-- Through a collaboration with HyperX, the sponsor of some of the world’s top esports organizations, the University of New Haven will receive state-of-the-art gaming peripherals, and students will have the opportunity to interact with company executives and participate in HyperX product focus groups and the testing of the company’s newest offerings.--

-------------------------------------------------------------------

WEST HAVEN, Conn. — March 16, 2020 — The University of New Haven has announced a partnership with HyperX – a manufacturer of computer peripherals used by prominent gamers and esports organizations – that will support the University’s groundbreaking academic programs in esports and its new varsity esports team that will begin competing in the fall.

“HyperX has opened its doors to the University of New Haven and is enabling students from our College of Business to have access to the company’s senior management to share their insights as gamers and students in the interdisciplinary field of esports and gaming,” said Brian Kench, dean of the University’s College of Business. “This academic access to interact with leaders of a gaming leader is unique in the esports industry.”

HyperX is glad to be working together with a university that sees the value of gaming and esports management skills,” said Mark Leathem, general manager of HyperX. “We see the benefits of education and experience, and the University can help develop new leaders in this expanding business segment.”

HyperX is the high-performance product division of Kingston Technology, the world’s largest independent memory manufacturer. The company is a major industry player, and it sponsors a variety of well-known personalities such as popular Twitch streamer Pokimane, NBA star Gordon Hayward, fighting game legend Daigo “The Beast” Umehara, NFL star Juju Smith-Schuster and Grammy Award-winning artist Post Malone.

As part of the collaboration, the University will receive gaming peripherals for its varsity esports team, and HyperX will be the official peripheral sponsor of the esports program. The equipment will be used in the University’s new esports training and competition center, which is a centerpiece of the University’s $35 million Bergami Center for Science, Technology, and Innovation that is scheduled to open in April.

The agreement also will enable six members of the University’s incoming class who are part of the University’s first-of-its kind program in esports management to travel to HyperX’s Orange County headquarters to work on an academic project related to consumer preferences in the gaming mouse peripheral category. In addition, six students will be trained on how to be elite product testers and have the opportunity to develop a remote product testing center for HyperX.

Jason Chung, BCL, LLB, assistant professor of sport management and executive director of the University’s esports program, will also have the opportunity to collaborate with company leaders to develop future opportunities for on-site coursework at HyperX.

A lawyer who specializes in building programs about succeeding in the business of esports, Prof. Chung indicated that a university gaining such direct access to a major esports and gaming hardware vendor such as HyperX as part of an academic affiliation is unique compared to the current relationships that exist between endemic gaming and esports sponsors and academic institutions.

“Not only has HyperX offered the University of New Haven a significant initial amount of equipment for our varsity esports team – a type of sponsorship that it typically only pursues with larger universities – the company has also opened the doors to its corporate headquarters to our students,” said Chung. “This means that the University of New Haven’s students will have the unique opportunity to work on real-world product and management issues with HyperX leaders and then travel to their Orange County offices to present their findings and solutions to senior executives as well as benefit from job shadowing and mentorship opportunities.”

Last fall, the University announced it was launching a comprehensive academic curriculum in esports management that is the first of its kind to be part of a business curriculum accredited by AACSB International.

In the fall, the University will also begin offering an interdisciplinary major in Esports and Gaming that will be housed in the College of Business and feature innovative concentrations offered by the University’s School of Health Sciences, Henry C. Lee College of Criminal Justice and Forensic Sciences, and College of Arts and Sciences. A master’s degree program in esports and technology, the first such graduate program in the U.S., is also in development.

“The relationship that HyperX is building with the University of New Haven signals their ambition to support an academic program that is preparing students to excel in the esports industry,” said Dean Kench.

About the University of New Haven

The University of New Haven, founded on the Yale campus in 1920, is a private, coeducational university that has been recognized by The Princeton Review and U.S. News & World Report for academic excellence. Located between New York City and Boston in the shoreline city of West Haven, the University is a diverse and vibrant community of 6,800 students from across the globe.

Over the past 15 years, under the leadership of President Steven H. Kaplan, the University has experienced significant growth — both in enrollment and in the expansion of the University’s West Haven campus. Enrollment has increased by 60 percent to 6,800 undergraduate and graduate students.

In the last decade, the University has completed more than $300 million in major capital projects while launching 26 new academic programs. The University has also added campuses in Prato, Italy, and Orange, Connecticut.

For more information on the University of New Haven, visit www.newhaven.edu.

About HyperX

For 19 years, HyperX’s mission has been to develop gaming solutions for every type of gamer and the company is consistently recognized for delivering products that provide superior comfort, aesthetics, performance, and reliability. Under the tagline of “WE’RE ALL GAMERS,” HyperX gaming headsets, keyboards, mice, USB microphones, and console accessories are the choice of everyday gamers as well as celebrity ambassadors, pro gamers, tech enthusiasts, and overclockers worldwide because they meet the most stringent product specifications and are built with best-in-class components. For more information, please go to www.hyperx.com.

About HP

HP Inc. creates technology that makes life better for everyone, everywhere. Through our product and service portfolio of personal systems, printers, and 3D printing solutions, we engineer experiences that amaze. More information about HP Inc. is available at https://www.hp.com.