Reaffirming its commitment to the success and wellness of its students, alumni, community and corporate partners, CCS introduces a new and innovative Office of Partnerships.

Detroit, Michigan – The College for Creative Studies (CCS) is doubling down on its commitment to the success and betterment of its students, alumni, community members and industry partners with the creation of the highly strategic Office of Partnerships.

The Office of Partnerships will serve as an entry point to the college for external partners seeking to engage with the college's students, faculty, staff and programs in order to ensure seamless and successful partnerships. The team will work to increase experiential learning and career development opportunities for students, while also providing more access to CCS and student talent for employers.

“An important part of CCS's vision of success is for business, community, governmental and philanthropic leaders in a wide variety of fields to see CCS as an indispensable resource to their success,” said Don Tuski, CCS president. "We will accomplish this through This is because of the value delivered through CCS's experiential learning and career development-focused curriculum, as well as employer access to a diverse pool of talent."

By engaging employers and external partners in CCS’s programs and communities through meaningful projects and initiatives, students are encouraged to work on real-world problems in the classroom alongside industry partners, participate in local, national and global internship experiences, incorporate successful and sustainable practices into their portfolio of work and uncover entrepreneurial opportunities.

“CCS was an essential partner for us as we considered various ways to build our own first internal design team. We were so inspired by the work from our earliest sponsored studio engagements that we chose to hire students directly from those partnerships, who are still here working on the next generation of products. We look forward to our future design challenges here at XENITH, and how we can partner with CCS’s deep design talent pool to supercharge our outputs on real-world design projects.”said Matthew McPhail, Design Director at Xenith and CCS Product Design alumnus.

The Office of Partnerships is led by Olga Stella, CCS vice president of strategy and communications and Shannon McPartlon, executive director, Office of Partnerships.

“CCS students will have many different paths to the sustainable practice of their chosen creative discipline post-graduation. Through new partnerships, we will find more ways to support them in this pursuit,” said McPartlon

Past, present and future employers of CCS talent are encouraged to sign up and utilize Handshake, CCS’s new recruitment platform. To connect with the Office of Partnerships and learn more about how to engage with CCS, please check out the Office of Partnerships online or reach out to Shannon McPartlon.

Learn more about CCS's Office of Partnerships here.