A Degree in Esports?! Yes! Yes! Yes!

Professor Deborah Lemon, of Ohlone College, and a Dublin resident, is one of the first women in the nation to receive a Professional Certificate in Esports Management from the University of California at Irvine. Deborah attended the UCI Award Ceremony in Irvine last month (Wednesday, June 18) to receive her certification.

Deborah Lemon’s cohort at UCI for the Esports Management coursework is only the second group to go through the series of intensive, industry-focused courses in the program. Deborah pursued this certificatification to augment her efforts in academic Esports Program development, which she has been working on since 2014.

Deborah is the faculty advisor and curriculum creator for Esports at Ohlone College. Since co-founding the Renegade Esports club with Ohlone College students and teams in 2014, Deborah has worked tirelessly along with the Ohlone College gamers to foster the grass-roots organization from a small group of esports enthusiasts to today’s organization which consists of both social and competitive gamers on PCs, consoles and mobile devices. Renegade Esports is now one of the largest clubs at Ohlone College.

In case you are not aware, Esports is the umbrella term for all-things competitive video-gaming. Esports has exploded in popularity and relevance over the past few years to become a billion dollar industry. Amateur and (well-paid) professional players compete in game titles that you may have heard of, including Call of Duty, League Of Legends, Overwatch, DOTA 2, Smash, and Rocket League. World-wide, there are many professional franchised leagues for League of Legends and Overwatch, and international competitions, attracting billions of viewers in-person and online. The competitions are streamed out on Twitch, the pre-eminent gaming and esports video service as well as YouTube and Facebook. ESPN and other channels are beginning to air tournaments as well.

Multiple colleges and universities across the United States and worldwide are starting to develop esports curriculum and are offering student scholarships to play for their collegiate esports teams.

Deborah Lemon has been "grinding", as gamers would say, for 6 years to develop and get approval for an esports certificate program at Ohlone College - and, this past semester, Ohlone College committed to her new Department of Esports, which will see its first course, ESPTS 101, in Spring 2020.

The esports industry has impacted multiple job sectors, and continues to create new career paths. Deborah Lemon wants the new courses to allow any student with a passion for gaming to tie-in their field of study with esports, bringing esports knowledge and experience to whatever career path they choose to follow.

By attending and completing the challenging coursework at UC Irvine, Deborah will bring increased knowledge and experience in esports management to Ohlone College, applying it for the benefit of the students. She is extremely passionate about esports, as are many of the Ohlone College students, past, present and future. With an esports certification program in mind, Deborah is excited about collaborating with different disciplines - such as communications, entertainment design technology, broadcasting, theater, foreign languages, business to name a few - to work on transdisciplinary elements of the esports courses. The Department of Esports at Ohlone College will better prepare students for jobs in this new industry. Her vision is unique in the esports world and will be one of the first such offerings at a community college in the nation.

Congratulations, Deborah! Good Game (GG)! Have Fun (HF)!

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