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Austin’s Thomas Benner Serves as Editor for New Textbook; Recognized as Adobe Certified Expert

Thomas Benner, Web Design & Interactive Media faculty member, The Art Institute of Austin, a branch of The Art Institute of Houston, recently added to his already-extensive list of professional accomplishments. In December of 2016, Benner was recognized by Adobe as an Adobe Certified Expert in Flash. He says that he’s now “an ACE (Adobe Certified Expert) in Photoshop, Illustrator and Flash.”

In addition to becoming an Adobe Certified Expert, Benner recently served as a technical editor for the new textbook Beginning Animate CC. The book is authored by Tom Green and Joseph Labrecque, who asked Benner to be the technical editor. Benner worked on the editing for four months, and says that the book is beneficial to “both new users and former Flash Professionals who need to get a handle on Adobe Animate CC. It shows where Adobe Animate CC fits into your everyday work flow.”

Benner has been an instructor at The Art Institute of Austin for eight years, and says that the best part of his job is seeing his students succeed—both in the classroom and in their careers. He’s taught courses in Digital Illustration, Introduction to Authoring, Intermediate and Advanced Authoring, Advanced Imaging, Image Manipulation, Interactive Motion Graphics, Web Design & Interactive Media Portfolio Classes, Animation Graphics, Interactive Motion Scripting, Digital Presentation, Digital Visual Composition, Digital Technical Graphics, and Advanced Motion Graphics.

His professional credits include:

• Adobe Community Professional and Adobe Education Leader 
• Two years on the Adobe Advisory Board at Cengage Learning 
• Subject Matter Expert and Adobe Certification Exam Writer for Pearson Certiport—wrote ACA (Adobe Certified Associate) and ACE (Adobe Certified Expert) exams for Photoshop, Illustrator and Flash/Animate 
• Trains other professionals in how to utilize the Adobe Creative Cloud and Apple Macintosh software with a focus on integrating various applications (Photoshop, Illustrator, Animate, DreamWeaver, Muse, Premiere, After Effects, Behance) for effective desktop and screen publishing workflows