From Zero to Hero: Syracuse University Esports Program Earns National Recognition in First Year

This past academic year served as “Year Zero” for Syracuse University’s esports program, which includes an academic degree program starting this fall and competitive teams that vie for national championships in their respective games.

Students game in the esports room at the Barnes Center at The Arch.

But the program’s first year was anything but a “zero” as Syracuse won the Emerging Program of the Year Award at the National Association of Collegiate Esports (NACE) National Convention from July 17-19 in Winter Park, Florida, just outside of Orlando.

In addition to the program award, two Syracuse University students—Kamron Manii ’24 and Braeden Cheverie-Leonard ’26—won awards and five other representatives from Syracuse were named award finalists.

“In year zero, Syracuse University esports was nominated and recognized across the board from students to staff for their contributions to the overall collegiate esports industry,” says Joey Gawrysiak, executive director of the esports degree program. “We are proud of what we are building here at Syracuse and want to continue to push the boundaries of what is possible by a collegiate esports program.”

Syracuse’s program employs a holistic, experiential learning-based approach that prepares students for career success in various industries, leveraging the largest collection of faculty and staff members of any esports program on a college campus. The esports communications and management degree, offered jointly by the Newhouse School of Public Communications and the Falk College of Sport and Human Dynamics, is among the first of its kind at a major university.

NACE is the only nonprofit membership association of colleges and universities with varsity esports programs. Over 260 schools across the United States and Canada compete for NACE championships every year across a variety of esports titles, and this past spring Syracuse captured the NACE Counter-Strike 2 national championship.

Here’s more about Syracuse’s award winners from the 2024 NACE National Convention:

• Emerging Program of the Year: This award is presented to a program that has been active for two years or less, is on the path to excellence and has displayed outstanding achievements competitively, academically or within their community. Syracuse checked all these boxes, and Gawrysiak describes the program’s successful first year in an episode of the “’Cuse Conversations” podcast.
• Player of the Year (Counter-Strike 2): Manii, who majored in forensic science and psychology in the College of Arts and Sciences, received this award as a student-athlete who showed outstanding impact both on and off the game and was a leader who supported his team in multiple ways.
• Student Leadership Award: Braeden Cheverie-Leonard, a sport management major in Falk, received this honor for demonstrating exceptional leadership among his peers and exhibiting outstanding contributions to his collegiate esports community. In this campus tour video, Cheverie-Leonard takes you on a whirlwind tour of his favorite spots on campus, including the esports room at the Barnes Center at The Arch.

Here are the Syracuse award finalists:

• Broadcast Talent of the Year: Daniel Saligman ’27, a dual major in television, radio and film in the Newhouse School and linguistic studies in the College of Arts and Sciences, was a finalist for this award, which recognizes a student who brought insight and electricity to a broadcast as an on-air talent.
• Coach of the Year (Counter-Strike 2): Director of Esports Competition Travis Yang was a finalist for this award that is presented to an individual serving in a coaching capacity who displays outstanding abilities in the development of their team both competitively and holistically.
• Support Staff of the Year: Program Manager Nikita Bair was a finalist for this honor awarded to a non-program director for outstanding leadership, mentorship and contributions to their program’s success.
• Emerging Director of the Year: Director of Production and Outreach Sean Kelly was a finalist for this award given to an individual with fewer than two years’ experience in collegiate esports as a full-time program director who displays outstanding abilities in the development of their program, whether it be competitively, academically or within their community.

For more about Yang, Bair and Kelly, read the news about them joining the program earlier this year.

• Scholar of the Year: Lindsey Darvin, an assistant professor in the Department of Sport Management in the Falk College, has emerged as a national leader in the movement for greater equity in esports and computer gaming. In this Q&A, Darvin discusses the impact of her research and the course she teaches that is a requirement for all esports majors, Race, Gender and Diversity in Sport Organizations.

Visit the Course Catalog to learn more about the esports communications and management degree.

The approaching academic year will be filled with growing spaces that foster esports student experiences virtually and in-person, for both seasoned competitors and first-time gamers. Highlights include the anticipated spring 2025 opening of the dedicated Schine Student Center esports space.