UA Board of Trustees Approves Creation of Tesseract Center

Courtesy of Tesseract Studio

Professor David Fredrick (pointing) and technical director Kennan Cole (right), discuss a virtual house in Pompeii.

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – The University of Arkansas Board of Trustees approved the creation of the Tesseract Center for Immersive Environments and Game Design at its Nov. 20 meeting.

Pending approval from the Arkansas Department of Higher Education, the center will operate under the Office of Research and Economic Development and Fulbright College. It will provide a computer lab and infrastructure to support collaborative educational projects. The center will foster entrepreneurship and economic development through the creation of intellectual property, as well as skillsets in 3D asset creation, interaction design and coding, and virtual reality content creation.

“Fulbright College is pleased to provide the foundation for the Tesseract Center, which serves as an intersection of the arts and sciences,” said Todd Shields, dean of the J. William Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences. “This award-winning center exemplifies how the university harnesses talent from across campus to produce innovative, cutting-edge learning environments for our students. The center’s work has the potential for numerous applications.”

 The center’s computer lab in the J.B. Hunt Transport Services Center for Academic Excellence accommodates 15 students and 15 content developers.

With its new status, the center will be poised to expand its efforts in collaboration with Fulbright College and other colleges and departments across campus, especially the Fay Jones School of Architecture, computer science in the College of Engineering, the Sam M. Walton College of Business, and the College of Education and Health Professions.

Other current partners include the U of A Global Campus, the Center for Advanced Spatial Technology; the Honors College; and students and faculty members from the social sciences, visual and performing arts, the humanities, natural sciences and computer science in the College of Engineering.

“The center will provide a platform to fuel new academic undergraduate and graduate courses and programs, as well as certificates for industry professionals,” said David Fredrick, who will lead the center. “Building on existing strengths, the University of Arkansas has an opportunity for leadership in Arkansas, the SEC and nationally.”

Fredrick, a classical studies professor and head of the humanities program in Fulbright College, grew university support for the center over the past two years, starting with a simple concept. He wanted to breathe life into academic courses by using media-rich, interactive video-game-like elements.

Over time Fredrick’s idea blossomed into an academic course that allows students from a variety of disciplines and colleges to gain hands-on experience in the development of 3D game content for educational use. Content built in the game development course is later embedded into different academic courses taken by U of A students.

The center, known then as Tesseract Studio, won two awards at the 9th European Conference on Games Based Learning in October in Steinkjer, Norway, for the development of Mythos Unbound, which is gaming content used in the Greek and Roman Mythology course. The Arkansas Times published a cover story about Tesseract Studio in October.

In other projects, Fredrick, his staff and students developed an interactive art gallery application in collaboration with Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art and a different application that explores ancient Roman houses in Pompeii.

The Global Campus will provide $250,000 each year for the center’s first two years, while it is in the initial set-up phase. Global Campus will continue to support the center with $100,000 to $150,000 each year for at least five additional years. Other funding is expected from Fulbright College, grants and board memberships.

“Funding the Tesseract Center is an investment in the future of the University of Arkansas,” said Javier Reyes, vice provost for distance education. “It is an investment in our faculty and the innovative teaching strategies they want to use to educate and enrich tomorrow’s leaders and workforce.”

An advisory board of faculty and industry executives, who bring experience and resource support, will provide strategic direction and guidance.

The center’s mission will be to drive innovative curriculum and research in immersive, media-rich environments and serious games across the Fayetteville campus. It will promote integrated education in the humanities, arts and STEM fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics, as well as fuel visualization technology and game-centered start-ups in the Northwest Arkansas region.

About the J. William Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences: The J. William Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences is the largest and most academically diverse unit on campus with 19 departments and 43 academic programs and research centers. The college provides the core curriculum for all University of Arkansas students and is named for J. William Fulbright, former university president and longtime U.S. senator.

About the University of Arkansas: The University of Arkansas provides an internationally competitive education for undergraduate and graduate students in more than 200 academic programs. The university contributes new knowledge, economic development, basic and applied research, and creative activity while also providing service to academic and professional disciplines. The Carnegie Foundation classifies the University of Arkansas among only 2 percent of universities in America that have the highest level of research activity. U.S. News & World Report ranks the University of Arkansas among its top American public research universities. Founded in 1871, the University of Arkansas comprises 10 colleges and schools and maintains a low student-to-faculty ratio that promotes personal attention and close mentoring.