Tennessee Tech expanding its desktop publishing program with the debut of six new courses designed to provide students with a stable and progressive curriculum in digital design.
School of Professional Studies Lecturer Amy Hill said the university developed the new courses to ensure the curriculum remains consistent as the program grows. Hill said the program is growing to include AI principles in design.
“I kind of look at it like crayons, you know, they’re a tool that we can use to create things but still, the thought behind it is purely, you know, human and I don’t think they’ll ever be able to eliminate the human aspect of it,” Hill said.
Hill said the program teaches skills that are highly marketable for corporate roles or independent business owners who need to design newsletters, flyers, and logos. Hill said the university is also focusing on dual enrollment partnerships with Putnam County and White County High School to recruit students.
Hill said the classes range from 2000-level introductory courses to advanced sessions where students gain experience with the Adobe Creative Suite.
“Publishing has been around since the Gutenberg press and the first Bible they printed,” Hill said. “So I don’t see publishing skills ever going away because people want to convey messages and whether they do it through paper or they do it through online ads, I think it’s always going to be relevant.”
A Golden Eagle alumni, Hill said she found her passion for publishing and design when she was studying journalism as an undergrad. When she earned a job as an editor at Tech, Hill said that’s when she started to teach herself how to use different design software.
“Desktop publishing is what we called it, you know, then because it allows anybody to be able to publish things from their own desk,” Hill said.
Despite the landscape of graphic design shifting seismically with the rise of automated programs and large-language models, Hill said she still sees a future of human-based design.
“I think there’s always going to be a need for designers because even the people programming the ChatGPT, there have to be designers who know how to do that, you know, and even for Canva.”
Hill said the curriculum includes a course titled Ethics in AI and a recently approved graduate-level version of the class. Hill said these courses examine how artificial intelligence is used across various industries and emphasize the importance of transparency and proper attribution in design work.
Hill said the program recently hosted a summer workshop for high school students that included a collaboration with Chelsea Dartez and Cookeville Lifestyle Magazine. Hill said the partnership allowed students to participate in a mini-internship, which resulted in the magazine planning to publish articles written by two of the student participants.
Hill said the program fills a specific niche on campus by offering design skills to working professionals rather than focusing strictly on journalism or fine arts.
