University of Illinois Chicago Receives $16 Million Grant to Expand Digital Media Programs

The University of Illinois Chicago has been awarded a $16 million grant to expand its digital media and game design programs, part of a broader push to grow the university's reputation as an urban hub for digital media production.

The grant, distributed over five years, will fund new faculty hires, expanded production studio space, and scholarships aimed at students pursuing degrees in game design, virtual production, and interactive media. University officials said the funding will also support a new partnership with several Chicago-based media companies to give students hands-on production experience.

"UIC has built a strong reputation in digital media over the past decade, and this grant lets us scale that up significantly instead of doing it a few students at a time," said the dean of UIC's College of Architecture, Design, and the Arts. "We want students leaving here with actual studio experience, not just theory."

The university plans to hire 12 new tenure-track faculty in digital media over the grant period and expects the funding to support scholarships for roughly 150 students. UIC's digital media enrollment has grown by more than 35 percent over the past five years, university data show, outpacing growth in most other programs on campus.

State higher education officials described the grant as a significant win for UIC's reputation, which has grown in recent years as the university expanded its digital media production facilities. University leadership said a new studio expansion tied to the grant is expected to begin construction within the next year.