SMU Guildhall

Achievement Unlocked ✅ Cohort 34, you are officially Game Dev graduates and the newest members of the network of 1150+ SMU Guildhall alumni working at hundreds of studios across the globe 🎓🎉🎮💪 Onward and upward!

The 2026 SMU Guildhall Catalog is here! Explore independent research and works by our May 2026 graduating students and team video game projects created by Cohort 34 at https://joom.ag/qqKd

Thank you to all who joined us for our annual Thesis Exhibition. It was wonderful sharing the work of Cohort 34 Master’s students with you.

To our exhibitors: way to go! Your work is inspiring and well done. We are proud of your accomplishments on these projects. You’re almost to the finish line! 🎉

Much appreciation to everyone who participated in our Spring 2026 Career Day! Panelists, speakers, and professional development leaders: the wisdom and guidance you shared with our job seekers was top notch and immensely invaluable, and we loved hearing the conversations inspired by your insights throughout the day. We can’t thank you enough.

We look forward to seeing where these connections and conversations lead in the year ahead. Onward and upward!

4.15 | Opening Sessions for SMU Guildhall’s game development Career Day. Thank you to all who came for our Industry Leaders Panel and Networking Social! 🎮

We are thrilled to present our 2026 Career Day beginning this evening with Opening Sessions including a special industry panel with Steve Nix (CEO ), Joanie Kraut (CEO ), Chris Schmidt (Game Director ), and Mark Tardif (General Manager at Unannounced Studio).

This year’s event includes a host of awesome industry guest speakers and volunteers providing a wealth of insights and 1:1 professional development guidance for students, networking opportunities for developers and alumni, game showcases and a special peek into a live Team Game Development class, and more.

Welcome, all! We are honored and thrilled to have you here.

Ethics-Focused AI Literacy Course Beats National Completion Rates

Aleshia Hayes, clinical associate professor at SMU Guildhall, is helping shape how universities teach AI to broad campus audiences, emphasizing how to use it responsibly. A newly published Springer volume on STEM education makes the case that teaching ethics alongside AI fundamentals drives real learner engagement.

Ethics-focused AI literacy course beats national completion rates SMU Guildhall professor Aleshia Hayes designed a free AI literacy course that reached 2,000+ learners with a 75% completion rate.

SMU Guildhall graduate students: we appreciate you! It’s Graduate and Professional Student Appreciation Week, and we want to give special recognition to your hard work. We are proud of all that you have accomplished in your individual studies, research, and Team Game production. You are surely destined to do great things ahead.

Want to check out our students’ work first-hand?
Join us for the SMU Guildhall 2026 Thesis Exhibition on May 8, where each graduating Master’s student’s thesis will be showcased. Learn more and register: https://www.smu.edu/guildhall/news-and-events/annual-events/thesis-exhibition

Meet SMU Guildhall Career Day Panelist, Marc Tardif: Marc’s 25+ years of experience in the video game industry has included studio management, production, marketing brand management, publishing and development at studios including , Escalation, and for AAA titles and franchises such as Fallout, Skyrim, DOOM, Borderlands, Halo, and many more. 

Panel Details: “The Next Generation of Games: How Studios and Development Roles Are Evolving” — A discussion about how game development is changing across tools, workflows, team structures, and role expectations.

Learn more about Career Day: https://www.smu.edu/guildhall/news-and-events/annual-events/career-day

Spotlight on SMU Guildhall Career Day Presenter Candace Walkington: Candace is an Annette and Harold Simmons Centennial Chair and Professor at SMU in the Simmons Department of Teaching & Learning. Dr. Walkington’s research examines how abstract mathematical ideas can become connected to students’ concrete, everyday experiences. While at SMU, she has received over $12 million worth of grants as PI or co-PI, from the National Science Foundation, the U.S. Department of Education, and the U.S. Department of Defense. 

Learn more about Career Day: https://www.smu.edu/guildhall/news-and-events/annual-events/career-day