UAH partners with Adobe to bring cutting-edge technical communication software to students

HUNTSVILLE, Ala. (August 8, 2013) - The University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH) is joining forces with Adobe Systems Inc. to give students pursuing a Graduate Certificate in Technical Communication a seriously competitive edge.

How? By providing them with free licenses for the fall semester to the Adobe Technical Communication Suite (TCS), which includes products like FrameMaker, RoboHelp, Captivate, Presenter, Illustrator, and Acrobat.

Dr. Ryan Weber, UAH's Director of Business and Technical Writing, says when he got the call from Adobe early this year asking if he would be interested in partnering, he didn't hesitate.

"I was very excited. Adobe is one of the premier software companies in the world, and the software in Adobe TCS is used by technical communicators around the world every day," he says.

And even though students in the program have been using Adobe products for many years, he continues, "giving them free access to Adobe TCS will offer them the hands-on experience they need to get a leg up when they start their careers."

For its part, Adobe is "proud" to partner with UAH, says Saibal Bhattacharjee, the company's Senior Product Marketing Manager for Tech Comm Products. "We are very excited that UAH students will now have access to cutting-edge technical communication technology as they prepare themselves for the professional challenges ahead."

Under the current agreement, the licenses will be available in the library's Lab 206 for students taking the Theory and Practice in Technical Communication class and the Document Design class, both of which are graduate level. But Dr. Weber says he would like to eventually expand the use of Adobe TCS to more - and undergraduate - classes.

"I hope to continue this type of partnership in the future," he says. "We're adding a new class in the fall of 2014 specifically designed to give undergraduate students exposure to this kind of software, so they would benefit greatly from this partnership as well."

For now, though, Dr. Weber is happy to take it one class at a time. "The software is extremely helpful for students, and I'm pleased Adobe is doing this," he says. "This promises to be a terrific partnership."