Warren Spector and Blizzard chief operating officer Paul Sams will lead up a new, post-graduate video game development program at the University of Texas in Austin, representatives for the school announced today.
The Denius-Sams Gaming Academy will offer a 12-month course load to its 20 participating students, during which time they'll work together in teams to create a "small-scale" game. The course, once completed, will not reward its student with a post-graduate degree, but rather, a post-baccalaureate certificate, which, according to a press release from the University of Texas, "offers fewer restrictions than a traditional academic degree and will enable the program to remain relevant and responsive to industry trends."
Spector will create the curriculum for the program over the next year, as the program is expected to begin taking on students during the fall 2014 semester. Both he and Sams — who, along with Cain Foundation director and academy co-founder Wofford Denius, helped to fund the program — will serve as part-time instructors for the Denius-Sams Gaming Academy.
The program, which will work in conjunction with UT's College of Communication, College of Fine Arts and Department of Computer Science, will focus on providing training for gaming studio leadership.
"What differentiates the Denius-Sams Gaming Academy is that it will focus explicitly on the bigger creative leadership aspects of game development — on the management and production side and on the creative leadership side," wrote Spector in a press release. "This is a space that's not being filled by the other programs and it will make the academy unique."
For more information on the academy and Spector's role on the post-grad program, check out the video above.
