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Home Announcement University of Utah Division of Games Opens New City Centre Home for Graduate Education and Research

University of Utah Division of Games Opens New City Centre Home for Graduate Education and Research

The Division of Games at the University of Utah celebrated the opening of its new City Centre space on Thursday evening, February 19, welcoming more than 200 guests to mark a major milestone in the Division’s continued growth in graduate education and research.

The Division officially moved into the new facility and began operations on January 5, 2026, launching the spring semester in its purpose-built home. The February 19 opening ceremony provided an opportunity to recognize the collaborative effort behind the project and to showcase the work now underway in the space.

Guests heard remarks from Arnab Chakraborty, Dean of the College of Architecture and Planning, and Mitzi Montoya, Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs. Following the program, attendees toured the facility and experienced live demonstrations of graduate game projects presented by both cohorts of students in the Master of Entertainment Arts and Engineering (MEAE) program.

A Purpose-Built Home for Graduate Education

The new City Centre facility encompasses approximately 18,000 square feet of purpose-built space designed to support advanced game development, immersive technologies research, and collaborative studio learning. The space is now home to the Division’s MEAE program and provides expanded infrastructure for its growing research enterprise.

At the heart of the facility is a 200-desk master game studio, structured to mirror professional development environments and support interdisciplinary production teams.

The space also includes:

  • A 100-seat lecture classroom for graduate instruction and community events

  • Multiple game development classlabs for technical and design coursework

  • A 40-seat Cintiq teaching lab supporting advanced digital art, animation, and interactive media production

  • A 400-square-foot room-scale VR research lab dedicated to immersive simulation and AI-enabled virtual worlds research

  • Collaboration and meeting rooms throughout, designed to foster team-based learning and faculty-student engagement

Together, these spaces integrate instruction, production, and research in a cohesive graduate environment.

“This space represents the next chapter in the evolution of games as a scholarly and creative discipline at the University of Utah,” said R. Michael Young, Professor and Chair of the Division of Games. “By bringing our master’s studio, research labs, and tenure-line faculty together in one purpose-built environment, we are strengthening the connection between graduate education and research, and creating a platform for innovation that will shape the future of interactive media.”

Supporting Research Growth and the PRESS PLAY Initiative

The City Centre expansion directly advances the Division’s research trajectory. The facility houses tenure-line faculty offices and provides lab space for PhD students, strengthening interdisciplinary research in games, immersive technologies, and AI-enabled interactive systems.

Four new professors hired as part of the Division’s PRESS PLAY initiative are now onboarded in the space, accelerating the Division’s growth in externally funded research and doctoral training.

Relocating the graduate program to City Centre also enables Building 72 to sharpen its focus on undergraduate education and the Division’s expanding esports and student success initiatives, including the forthcoming opening of the Robert Kessler Station for Student Success.

A Three-Year Collaborative Effort

The design, construction, and establishment of the City Centre facility was the result of a three-year collaboration among Academic Affairs, the College of Architecture and Planning, University Information Technology (UIT), Real Estate Administration (REA), and the Division of Games.

Utah Games’ effort was led by Operations Manager Cami Sheridan

and Director of Esports AJ Dimick. Their work spanned infrastructure planning, transition logistics, and academic continuity, including the short-term relocation of the graduate program to the Williams Building in Research Park during construction.

A Platform for the Future

Now fully operational, the City Centre home represents more than expanded square footage. It reflects the Division’s maturation as a national leader in games education and research and provides the foundation for the next phase of graduate growth.

With studio capacity for large interdisciplinary teams, dedicated research labs, and infrastructure to support tenure-line faculty and doctoral students, the City Centre space positions the University of Utah to continue advancing games as a distinctive interdisciplinary discipline at the intersection of art, design, and technology.