AAAA Multicultural Advertising Intern Program Graduates 97 Interns.

The 32nd annual graduation ceremonies of the American Association of Advertising Agencies’ Multicultural Advertising Intern Program (MAIP) were held today at the Kimmel Center at New York University. Sheldon Levy, senior vice president, associate director of broadcast production, Saatchi & Saatchi, delivered the keynote address to the 97 graduating interns. In addition, Publicis NY was honored with the 2005 MAIP Service Award.

Levy, a graduate of the inaugural MAIP class of 1973 and the recipient of MAIP’s 2003 “Distinguished Alumnus Award,” challenged the class of 2005 to produce 10 agency CEOs in the future. He encouraged graduating interns to “to partake in the entire banquet” of agency life.

Publicis NY was awarded the 2005 MAIP Service Award in recognition of the agency’s dedication and contributions to the AAAA’s diversity initiatives. O. Burtch Drake, president-CEO, AAAA, presented the award to Patty Enright, executive vice president, chief talent officer, Publicis NY.

The MAIP Service Award was established in 2001, and is given each year to recognize an agency or individual who provide extraordinary dedication to MAIP and AAAA diversity initiatives. Previous agency recipients include Saatchi & Saatchi (2002) and Ogilvy & Mather (2003).

“With each successive MAIP graduating class, the numbers of multicultural people increase in this terrific business,” Drake said in his remarks to the class of 2005. “For those of you who have caught the advertising agency bug, we look forward to you joining the industry fulltime. We need your talent and welcome you.”

During the ceremonies, MAIP graduates from 12 U.S. cities presented their experiences over the course of their 2005 internships. Interns were placed at AAAA member agencies in Boston; Chicago; Detroit; Warren, Mich.; Los Angeles; McLean, Va.; Minneapolis, New York; Oakland, Calif.; Richmond, Va.; St. Louis; and Seattle.

The following awards were also presented:

Ornelas Latino Advertising Scholarship. Recipient: Juan Pagan
Clarence Holte Memorial Intern of the Year Award. Recipient: Jeff Thibodeau
The 2005 MAIP graduation was supported in part by sponsorships from Ogilvy & Mather, Foote Cone & Belding, Arnold Worldwide, Campbell-Mithun, Leo Burnett, McCann Worldgroup, and Young & Rubicam.

The 2nd annual MAIP Diversity Career Fair followed the graduation ceremonies. Thirty-four AAAA member agencies participated.