August 2004
Alumnus Profile: Clarke Caywood (BBA ’68, PhD ’85)
By Karen Appelbaum
Q&A with Clarke Caywood
Q. What is the one piece of career advice you would give a recent graduate?
A. Building a career is best done by building the institutions or businesses you join.
Q. What can be done to improve the ethics of business?
A. Professor J. Howard Westing (Marketing) taught me that ethics are a higher standard than the law. Never be afraid to discuss your concerns with your trusted peers and mentors on ethical issues. The trend toward transparency will help you to manage a more ethical life and career.
Q. In your opinion, what is the best way to keep informed on business issues of the day?
A. I "pulse" business with the top business radio show in the market (WBBM in Chicago) to keep very current. I subscribe to a number of valuable general business publications (BusinessWeek, Business 2.0, Fortune, and B2B and trade pubs in my field of marketing and public relations). I use the New York Times for my front page on the web and, of course, subscribe to the Wall Street Journal and Chicago Tribune with the Sunday New York Times. CNN and MSNBC for TV news and Chicago Tonight on WTTW help me too.
Q. Following graduation, what is one thing that you could have done to better prepare yourself for the workforce?
A. Spent three to seven years in the workforce and then applied to graduate school for advanced professional education and training or used advanced management non-credit courses for keeping up-to-date and even more practical in my work.
Knowledge in both business and public affairs has helped Clarke Caywood (BBA ’68, PhD ’85) become a leading expert in marketing and public relations. Caywood, who was recognized by PR Weekly as one of 20th century’s 100 most influential PR people of the nation, advocates integrating public relations with business. He was also named Educator of the Year in 2002-2003 for the Public Relations Society of America. As a tenured associate professor and member of the graduate faculty at Northwestern University, Caywood, who has also taught at UW-Madison and Marquette University, instills the importance of business experience in his students. “Business will value you for what you know about other fields,” said Caywood.
Caywood has published a best-selling book on integrated communications and public relations as well as numerous articles and book chapters. He holds a joint doctorate in Business Administration and Journalism-Mass Communications from the UW-Madison as well as a Masters in Public Affairs from the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas-Austin.
Caywood has always been interested in combining business with social fields. One of his early experiences in public relations was as a UW-Madison student helping a classmate run for office in student government. Successful in getting his candidate elected, Caywood realized he preferred to be the person behind the scenes, strategizing and developing marketing plans, rather than being the front man himself.
Although he was determined to study business, Caywood wanted to learn more about communications. After exploring a journalism course, Caywood became intrigued with the idea of combining this field with business. He believed business students needed strong communication skills and a broader understanding of the stakeholders involved in business, such as employees and investors, as well as the interfaces between business organizations and external groups such as government and media. Similarly, students in public affairs needed a foundation in business and its demands on government.
Seeking an opportunity to promote a connection between subjects he thought should be taught together, he helped form several organizations on campus, including the Madison chapter of the Public Relations Student Society of America, which aims to develop PR students as professionals but welcomes business students and provides an opportunity to learn more about public relations.
At Northwestern, Caywood helped create the internationally known Integrated Marketing Communications Graduate Program at Northwestern University in advertising, promotions, public relations, direct, database, and e-commerce marketing. This leading program combines communications and marketing. During the dot.com era, Caywood also served as vice president of integrated marketing and communications for eMarketWorld.com. He had worked for a former governor and for the attorney general of Wisconsin after graduation from Madison.
Caywood’s entrepreneurial mindset continues to expand with his students. “My favorite part of my job now is that I enjoy sharing concepts with students and watching the students take notes and develop the ideas,” said Caywood.
Karen Appelbaum is a senior political science major at UW-Madison. She is currently working as a student assistant in the alumni relations office and is the president of AIESEC, a School of Business student organization.