USC News

Rose Family Foundation Fellowship established at SCA

By Valerie Turpin

July 10, 2012

Activision Blizzard executive George Rose has established the Rose Family Foundation Fellowship for Interactive Entertainment at the USC School of Cinematic Arts (SCA).

The fund is intended to support, encourage and educate new voices at the school by providing students with tuition and fee assistance. Over the next five years, funds will be annually awarded to two students in the Interactive Media Division who are creating interactive projects within the areas of health, wellness, education or other innovative areas. The students will be known as Rose Family Foundation fellows.

“The Rose family’s generous gift is precisely the kind of support that allows us to provide an exceptional educational environment for our students,” said SCA Dean Elizabeth M. Daley. “Our Interactive Media Division is second to none in the world, and the fund will go a long way to encourage deserving students to further their studies in game design and other emerging media.”

Rose, a longtime executive in the video game industry, has spent the past 17 years with Activision Blizzard, a leading mobile game publisher.

“SCA’s Interactive Media Division produces the best and most innovative young talent,” Rose said. “By establishing this fellowship, it is my hope to direct the attention of the best and the brightest minds not only to game design but to how the games can be used in new and unexpected ways.”

Rose, who serves as senior consultant to the Activision Blizzard CEO, is responsible for defining many of the legal and business conventions established by the video game industry and is considered one of the nation’s authorities on the legal and policy issues related to children and video game play. He had a leading role in Brown v. EMA, a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision upholding the constitutional right of free speech in the context of video games.