Here's a summary from Tom Stead about the work going on at Shawnee State University in southern Ohio to link and leverage creative digital media:

Return to Our Program here.

..."Game development degrees and their relationship to second curve economies that was sent to Pete Duncan was routed to me via Pete and then the Provost's Office. My name is Tom Stead and I was one of the people who helped conceive the programs back in 2000. Responding to the $60+B immersive development field (serious and entertainment games) Shawnee developed two interlaced bachelors' degrees in the immersive design and technology field. The first (in 2002) was a BFA to develop the graphics for immersive work. The second ( in 2003) was a BS in game development programming. They share about one third of their coursework. We started working with Ohio's IT Alliance through ITTAO (IT Alliance of Appalachian Ohio), Gary Little, President, garyl@itaao.net) from the outset to coordinate programs with other regional universities and community colleges to create a region of excellence. We have been working with Ohio University, Kent State Tuscarawas, West Virginia University (Morgantown), Washington State Community College, Hocking Community College.

This year we are looking forward to our first grads (the human capital part of the equation) out of more than 100 students enrolled in the programs. In addition, Shawnee has an earmark of a little more than $1M in one of the current budget bills (already approved by the House). The purpose of this proposed funding is to purchase more equipment beyond the current studio/labs, that in addition to student use, will help attract existing businesses and/or promote graduates from the program with access (for an affordable fee) to advanced motion capture, sound, and video studios for immersive designers. Our hope is that centers similar this will emerge in universities throughout the region of excellence.

WIth the help of ITAAO and other sponsors we hold a yearly conference (Shawnee 4.0 this year). We bring in interested high school students from all over Ohio to hear speakers and meet with students from our programs. This year we invited Peter Tamte, the president of Destineer Studios and one of the founders of Bungie Software (HALO) as our keynote. Last year we had Dreamworks senior programmer Eric Johnson. Peter talked with several of our seniors after his talk, handed them his business cards and told them to give him a call after graduation in the spring. He shared with us that he thought the program was both needed and well designed."