Penn College to Offer Four-Year Degree in Gaming, Simulation
Published 01.21.2011
A new four-year major in the fast-growing field of gaming and simulation will be offered at Pennsylvania College of Technology the first public institution in the commonwealth with such an undergraduate degree beginning this fall.
The degree, to be available through the college's School of Business and Computer Technologies, will expose students to the strong skills necessary to pursue jobs in the gaming and simulation industry, as well as in related computer programming and application-development fields.
While the gaming aspect will appeal to one segment of the student population, the new major is much more "than playing with warlords," noted Anita R. Girton, one of two faculty members in line to teach the new major.
"This is not for students who despise math or who just like to play the games," said Girton, an assistant professor of information technology. "It's heavy in math, it's heavy in physics, it's heavy in programming. "¦ This is a degree with depth and a number of options but if you can program a game, you can program a fairly complex business machine and have a career for life."
Opportunities within the simulation industry are as exciting and viable if not more so added Bahram Golshan, an associate professor of information technology, who noted that the new major builds upon a variety of skills that were touched upon in existing information technology majors. And as with all Penn College offerings, industry support only adds to the employability of graduates from the new major.
"There are a lot of jobs in this market: manufacturing, education, government, military, automotive, health care, flight simulators, disaster training," he said. "I spoke with someone from FEMA (the Federal Emergency Management Agency); the agency regularly is searching for graduates with simulation and programming background."
The major will include hands-on experience with various gaming and simulation applications, including course work in console and mobile game design, programming, simulation, artificial intelligence and three-dimensional modeling.
For more information about the new degree, visit online or call 570-327-4517.
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