Having worked with the Center for Games & Impact since its inception, Dr. Elisabeth Gee, Ph.D., takes on a new role as Associate Director this month.
Photo Credit: Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College
Tempe, Ariz. — The Center for Games & Impact (CGI) is pleased to announce the appointment of Dr. Elisabeth Gee, Ph.D., to the position of Associate Director. Gee, who has worked with the Center since its inception, will be involved in moving forward the Center’s mission of investigating, innovating, and cultivating game-infused solutions for positive social impact across interdisciplinary projects around the university, within the ASU Teacher’s College, and nationally and internationally with corporate and foundation partners.
“With the addition of Betty in a leadership position at the Center, we will be able to broaden our scope of work while enhancing the reputation and potential impact more nationally,” said Sasha Barab, executive director. “I see her as having the collaborative spirit and commitment to innovation and impact that lies at the core of our Center ethos. Her thinking about affinity groups and women in games more generally, are key to unlocking the power of games for impact, so it is with great enthusiasm that I welcome her collaboration.”
Gee cites her involvement with the Center as having connected her with other researchers with common interests and helping her to grow her vision for game studies classes at ASU. Over the last year and a half, Gee connected with Dr. Sinem Siyahhan, also a fellow at the Center, and together they created the Play2Connect intergenerational play research project. Gee also played an integral part in creating and securing approval for the Games & Impact Certificate program administered by the Center.
“In my new role, I am looking forward to getting to know the staff and projects better so that I can also help the rest of the world also get to know what we are doing with games and social impact,” said Gee. “Part of my charge as associate director is to support the staff in working toward the Center’s vision as well as maintaining alignment with the ASU Teacher’s College and larger university goals.”
Gee says in addition to maintaining and growing these strategic alignments, she also looks forward to the launch of the Center’s game-infused learning platform as part of the Games & Impact Certificate program experience, connecting researchers with like interests in games and social impact, and expanding the opportunities for graduate students to teach and research with the Center.
For more about Gee’s work visit:
- Elisabeth Gee, Delbert & Jewell Lewis Chair in Reading & Literacy and Professor (ASU Teachers College)
- Move over, Monopoly: ASU researchers find families bond over video game play (ASU News)
- Video games as teaching tool (ASU Teachers College)
- Play2Connect Project
The Center for Games & Impact (CGI) mission is to investigate, innovate, and cultivate game-infused solutions to society’s biggest challenges with the goal of unleashing the unique power of videogames to create sustainable solutions for society’s biggest social, cultural, scientific, economic and educational challenges.
Event Release
July 25, 2013
Center for Games & Impact brings video games to life at the Phoenix Art Museum
Creative play and impact experiences, events for museum visitors through Fall 2013
PHOENIX — The Center for Games & Impact (CGI) brings the art of gameplay to life at the Phoenix Art Museum in a series of events throughout “The Art of Video Games” exhibition, traveling here from the Smithsonian American Art Museum, through Sept. 29, 2013.
Media scholar Henry Jenkins said years ago, when his son turned on Super Mario Brothers for the first time, he knew “this was going to be a medium of enormous expressive capacity, of enormous social capacity. Video games were going to be the art form for the 21st century.”
The CGI team is collaborating with the Phoenix Art Museum to take the exploration of art and video games beyond the advances in visual aesthetics of the past 40 years. The events range from improvising new video game music together* while players are navigating thatgamecompany’s Flower (PS3), to working together to build digital art spontaneously in Mojang Studios’ Minecraft (multi-platform), to roundtable discussions on games and impact and how we can unlock the promise of digital learning for the future.
“Many players, while they love video games, may not have thought about the deeply creative play experiences they have with games. At the Center this kind of meaning drives what we do. In working with the Phoenix Art Museum we’re excited to provide Phoenix families with the chance to see how their interactions with video games are works of art, just as much as any one game is. The experiential nature of playing with this medium is something other media forms don’t offer, or can’t offer in quite the same way,” said Sasha Barab, CGI executive director, “We hope everyone will come play with us over the next few months and walk away thinking about the impact of gaming on our world in a whole new way.”
Games & Impact Art Museum Events
July 31, 2013, 5 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. – Intergenerational Play Event *limited seating, register here- Sept. 7, 2013, 9 a.m. – How Games Teach, Educator Workshop *limited seating, register here
- Sept. 20, 2013, 10 a.m. – The Art of Minecraft
- Sept 21, 2013, 11 a.m. – Games & Impact Roundtable
- Sept. 21, 2013 12 p.m. – The Art of Minecraft
Most events take place in the Great Hall of the Phoenix Art Museum (location map). Event costs are included with the price of general admission to the Museum though RSVP may be required depending on the event, check the Art of Video Games web page for more information. Contact, Sherry Thurston, administrative secretary, at (480) 965-0211, or by email at sherry.thurston@asu.edu, with questions.
About the Center for Games & Impact
The Center for Games & Impact (CGI) mission is to investigate, innovate, and cultivate game-infused solutions to society’s biggest challenges with the goal of unleashing the unique power of videogames to create sustainable solutions for society’s biggest social, cultural, scientific, economic and educational challenges.
Playing for Impact at Home
Level-up your play experience by downloading and using CGI Impact Guides for popular games such as Minecraft, Flower, and The Sims 3. Share your thoughts on the Games & Impact Facebook page or on Twitter (@gamesandimpact) with the tag #impactguides.
Games & Impact Online: gamesandimpact.org | facebook.com/gamesandimpact | @gamesandimpact | #gamesandimpact
Media Contact:
Juli James
(480) 965-0810
juli.james@asu.edu
Play2Connect: Bringing Families Together Through Gaming
The Play2Connect project is looking for undergraduate OR master’s students who are interested in understanding the research process and developing their research skills in out- of-school settings. The focus of the research experience will be on investigating how families learn together at home, in museums, and other after school settings using digital media technologies, in particular video games. In addition to gaining research experience, students will gain insight into how learning takes place beyond the classroom, and how our understanding of such informal learning is inspiring innovative activities in school.
You will be working with Professors Elisabeth Hayes and Sinem Siyahhan in the Center for Games & Impact, Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College on a research project that is part of a national study of family media engagement.
Students can receive course credit in Education (TEL 494). Who is eligible to participate?
Students who…
- Are Masters or Undergraduates (2nd year or beyond)
- Have transportation (Gas will be compensated)
- Are available to work 3 or more consecutive hours each week (Monday – Sunday)
- Can make a semester commitment (with the option to continue in Spring 2014) Are professional and responsible
- Can speak fluent Spanish is a plus but not required
I’m interested! What do I do next?
Limited spots are available! If interested, please contact Professor Sinem Siyahhan ASAP for an application!