The Moody College of Communication unveiled three new minors in digital game industries, advertising and radio-television-film, open for enrollment in the fall semester of 2026, according to March news releases earlier this year.  

The three minors will be open to all students across the University, regardless of major or college. Advertising and radio-television-film are Moody’s two most popular majors, said Cassandre Giguere Alvarado, Moody senior associate dean. Their corresponding minors were created to address the high demand, while the digital game industries minor was established to organize and complement classes Moody already offers, Alvarado said. 

“We know that communication skills are the number one skill in demand by employers right now,” Alvarado said. “We want to help and assist any student who’s interested in studying communication and building their own skills to have that opportunity.”

Ben Bays, radio-television-film associate professor and director of the Karch Gaming Institute, said the digital game industries minor will center around the upcoming “Video Games: Concept to Console” course, set to launch alongside the minor. The class will feature guest speakers from all facets of the gaming industry, including writers, animators, programmers and producers, he said. 

“I have a great appetite for guests because I’m able to create this program and provide a structure for conversations to happen,” Bays said. “The best thing is to just get out of the way and … let that person talk about their area of expertise.” 

Bays said the student response to the increase in video game courses has been “heartening.” He said now is an “exciting time” to introduce the minor, because of gaming’s increasing accessibility in the modern market. 

“We rolled out our business and video games course, and it was just instantly 65 people signed up for that first course,” Bays said. “Clearly, the students were really, really interested in it. That’s a great honor, but also it feels like a great responsibility.” 

The new radio-television-film minor will consist of five types of classes: storytelling, fundamentals of filmmaking, fundamentals of producing film and television, and two film history courses. Cindy McCreery, the radio-television-film department chair, said these classes will give a “broad overview” of the major, and are “perfect” for students who want to get a taste of filmmaking. 

“There’s a lot of jobs in the business world that are related to media and film and television,” McCreery said. “It’s so connected to so many fields, even STEM related fields. It’s not as outside the bubble of other areas as I think people think.” 

The radio-television-film department also offers a minor in media and industry and a separate minor in sports production and broadcasting, McCreery said. She said she encourages students to explore these minors if they have a “narrower” media focus. 

The advertising minor will begin with a “foundational course,” and then students will have some flexibility in course options afterwards, Alvarado said. 

“We have students, for example, in English and rhetoric, who want to do copywriting and advertising, but who don’t necessarily want to do a full advertising degree,” Alvarado said. “(The minor) opens up more of those combinations for students across the university.”