Organized, competitive, multiplayer computer gaming comes to Alvernia as the university launches its 28th varsity team – esports.
“Esports provides Alvernia with an opportunity to offer an experience that students really enjoy and will add to our overall experience at AU," said Alvernia University President John R. Loyack. "Our vision for the program is for Alvernia to become the Esports Hub of Berks County with a dedicated, state of the art esports suite as part of Reading CollegeTowne."
Alvernia will run esports in their new state of the art facility located in its 401 Penn Street complex in the heart of Reading CollegeTowne.
Alvernia will be the 12th school in the Middle Atlantic Conference to sponsor esports and will join most of the schools as a member of the National Association of Collegiate Esports (NACE). The addition of esports allows Alvernia to play a national schedule against teams the university rarely otherwise competes against--including some larger Division I schools--without leaving campus.
Alvernia will take an interdisciplinary approach when engaging with this transformative addition to the world of competitive sports. Students, faculty and mentors will explore ways to learn from this world-wide phenomenon and seek to utilize esports for academic work as well, recognizing the analytical thinking and strategic focus this ever-evolving depth of play requires.
"Our team has a huge opportunity to serve the Alvernia and Reading community through our role in the Reading CollegeTowne initiative." - Joshua Buchanan, Director of Esports