Take for example ASU senior Tiffany McClellan, who saw her graphic designs light up the ASU jumbotron during the university’s Welcome Night on August 19. For McClellan, the accomplishment was a culmination of her education journey at ASU so far. The jumbotron graphics – which included the dance cam, selfie cam and prize celebrations – were designed over the summer through McClellan’s internship with Adobe, a global leader in digital media and digital marketing solutions.
McClellan has been able to access Adobe’s suite of creative tools for free since starting her college experience, thanks to the university’s longstanding collaboration with Adobe.
Adobe Express is one of the many tools ASU makes available to students, at no additional cost. This semester, the ASU Digital Backpack was upgraded with all new AI tools including: Google Gemini, NoteBookLM, Copilot Chat and more.
This toolset will be used to drive hackathon-style events for the AI Scholars program, which welcomed nearly 325 first-time students this semester. In addition to accessing industry-level AI tools, the program will create community and connect these students with ASU and industry leaders throughout a series of events this academic year.
Create AI Builder is now available for all 20,000 ASU faculty and staff, with several faculty-led innovations already underway. Many educators are focusing on making their students’ experience in the classroom more efficient, while others are using the platform to help their fellow co-workers reach their goals.
Earlier this summer, the ASU Faculty Ethics Committee for AI Technology released six new design principles for AI innovation and evolution. These range from agility to privacy and shared responsibility, and are meant to evolve alongside the technology.
A connected community
The ASU Experience Center saw several AI-innovative upgrades, just in time for the center to take over 275,000 contacts for fall rush.
Every year, the ASU Experience Center takes on over one million contacts from students, parents, and more. A group of 130 specialists staff the Experience Center 24/7, 365 days a year to ensure the Sun Devil community has the support it needs. This semester, the AI-focused specialists are hoping to make the lives of their co-workers, and the lives of community members easier, with AI-driven solutions.
As ASU continues efforts to future-proof campus for all Sun Devils, the ASU Mobile ID – available in the ASU Mobile App — has officially reached over 44,000 active users, with over 20,000 users added this semester. This includes students, faculty, staff and ASU affiliates.
Over 900 students have been served at ASU’s three Tech Hub locations, carrying an AI-forward student body through the summer and into the fall. Additionally, over 30 workshops have been given by the Learning Experience team to faculty and staff in preparation for the fall semester in order to ensure educators were up to speed on the latest technology innovations.
From W.P. Carey School of Business to the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and the Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College, Jennifer Werner, ASU AI Learning Strategist, discusses AI’s role with teaching integration, learning development, and student experience. These workshops, training, and discussions have directly impacted over 3,000 people across the university.
By providing outreach to faculty and staff, Werner is able to positively improve the student experience as AI becomes more and more necessary in and out of the classroom.
As incoming Sun Devils make themselves at home on campus, they’ll find themselves surrounded by tech-forward opportunities to supplement their learning, working and extracurricular activities.
With cutting edge innovations in AI and digitization, the ASU community has presented its students with the best technology has to offer in just the first two weeks of the upcoming school year.
