Scott Cutlip

Scott Munson Cutlip (July 15, 1915 in Buckhannon, West Virginia - August 18, 2000 in Madison, Wisconsin) was a pioneer in public relations education.

Scott M. Cutlip was born in Buckhannon, West Virginia and was the son of Okey Scott Cutlip and Janet Munson. He was raised in the care of his uncle George Carper Reger. Cutlip started in newspapers with the Buckhannon Record in 1933. Moving to Morgantown, West Virginia in 1935, he work for the West Virginia Newspaper Publishing Company for three years. In 1939 he obtained his bachelor’s degree in journalism and political science from Syracuse University. His career in public relations began in 1941 with the West Virginia State Road Commission. In Madison, Wisconsin he continued to study journalism and political science, earning a master's degree from the University of Wisconsin. In 1942 he entered the U.S. Army Air Force and served with the Fifth Air Force from Australia.^[1]

He joined the faculty of University of Wisconsin in 1946, teaching news editing and introducing the study of public relations. He married Erna K. Flader of Wauwatosa, Wisconsin on May 21, 1947. As Cutlip later explained,

From 1947 through 1974 at Wisconsin it was my privilege to guide some 135 U.S. military officers, mostly U.S. Army, through their graduate programs — a program initiated by then Army Chief of Staff General Dwight D. Eisenhower on the recommendation of Arthur W. Page, an eminent public relations pioneer.^[2][3]

In 1952 he co-wrote the first edition of Effective Public Relations with Allen H. Center. This important textbook was reissued in the eighth edition in 2000. In 1965 Cutlip contributed both a bibliography on public relations and a book on fundraising in the USA.

Cutlip served as dean of the University of Georgia's Henry W. Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication from 1976 to 1983. ^[4]

In 1994 and 1995 Cutlip published two histories of public relations that develop the practices through the stories of professional operators. Erna Cutlip died in 1997. Scott was diagnosed with cancer several months before his death. ^[4] He was a member of the Public Relations Society of America and the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication.

Awards

In 1971 was presented the honorary degree Litt. D. by West Virginia Wesleyan College of Buckhannon. In 1984 he received the Commander's Award for Public Service from the Department of the Army. In 1987 he was nominated to the Hall of Fame of the Arthur W. Page Society.

In 1990 Cutlip was admitted to the College of Fellows of the Public Relations Society of America. In 1995 the Society presented him with its Golden Anvil award. That year the International Association of Business Communicators presented him with a special award to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the Association.^[5]

Legacy

The Scott Cutlip Scholarship is awarded to students at UW–Madison with an interest in public relations.^[6]

References

• Scott Cutlip (1965) Fundraising in the United States, its role in America's philanthropy, 553 p, Rutgers University Press.
• Scott Cutlip (1965) Public Relations Bibliography, second edition, 305 p, University of Wisconsin Press.
• Scott Cutlip (1994) The Unseen Power: Public Relations: A History, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates ISBN 0-8058-1464-7 .
• Scott Cutlip (1995) Public Relations History: from the 17th to the 20th Century, Lawrence Earlbaum Associates ISBN 0-8058-1780-8 .
• Scott M. Cutlip in RootsWeb service of ancestry.com.
• Scott Cutlip at second RootsWeb site.