UA Students Admitted to Multicultural Internship Program

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – Kyndall Hinton of Trussville and Kennedy Studdard of Mobile each secured a placement with high-level advertising and public relations agencies through 4A’s Multicultural Advertising Internship Program.

Following 12 weeks of internship preparation including question-and-answer sessions, seminars and coaching, each MAIP fellow will complete a paid, 10-week internship. Studdard will be interning at Colle+McVoy in Minneapolis, and Hinton at Wunderman in Seattle.

“Kyndall Hinton and Kennedy Studdard are exceptional APR students, so it was a pleasure for me to nominate them for the prestigious 4A’s MAIP,” said Susan Daria, instructor of advertising and public relations. “I was thrilled but not surprised at all when they were both matched with excellent agencies in Seattle and Minneapolis. They are highly motivated and extremely passionate about our field. I am so happy for them to receive this honor, share their talents and represent our university.”

MAIP is a multicultural professional development program that celebrates the success of young student talent by providing them with the resources and opportunities to intern with some of the best and biggest agencies around the nation. To apply for MAIP, in addition to being a qualifying minority, applicants must complete a series of essay questions, have letters of recommendation and submit a video explaining their interest in the program. After an additional interview process, agencies extend offers to students one by one.

“MAIP is a chance to be inducted into a family,” said Studdard, “This year, the MAIP class has over 200 fellows, which is a record high and up by 50 fellows from last year.”

In addition to being placed in competitive internships with agencies of esteemed reputation, MAIP fellows are immersed in professional development opportunities and introduced to a wide-reaching alumni network of more than 2,600 professionals.

APR students gained recent recognition for multicultural excellence. Just last fall, Studdard and Ashley Paulmeno (Allen, Texas) were selected for the American Advertising Federation’s Most Promising Multicultural Student class of 2017. Hinton and Studdard both agree that it’s the supportive faculty of C&IS that make this kind of distinction possible.

The department of advertising and public relations is a part of the College of Communication and Information Sciences.