JOHNSON CITY (Jan. 17, 2023) — East Tennessee State University has been ranked the top animation school in Tennessee and No. 7 nationally among schools offering an animation-related B.S. degree in the 2023 Animation School Rankings.
The online resource Animation Career Review considered nearly 200 schools with animation programs across the United States in determining the 12th annual rankings.
The ETSU Digital Media Department in the College of Business and Technology offers a Bachelor of Science in digital media with concentrations in animation, game design, visualization and visual effects. There is also a digital media minor for students to gain broad exposure in each of those areas.
The program also offers Tennessee’s first Master of Fine Arts degree in digital media. The MFA is the terminal degree in the field, and ETSU attracts regional, national and international students to its program.
“This honor comes at a great time – the first graduates of our MFA program will be accepting their degrees this May,” said interim department chair Todd Emma. “Our students have the opportunity to equip themselves in digital media by choosing from a number of career paths, including animation and game development. This establishes what we already know, that we offer a top-notch program for students of digital media. We are very proud of our graduates and of these rankings.”
ETSU’s digital media graduates have gone on to work on such notable creative properties as “Borderlands,” “Falcon and Winter Soldier,” “Intergalactic Pizza Delivery Guy,” “Thor Ragnarok,” “Halo,” “RWBY,” “Crucible” and “Justice League.”
Ranking criteria consists of academic reputation, admission selectivity, employment data, depth and breadth of the program faculty, value as it relates to tuition and indebtedness, and retention and graduation rates.
To view the rankings, visit animationcareerreview.com/articles/2023-animation-school-rankings.
For more information about the ETSU Digital Media program, visit ETSUDigitalMedia.com or contact Emma at emma@etsu.edu or (423) 439-5113. More about ranking criteria is available at animationcareerreview.com/background-info-and-criteria-college-rankings.