For the fall semester of 2012, the University of Massachusetts’s English department will be offering a new class, English 494 Dystopian Games Comics and Media, to English majors to satisfy the new Integrative Experience (IE) general education requirement.

The class, taught by professor TreaAndrea Russworm, focuses on the dystopian narratives in comic books, video games and new media. The goal of the class is to learn about trends in popular culture and to create digital projects that can be taken away from the class.

“[The class] was my idea, I’m the founding teacher. I write about video games so I’m pretty excited about it,” said Russworm.

The four-credit class has 40 seats available and is expected to fill up quickly. However, Russworm highly encourages everyone who is eligible to take it.

“I think it will be popular. I’m teaching a similar class and it always fills up fast. I tend to let people in if they really want to take it and demonstrate a lot of interest, especially if they’re juniors or seniors,” said Russworm.

Russworm can be reached at [email protected] for further information.

Victoria Palmatier can be reached at [email protected].