College of Liberal Arts
University of Minnesota
Twin Cities Campus
101 Pleasant St SE
Minneapolis, MN 55455

Anette Righi

Anette Righi

Journalism B.A., emphasis in public relations, May 2003

  • What attracted you to the journalism major?
    “The field of public relations allows me to do different things everyday. I don’t have to work on the same projects all of the time, and that is very attractive to me.”
  • Which CLA professor has really inspired you? In what way?
    “David Kistle was great! As an adjunct professor in SJMC, he incorporated his real life experience into the classroom, which was helpful in this field. He was also very caring and compassionate with his students, which makes for a better relationship and more fun in class.”

Internship Launches Righi Into PR Profession

Anette Righi

Annette Righi

Photo by Beth Hornby

Understanding the potential applications of what is taught in the classroom sometimes requires a leap of imagination. But an internship can help close the gap. Integrating her public relations coursework with her experience as a communications intern for U of M Parking and Transportation Services (UMPTS), Anette Righi was able to make the all-important connection between her academic learning and real-life public relations.

And there was another bonus. Righi won first place in the Public Relations Society of America 2003 Student Classics news/feature writing category for her article, “Campus Connector Limited Stop Service.”

Righi has worked on UMPTS information campaigns for the last two years—for the U-Pass and new campus connector limited stop bus service. Each year, the department revises every brochure to include changes in service, and Righi has played an integral role in the revision process.

“Creating the brochures and other articles is challenging because our products and services are so complex,” Righi says.

The benefits of Righi’s internship were broadly reciprocal. UMPTS benefited immensely from the talents, skills, and fresh perspective Righi brought to her internship work. The challenges Righi faced in the workplace taught her the realities of working creatively and productively in a complex organization and made her more prepared in public relations classes. And the strategies she learned in the classroom improved her work at UMPTS. She even shared concrete examples from her internship with other students in her classes—so other students were able to learn from her experience as well.

“My class work and work at Parking and Transportation Services supplemented each other,” Righi says. And now she is better prepared than ever to launch a career as a public relations professional.

About this profile: first published Spring 2003; written by Joanna Dornfeld (B.A., 2004)

Anette graduated from the University in Spring 2003 with a degree in Journalism