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WSSU becomes first HBCU Adobe Creative Cloud campus

WSSU is the first historically Black college and university (HBCU) to become an Adobe Creative Cloud (Adobe CC) Campus.

Winston-Salem State University (WSSU) has partnered with Adobe to offer the full collection of Creative Cloud software to all students, creating the first Adobe Creative Cloud (Adobe CC) Campus at a historically Black college or university (HBCU).

Through the partnership, WSSU students, faculty and staff with a registered university email address now have access to Adobe CC favorites such as Photoshop CC, Illustrator CC, InDesign CC, Adobe XD CC, and Spark.

WSSU began offering Adobe CC as part of a digital literacy initiative in August but the implementation began months earlier with collaboration between the Office of Information Technology and the Office of the Provost. This fall, Adobe is being introduced in dozens of classes, helping to expose students to the technology.  

“Embedding digital literacy learning activities throughout the curriculum and using industry-leading programs will give our students a distinct career advantage,” said Eli Collins-Brown, director, Center for Innovative and Transformative Instruction at WSSU. “A cutting-edge software like Adobe Creative Cloud helps to develop our students and faculty into content creators, allowing them to express themselves in more innovative ways. This will give our students a huge competitive advantage when they graduate and embark on their career.”  

Here are just a few examples of how Adobe is being used in WSSU classrooms this fall:

  • Incorporating a digital literacy assignment into the First Year Experience (FYE) courses, exposing students to digital literacy skills and tools. All first-time freshmen at WSSU are required to take the FYE courses.
  • Students in two sections of the General Chemistry Lab I course are using Adobe Spark to create “Current Events in Science” blogs. The blog will help students learn the specifics of the Spark tool and assist them with locating, reading, and reflecting on scientific articles from popular science sources.  
  • In one sociology course, instead of writing a research paper, students are using Adobe Spark to make a magazine, deepening their understanding of the intersection of health and society. 

More than 90 percent of the world’s creative professionals use Photoshop, and Adobe Creative Cloud mobile apps have been downloaded 282 million times.

Creative Cloud connects Adobe users seamlessly together with their assets through Creative Cloud Libraries, enabling them to work effortlessly across desktop and mobile devices for connected creative workflows.

Adobe CC is one a dozen new and enhanced technologies WSSU rolled out in 2018 that are designed to improve retention and graduation rates, and to help students, faculty and staff work smarter. For more information about these new tools, visit the Student Success Technologies website.

About Winston-Salem State University
Winston-Salem State University fosters the creative thinking, analytical problem-solving, and depth of character needed to transform the world. Rooted in liberal education, WSSU’s curriculum prepares students to be thought leaders who have the skills and knowledge needed to develop innovative solutions to complex problems. Founded in 1892, WSSU is a historically Black constituent institution of the University of North Carolina with a rich tradition of contributing to the social, cultural, intellectual, and economic growth of North Carolina, the region and beyond. Guided by the motto, “Enter to Learn, Depart to Serve,” WSSU develops leaders who advance social justice by serving the world with compassion and commitment.

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