The NIRSA and National Association of Campus Activities (NACA) boards of directors have determined there’s a need to continue the work of the Esports Task Force this upcoming year. Last fall, the NIRSA/NACA Esports Task Force conducted an initial scan of the current and desired state of esports on college campuses; they learned that of the 179 survey participants, 89 indicated the presence of some sort of current gaming program on their respective campuses. The survey also showed both schools with existing programs as well as those still exploring the idea of offering esports programing are in need of resources. The task force learned that esports continues to be an emerging area for campus recreation. Students are organizing through various student organizations, and administrators are being asked to provide programming through intramural and sport club models.
The joint task force will continue their work and explore options to create resources for esports programs on college campuses—primarily for intramural and sport club models. Some of the work of the task force will be to continue to populate the Esports Community on Connect and generate a list of NIRSA/NACA “esports experts” who are willing to be a resource, act as mentors, and lead some virtual networking opportunities and information sharing. NIRSA task force members will also lead an education session at the 2020 NIRSA Annual Conference.
Esports Task Force Members
- Laurie Klein, CRSS, University of North Texas – Co-Chair
- Courtney James, DePaul University (NACA member) – Co Chair
- Garrett Larson, University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire
- Matt Grimm, Stevenson University
- Chris Allison, Geex, Inc.
- David Kirk, University of Akron
- Shelley Bannish, Centralia College (NACA member)
- Luke Trotz, Saint Francis University (NACA member)
- Kim Bruemmer, North Dakota State University (NACA member)
- Rich Ramos, Simpson College (NACA member)
- Sarah Leskovec, NIRSA Member Relations Manager
- For more information, please contact NIRSA Member Relations Manager Sarah Leskovec.
Sarah Leskovec is currently the Director of Membership & Leadership at NIRSA.
