For Michael Cavey, a proud alumnus of UW–Madison, the path from a lecture hall on Bascom Hill to a prestigious diplomatic role in Tokyo wasn’t a straight line—it was a journey that took him to the heart of Central Asia and back again, driven by a desire for international service.
His initial interest in international service was kindled not by a grand plan, but by a simple classroom visit at UW–Madison. He remembers a Peace Corps staff member walking into a vast lecture hall during an African history course, delivering a pitch to over a hundred students, and distributing small informational pamphlets.
“I hung on to that pamphlet for over seven months. Didn’t throw it away, kept it, tucked it aside, and knew that it would pay off at some point,” recalled Cavey.
His international coursework at UW–Madison solidified his interest in the wider world, particularly following the events of September 11. But before taking the leap overseas, he built foundational skills close to home.
Cavey graduated and started service as an AmeriCorps volunteer in Madison. For a year and a half, he worked at two elementary schools, where he managed tutoring programs that brought in community volunteers to work with first, second, and third graders on reading, before finally submitting his application for the Peace Corps.
His Peace Corps commitment required a genuine leap of faith, noting, “The very first commercial airline flight I took was from Central Wisconsin Airport to Washington, D.C. for a few days of training, and then the very first international flight I took was Washington to Frankfort to Baku, and then finally to Ashkhabad, Turkmenistan. So it was a real jump into the unknown that I’d been looking forward to doing for a long time.”
Cavey’s assignment took him to the small town of Gubadag, Turkmenistan, near the border of Uzbekistan. His role was not only to teach but to re-establish a positive American presence.
While serving in the Peace Corps, Cavey experienced a moment that would shape the future of his global career. He learned of a U.S. Embassy Foreign Service Officer (FSO) in Turkmenistan who partnered with the country’s Ministry of Education to develop English lessons and then air them as a television series across the country.
“I was blown away by this,” said Cavey. “The FSO was able to reach a huge audience of people through the television program, to the point where my students even knew him by name.”
This moment inspired him to take the Foreign Service Officer (FSO) exam while still a volunteer, using a barely-functioning internet connection at the U.S. Embassy’s Information Resource Center with the encouragement of a fellow volunteer.
Cavey credits his Peace Corps experience as the essential differentiator in his application to the U.S. Department of State’s Foreign Service. His career as an FSO has since included several tours, first as a Consular Officer in Brazil, then a return to Turkmenistan as the Cultural Affairs Officer, where he managed programs such as Fulbright, International Visitor Leadership Program (IVLP), and others. He also served in Malaysia and worked in a press and media office in Washington, D.C. before taking press work roles in India.
Today, he serves as an assistant press attaché for the U.S. Embassy in Tokyo, Japan, where he is focused on high-level press and media relations.
“The president was here not too long ago,” said Cavey. “So we played a big role in coordinating a lot of the details of his visit here to ensure that it was successful.”
Cavey’s career trajectory underscores the head start Peace Corps service can provide for those seeking a globally-focused future. For current UW–Madison students passing by the Peace Corps office in Bascom Hall, or starting to think about studying abroad in general, his advice is sound:
“Get your passport. Take care of that, because that’s an achievable first step. Your passport is good for ten years. Once you take that step, you start to build momentum towards the bigger leaps,” said Cavey. “If you’re a UW–Madison student, you’ve already demonstrated a high level of skill and curiosity about the world. Those are fantastic traits to have as a human being, so the logical next thing to do is spend some time outside of the U.S., wherever that may be.”
Interested in learning more about the Peace Corps? Contact Hannah Bennett, the current recruiter, at peacecorps@international.wisc.edu or stop by her office in 200-B Bascom Hall. Additional resources and a schedule of upcoming information sessions are available on the UW–Madison Peace Corps website.
Story by Kayla Daum