Boise State students looking for more academic opportunities for their Esports career will soon have a lot more classes to choose from. Dr. Brett Shelton, co-founder of the Boise State Esports program, is currently in the process of setting up dedicated Esports classes for students to take on campus. These classes will be part of a certificate program students can take. The tentative starting date for these new classes is Fall 2023.
Forming the Esports Program
Dr. Brett Shelton worked closely alongside Dr. Chris Haskell to form the Boise State Esports program back in 2017.
“In 2017, we decided to make a varsity esports team…and we had to figure out how to go through all the administrative channels in order to make that happen,” said Dr. Shelton in an interview. “Since we started from scratch, there was really no template for which to build a new program. We really just used our instincts and experience in games…in order to create something we thought would work well.
The New Certificate Program
Since that initial start, Boise State Esports has won multiple championships and awards from many different tournaments and organizations. However, on the academic side, students have had to take special topic courses until now. Dr. Shelton’s new program will add dedicated courses to Boise State’s catalogue.
“We want to support the academic side of esports,” says Dr. Shelton, “We’ve had to work constantly at finding the right fit for the program with the correct academic department. That has been very difficult along with finding sponsorships and administrative support.”
But Dr. Shelton’s work is finally coming to fruition. Classes and course topics are now well into their planning phase and are currently waiting for administrative approval. If everything goes according to plan, classes should be available to students next year. For those interested in joining these classes, stay tuned to Boise State Esports news feed for updates on when classes will be available.
Written by Jacob Palmer.