Virtual Reality Design Programs
At Shenandoah University
Learn to design games, simulations, and immersive experiences. Leverage your skill across a wide range of jobs in a rapidly growing industry.
The First VR Undergraduate Degrees in Virginia
Shenandoah’s VR/AR Design programs give you the skills you’ll need to create games, simulations and immersive experiences in a rapidly evolving technological landscape.
You’ll master game engines, 3D modeling, computer code, graphic design, video production, motion capture and more.
You’ll have fun learning with our amazing faculty, staff and students, and when you graduate, you’ll be ready.
The skills you’ll learn are needed across many industries: VR/AR production, software engineering, UI/UX, game design, simulation engineering and more.
Degree Programs
Shenandoah offers two VR Design degrees, tailored to your specific interests and career ambitions.
As a Bachelor of Arts (BA) student, you’ll focus on the techniques and technologies professional designers use to tell stories, build worlds and create amazing interactive experiences.
As a Bachelor of Science (BS) student, you’ll delve into the technologies that make VR, AR and other software systems work, crafting code and building systems like a pro.
In both programs, you’ll have plenty of opportunity to try everything, explore what interests you and forge your own path.
You’ll also develop professional skills like self-initiative, effective teamwork, documentation and public speaking. You’ll be involved in impactful, real-world projects through courses, capstones and undergraduate research.
Virtual Reality Design Majors
Our students…
…gain resume-building experience through contract work, research projects, internships, and client-driven capstones.
…have visited exciting places like South Africa, Boston, New York, Cambodia, Israel and Palestine, Kennedy Space Center, Disney Imagineering, and the western United States.
…present their work at conferences like I/ITSEC, the Virginia Forum, the Virginia Association of Museums, and the Organization of American Historians.
Our graduates…
…work in a growing field! Our graduates have landed jobs and internships at places like:
- Varjo, a leading manufacturer of high-end VR headsets
- Department of Defense
- The National Air and Space Museum
- Old Dominion University
- Albacore Park (U.S.S. Albacore Museum)
- Whiting-Turner and Wafel Construction
- Loudoun County, VA School District
- Access VR, a northern Virginia VR Design firm
- Major Mega, a game design company specializing in VR
Shenandoah Center for Immersive Learning
SCiL is a state-of-the-art design studio that supports Shenandoah’s VR Design programs.
As a student, you’ll routinely work with SCiL’s more than 90 VR and MR headsets, including industry-leading systems from Apple, Meta, Pico, and Valve.
You’ll also have access to SCiL’s twenty high-performance workstation computers, equipped with blazingly fast CPUs, GPUs, memory, and peripherals – the fastest computers on campus.
Record 3D character animations in SCiL’s motion capture and virtual performance studio. Add dialogue, music and sound effects using SCiL’s professionally equipped sound recording studio.
In the SCiL Makerspace, you’ll be able to craft digitally enhanced props, sculptures and more using 3D printers, laser cutters and electronics.
You’ll be able to borrow photography equipment, microphones, and video cameras for 360, 3D and traditional field production.
Related Minors & Certificates
Our Student Graduates Are Saying…
The Bachelor of Arts has expanded not only my knowledge but the very way I think about design and problem-solving.”
-Brynna Strader, ’23 | B.A. VR Design, Game Design Minor
Shenandoah University has taught me more about AR/VR than I had ever imagined. With small class sizes, knowledgeable professors, and projects that apply course content as well as foster knowledge, Shenandoah University has allowed me to grow both as a person and in my field. To be a part of a new field that is only set to continue to grow is an exciting feeling and what I’ve received from Shenandoah University is invaluable and will continue with me for the rest of my life.”
Cole Herndon ’22 | B.S. Virtual Reality Design
Shenandoah University’s VR Design BA program is very flexible and packed with new ways to learn from an ever-growing industry. Being a full-time staff member and a part-time student is a learning experience and I am grateful to Shenandoah University for giving me a chance to learn new and exciting technology that revolves around the VR industry. My favorite part is learning the augmented side of VR, and I am excited to learn new things ahead!”
Yohan Joung ’26 | B.A. VR Design
Small classes let you know your professors well and get each student so much one-on-one time. It’s amazing, so incredibly amazing… and they’re so open-minded. I literally wrote up a grant proposal once for how we could do drone-based 360 videography, and it got accepted!”
John Michael Ulbrich ’22 | B.S. VR Design
Shenandoah University’s VR design program is unique because it offers students a wide range of industry tools to get hands-on experience with. I have gained a lot of knowledge in both hardware and software design during my time in the Shenandoah University VR program.”
Luke Yager ’25 | B.S. VR Design, IT minor
The VR design program is unique to me because of the way it teaches a lot of VR. There is a large focus in the B.S. program on the programming aspect of VR, mostly concerning how you construct interactions and environments within Unity (a content creation tool). However, the VR program as a whole also covers many of the important aspects of what virtual reality does, such as immersion, presence, and the sense of being there that comes with wearing a headset.”
Orion Patrick Tighe ’22 | B.S. VR Design, IT minor
Get Out of the Headset!
The VR Design program has exciting opportunities to engage with the real world through trips, research experiences, projects, and more.
In past semesters, our students have…
…visited Disneyland and Kennedy Space Center. We went behind the scenes at Disney, participated in astronaut training, and watched a Falcon 9 rocket launch live from Cocoa Beach.
…attended the Organization of American Historians Conference in Boston. We showcased The Great Experiment, visited MIT and Harvard, and solved crazy escape room puzzles.
…collected 3D-scan data of World War 1 artillery at Ft. Lee and in Winchester, Virginia. We scanned real artillery shells and got to fire a restored French 75 field gun.
…traveled to Israel and Palestine as part of a collaboration with Arab-American University of Palestine (AAUP). We saw the old city of Jerusalem, visited Hisham’s Palace in Jericho, saw the Dome of the Rock, and rode camels.
…visited Independence Hall in Philadelphia to capture images and 3D-scan data for The Great Experiment VR recreation of the 1787 Constitutional Convention.
…crossed the United States from Virginia to Oregon, following in the footsteps of Lewis and Clark’s Corps of Discovery. We scanned artifacts from their journey, met with renowned historians, and paddled in a dugout canoe.
Contact Your Faculty
mobeid@su.edu | 540-535-3414
Associate Professor, VR Design
Mirza Endowed Chair in Global Learning
Director, VR Design (BS)
Co-Director, Shenandoah Center for Immersive Learning (SCiL)
nprestop@su.edu | 540-535-3477
Professor, VR Design
Director, VR Design (BA)
Co-Director, Shenandoah Center for Immersive Learning (SCiL)