Carl Sandburg College to Add Esports Team Starting in 2019-20

  Aaron Frey
  Friday, January 18, 2019 12:13 PM
  Campus News

Galesburg, IL

Grab your controller and headset. Carl Sandburg College is getting into gaming.

The Sandburg Board of Trustees on Thursday approved the addition of esports as an intercollegiate sport starting this fall, making Sandburg the first community college in Illinois and among the first two-year colleges in the country to offer esports.

The program will include four talent scholarships to be awarded to students. Sandburg will be affiliated with the National Association of Collegiate eSports (NACE), which has more than 100 member schools since forming in 2016. The only other schools in Illinois offering esports are Illinois College, Illinois Wesleyan, Principia and Robert Morris, according to the NACE’s website.

Thanks to streaming services and live events, esports — organized, multiplayer video game competitions — has skyrocketed in popularity in recent years. In it, competitors from different teams square off in games such as “Overwatch” and “League of Legends.”

The College will now begin the process of searching for a coach and forming a roster to compete during the 2019-20 academic year.

The Board also approved the College’s strategic plan for 2019-24, which has areas focused on student access and success; teaching and learning; community alliances; and operational sustainability and success. Development of the plan began in May 2018 and included an internal survey; a College-wide, community-based strategic-planning event; and a review of the plan by administration, faculty and staff.

The strategic-planning event took place during Sandburg’s Professional Development Day in October and was attended by more than 150 College employees, students and community members throughout the district such as area K-12 personnel and economic development partners. Attendees were asked to provide feedback and ideas about the direction of the College, with that information then being used to help shape the new strategic plan.

In other business, the Board approved the following:

• Employment of Denzel Jones as weekend public safety officer.
• Employment of Kimberly McIntire as alumni relations specialist.
• Resignation/retirement of Linda Hankins as administrative assistant to dean of career and corporate development/directory of corporate and leisure, effective April 30.
• Resignation/retirement of Carol Petersen as full-time English/speech faculty, effective June 30.
• Resignation of Lisa Zucco as assistant to the president/Board of Trustees, effective Jan. 31.

The Board’s next scheduled meeting is 7 p.m. Feb. 21 on the Main Campus in Galesburg.