A Champion for Quality Internships

Dr. Isabella Cunningham talks with a student during a celebration breakfast honoring her and Bill Cunningham this past spring.

Isabella Cunningham is the Ernest A. Sharpe Centennial Professor in Communication. She has a law degree and M.B.A. from universities in Brazil, and a master’s and doctorate from Michigan State. She’s the longest-serving chair of the Stan Richards School of Advertising and Public Relations, the author or editor of over eight books, and she speaks five languages.

To say that Isabella Cunningham is an accomplished academic is a gross understatement. Yet, few things stir pride in her accomplishments like her student internship class, which she continues to refine after first developing more than 25 years ago. 

“The fact that so many clients keep coming back and requesting more students tells me they understand the quality of our students and the quality of their training,” she says. “I’m very proud to have taken the opportunity to develop the kind of internship course that I thought was deserving of our program.”

Cunningham recalls a time when internships in college were often optional and lacked real substance, when students viewed them as just another box to check and companies exploited them for free labor.  

“I had heard stories from students about internships that were totally worthless,” she says. “Most if not all internships were unpaid. I thought internships should be a very valuable, academic experience, an opportunity to put in practice the kind of things they had learned in the classrooms and prove what they can do.”

Cunningham believed that such an experience was possible because there was something more to be gained for clients as well for students.

“Our students, our junior and senior students are highly trained, highly educated professionals that really bring value to the table,” she says. “Today, on average, more than 60 percent of employers offer our students jobs at the end of their internships, and more than 70 percent of the students take them up on it.”

If making internships mutually beneficial was the seed for success, it’s one that still needs good soil and plenty of watering to flourish. Her days of teaching the class as an overload are long gone, but Cunningham typically enrolls 120—150 students per semester, collaborates with 60-70 clients in a given year, and must respond to the needs of a changing industry on an ongoing basis. 

This takes deep commitment, constant effort and a fine-tuned system. Like any upper-division course, PR/ADV 350 has pre-requisites but also an application process for approving internships. Clear guidelines must be agreed to by both supervisors and students, and all applications are vetted by Cunningham herself. 

While she accepts unpaid internships, they have to offer structured guidance, meaningful work and learning opportunities. Even so, preference is given to paid positions because they lead to better outcomes.  

“It appears that when people pay for something, they dedicate more time and attention to it and they give more value to it,” she says.

Employers can be assured they are getting responsible, ethical and well-prepared interns. The class requires simulated internship training, weekly classroom instruction, 5-6 special lectures from professionals, and peer networking sessions, plus 10 core assignments and a final report.

Evaluations from employers at the mid-point and end of the internship are used to help determine grades and ensure accountability.

A well-designed program is essential for success. But, at the end of the day, there’s no substitute for personal relationships to build trust and open communication.

“It’s very important to me to know that the students feel like they can come to me any time of day and ask for my help no matter what the circumstances are,” she says. 

Dr. Cunnigham sits at her desk in her office in the G.B. Dealey Center for New Media building.

Cunningham is a unique leader, but she is quick to credit an ever-growing network of alumni for the variety and quality of student internship opportunities. 

“We have students interning everywhere and the types of organizations they work with are not just agencies, they are companies, banks, sports teams, nonprofits, in some cases law firms, and sometimes with different departments or colleges at the university, doing just what they were trained to do: writing press releases, creating multi-media content, managing social media, doing research and analytics, planning campaigns and events and integrating the newest technologies.”

For learn more or set up an internship through the Stan Richards School of Advertising and Public Relations, see our website for student guidelines, the application process and more. And feel free to reach out directly to Dr. Cunningham at isabella.cunningham@austin.utexas.edu