“I like working with students at KU because there’s an energy about this place. The students are a constant reminder of the promise of tomorrow. KU has a caring faculty, vibrant culture, and a certain comic energy that makes this place special.” - David Guth

by Daniel J Arnstein

David Guth is well into his third career.

He says the most difficult job he has had -- and one of the most important -- came during the second career. For four years, he was the spokesperson for the North Carolina Department of Corrections. He learned a great deal about crisis communications, which remains one of his chief interests. In addition, while he held this job he finished his master's degree work at the University of North Carolina.

He had already spent seven years in charge of public relations for the governor of North Carolina.

During his first career, he was a radio journalist and sold ads for major radio and television stations. Throughout this career, he lived primarily in North Carolina, but he also spent brief periods in Indiana, Georgia and New York.

As for career number three, he's here at KU, passing on his experiences in public relations classes. He says KU is a teaching university, a great place with great people, and that in the J-School, the professors, not teaching assistants, run the show. He says the faculty of the J-School take pride in teaching.

"The kids in this school are a very motivated and energetic group, and also just plain nice," Guth says.

Guth says freshmen who have chosen to attend KU should take full advantage of the resources the University offers.

"Be willing to experience the college at all levels," he says, "and understand how good an opportunity you are being presented with."

Students still contemplating whether or not to attend KU, Guth says, should stay open-minded and familiarize themselves with the opportunities available at KU.

In his combined careers, Guth has received more than two dozen state, regional and national awards. His most prestigious award came during the first career: the George Foster Peabody Award, roughly equivalent to the Pulitzer Prize for broadcast professionals, for his role in an 80-part radio series called "Victims."

In fall 2001, he and Professor Charles Marsh finished the revisions for the second edition of a book they co-wrote, Values-Driven Public Relations.