At the College of the Arts, momentum is taking many forms. The Digital Worlds Institute boasts leading-edge digital arts and sciences education at the intersection of design, technology and communications. In addition to in-demand educational offerings, the Institute’s research and creative output are helping to shape international conversations in interactive digital media.

In the late 1990s, University of Florida leadership recognized the need to bring together diverse disciplines to create a hub for digital arts and technology. Today, the Digital Worlds Institute is a vibrant interdisciplinary center where faculty, staff and students collaborate with engineers, scientists, artists and designers from across UF as well as industry partners. While many digital media programs nationwide are located in engineering, communications or computer science, the Digital Worlds Institute chose to be housed within the College of the Arts—fueling its mission and offerings with the visionary creative activity that has always marked artistic disciplines. What has emerged is not solely an arts, technology or production program—but a nationally unique fusion of all three, positioned within a top-tier research university.

"Our society is increasingly transformed by the digital—and this Institute stands at the forefront of what these spaces looklike and how they can unlock our deepest, most positive,human potentials." - Dean Onye Ozuzu

With backing from emerging technology funders, an established pipeline to UF’s leading patent and licensing office and a growing portfolio of industry partnerships, the Digital Worlds Institute is preparing students for 21st century careers at the vanguard of interactive digital media design and production.