Editor’s Note: A previous version of this story misspelled the Karch Institute. The story has been changed to reflect the correct spelling. The Texan regrets this error.
Created in 2025 with a $5 million donation from Matt Karch, CEO of Saber Interactive, the Karch Institute of Gaming prepares students to become the next generation of leaders in the video game industry.
Moody College of Communication announced on Jan. 27 that the Karch Institute named Professor Ben Bays the inaugural director.
“Games have become this really powerful new type of media, and to be here, at this point in time, to have seen it change in my career here, … and then have Matt Karch give this … it feels like destiny,” Bays said. “Of course, this was always going to happen. I don’t know if I was always going to be the director, but it seems very natural the way it has all evolved.”
Before he started teaching at UT in 2008, Bays spent more than a decade working in the industry as an animator, creating concept art and motion graphics for video games, television and film. In those roles, Bays said he gained a deeper understanding of the scope of the industry as it involves more than just the making of a game itself, reaching into other dimensions such as history, culture and liberal arts.
“We are really fortunate to have had Professor Bays in the department of radio-television-film, because he’s the perfect person to lead the Karch Institute,” said Moody interim dean Anita Vangelisti. “He’s an excellent teacher, beloved by students and other faculty … It’s rare to have someone on campus with that depth of experience that he brings.”
Classes such as Video Games: Concept to Console, which will be available in the fall semester, provide hands-on learning as students hear from speakers in the industry and apply what they learned to their projects.
“Animators speak in their language about animation, and then we talk about it from different perspectives, meeting in the middle,” Bays said. “My hope is that the Institute, because it’s this highly maneuverable thing, right at the edge, it’s (become) a bridge between industry and the University.”
Additionally, a Digital Games Industry minor will be available soon, with many classes that count toward the minor already available to students. William Volz, game development and design freshman, said he looks forward to taking these new video game classes in the radio-television-film department.
“I’d have to say (video gaming is) important for society, because critical thinking is a very important skill, and gaming has a lot of critical thinking,” Volz said. “It’s great for both seeing brain development, for medical reasons, and for seeing how companies use it to engage their audience.”
As director, Bays said he utilizes his abilities to expand the spaces available to students, such as moving classes into the Alienware Longhorn Esports lounge to allow students to physically play the games they discuss in class.
“To build leaders, we have to start leading,” Bays said. “We have to start finding their vision now, while they’re enrolled, and honor that and lift that up and say, ‘You are doing something, you have found this value proposition that we’re not seeing in part of this program.’ It’s discovering that and then lifting those people up and propelling them into industry.”
