SMU Students Use Adobe Tools to Solve Real-world Business Challenges in Truist Bank’s Rapid Innovation Program
At Southern Methodist University (SMU), B-school students recently teamed up with C-suite executives to solve modern business problems in a bold new way.
As part of the Truist Rapid Innovation Program Immersive Experience, students at the Cox School of Business collaborated on design strategies to address real business and community challenges. The event enhanced students’ career-ready skills like creativity and critical thinking, and it gave them direct access to executives, community leaders, and industry experts. Together, they explored the latest methodologies as well as technologies like Adobe Express to transform how organizations communicate with their customers and constituents on critical topics.
Hands-on innovation in action
At the heart of the program were four use cases, each representing a genuine challenge that a particular organization needed to solve. Student teams dove deep, applying design thinking, Adobe’s AI-powered content creation tools, and creative strategy to develop and present actionable solutions.
One use case involved St. Philip's School & Community Center, a K3–8 school in a historically underserved neighborhood just south of downtown Dallas. The school balances two critical missions: delivering exceptional private education and sustaining vital community programs including a food pantry and outreach services.
SMU student teams developed a marketing strategy to helps St. Philip's effectively reach higher-income Black and minority families seeking outstanding educational outcomes — while simultaneously strengthening the philanthropic support that makes the school's mission possible.
Another use case involved Parkland Health, one of the largest public hospital systems in the US. Students worked to reimagine Parkland’s 2025 Dallas County Community Health Needs Assessment — a 200+ page PDF capturing the county's most pressing public health challenges — as a living, interactive digital experience that could be deployed via tablet kiosks and QR codes at Parkland clinics. They had to design a dual-mode experience: one data-heavy mode for healthcare professionals, and one for patients and community members that featured multilingual access, an engaging visual design, and plain-language insights into neighborhood-level health information.
Powerful problem-solving and transformative networking
While the opportunity to apply their knowledge and skills to authentic use cases was invaluable, students who participated in the Rapid Innovation Program gained other benefits as well.
Beyond simply studying and solving hypothetical problemsin class, students made a difference for organizations that serve people across Dallas. They got a chance to use and grow their career-ready skills in ways that matter, and they left with an understanding that they can make meaningful contributions in the business world.
Students also benefited from connecting with successful professionals in industries that interest them. They heard firsthand perspectives on how these professionals are navigating emerging technologies and the evolving business landscape. And they created relationships built on something more valuable than a business card exchange: genuine collaboration on actual problems.
“What makes experiences like this even more powerful is partnership,” said Anna Martinez, Executive Director of Communication at the Cox School of Business. “When academia and industry come together with shared intent, the impact is exponential. Students gain perspective that can’t be replicated in a textbook. Organizations engage with fresh thinking and emerging talent. And together, we strengthen the broader business ecosystem in a way that benefits everyone.”
Ultimately, the Truist Rapid Innovation Program Immersive Experience reflected SMU's ongoing commitment to preparing students not just for careers, but for impact — equipping them with the tools, connections, and confidence to lead in an increasingly digital and AI-powered world.
