. No matter, I took the brochure and read it.

Once I started work at a PR agency in Chicago, an article about the pink ghetto of public relations appeared in Business Week, and prompted me to earn my MBA in marketing and finance. Men used to make up the majority in the profession; now it’s women.

Scott M. Cutlip (1915-2000) was a pioneer in public relations education. He introduced the study of public relations to the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Journalism and Mass Communication, of which I am a graduate. I am embarrassed to say that I didn’t realize his significance until years later when I found myself teaching public relations at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire. We used his textbook, the bible. Thank you Scott for all you’ve done for the profession and for me.