April 2, 2024 — Marist has once again been recognized for featuring one of the top gaming design programs in the country by The Princeton Review. The education services company ranked Marist in the top 10 for gaming design in the Northeast for undergraduates and included it on its national top 50 list for the ninth consecutive year.

Shared between the School of Communication and the Arts and School of Computer Science and Mathematics, students in Marist’s Games and Emerging Media program learn how to become designers, writers, programmers, artists, and producers. The program features industry experts and state-of-the-art facilities to help students become game developers and offers concentrations in “Technical Development and Programming” and “Design, Writing, and Culture,” along with unique electives such as “Storytelling Across Media,” “3-D Modeling,” and “Human-Computer Interaction.”

Students enrolled in Marist’s Games and Emerging Media major have access to innovative computer and game prototyping labs, audio/video production studios and industry-standard tools. Graduates of the program have established careers at a number of gaming and media organizations such as Epic Games, Nickelodeon, and IBM, with many having gone on to design, develop, and launch their own games for popular gaming platforms.

Students in a capstone class of the Games and Emerging Media program discuss their designs. Photo by Carlo de Jesus/Marist College.

“We created Marist's game program to be a caring, inclusive, and supportive community where we can games and learn about emerging media,” said Dr. Karen Schrier, Director of Games. “I am excited and honored that this interdisciplinary, innovative program has been recognized again."

“I was recruited to play football for a few schools but the reason I chose Marist was because of the Games and Emerging media major as I wanted to be a game designer after my athletic career ended,” said Tristan Shannon '24, a Games and Emerging Media major with a concentration in design, writing and culture. “After graduation, I intend to develop my own games and collaborate with indie studios. The program did a great job teaching the necessary skills for game design.”

Students in a capstone class of the Games and Emerging Media program discuss their designs. Photo by Carlo de Jesus/Marist College.

The Princeton Review's game design school rankings are based on more than 40 data points derived from the company's 2023 survey of administrators at 150 schools offering game design courses and/or degrees. Most of the institutions are in the U.S., with two in Canada and four abroad.

The 50-question survey covered four areas: academics, faculty, technology, and career topics. Detailed information about the survey methodology and rankings criteria is here.