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WELCOME 2017 FELLOWS
Washington, DC – February 27, 2017 – Today, The Higher Education Video Game Alliance (HEVGA) proudly announces their Fellows program, inducting 30 scholars into their inaugural cohort of leaders in games in higher education. Established in 2017, The Higher Education Video Game Alliance Fellows program recognizes senior scholars in the games domain who have made significant contribution to the field in design, theory, or research. HEVGA Fellows are elected by their peers for outstanding contributions to games-based research and design in higher education. Fellows serve as integral ambassadors for the organization and are inducted as lifetime members. HEVGA is committed to providing a robust network of resources and support to its members and member institutions, whose contributions are essential to the success of the field and the international games community.
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GDC MEMBER MEETING
Washington, DC – February 10, 2017 – The Higher Education Video Game Alliance (HEVGA), with generous support from iThrive, is excited to announce it will host a member meeting on Sunday, February 26. Held at the Intercontinental San Francisco in Telegraph Hill from 1:00 – 6:00pm prior to GDC, the meeting will bring together leaders in games and higher education to begin generating a series of reports on key areas instrumental to the continued success of the field, such as tenure, program rankings, publishing in journals and conferences, alumni tracking, and blueprints for creating games programs.
The first of their kind, the reports will serve as vetted guidelines and gold standards for the field, acting as crucial resources for programs, departments, faculty, and students as they continue to grow and develop their work at their institutions.
Members will collaborate with pioneers who have proven track records and successes in each area. Together, attendees will have first access towards shaping the content of the reports and opportunities for authorship or listing as a contributor.
Capacity is limited to 40 in order to maximize intellectual cross-pollination, genuine face-time, and professional networking.
Following the meeting, members may attend an elective informal dinner at a local downtown restaurant.
For questions or inquiries, please email Jonathan Elmergreen, Executive Director, at jonathan@hevga.org.
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About HEVGA
Our mission is to create a platform for higher education leaders which will underscore the cultural, scientific, and economic importance of video game programs in colleges and universities. The key is to create a robust network of resources–including unified advocacy, policymaker engagement, media coverage, and external funding–in order to incubate and harness the impact of this community in a 21st century learning environment. For more information, visit hevga.org, like HEVGA on Facebook, or follow @HigherEdGames on Twitter.
About iThrive
iThrive is a nonprofit dedicated to empowering teens through great games. They collaborate with game developers, conduct research, and provide resources and support to foster teen thriving through gameplay. www.ithrivegames.org
An ASU professor is pushing back against criticism by Arizona Sen. Jeff Flake of government-funded video game development.
“Whether or not you like them as a platform for learning, to condemn these programs for which there are hundreds of emerging game designers is to really lock out your state of an emerging industry,” said James Gee, a Regent Professor at ASU’s Teacher’s College of Education.
To read the full story, click here.
Washington, DC – January 11, 2017
To my friends and colleagues:
I have a favor to ask you. Today, Arizona Senator Jeff Flake published his 2017 “Wastebook,” complete with Pokémon-inspired cover artwork. This document is in keeping with a long tradition of the Senator’s efforts to highlight some of the most outlandish government expenditures. In this year’s report, Senator Flake included Becker College’s Massachusetts Digital Games Institute and commented that while “coming up with new concepts may literally be all fun and games, doing so should not be paid for by gaming the taxpayers.”
As is often the case, this unfortunate incident was most likely born out of misunderstanding.
Many continue to be unaware of the important jobs skills training work taking place at our schools and colleges, and don’t recognize the many contributions the video game industry is making to the country, our workforce and our economy. With this background, here is my ask: Please join me in responding to Senator Flake on Twitter, and encourage your staff and students to help correct the record.
Please find several suggested tweets below. I encourage you to share one or more of these across your own social platforms.
.@jeffflake says @Beckercollege video game program is wasteful but Princeton Review ranks it in Top 5. https://www.princetonreview.com/press/game-design-press-release #STEAMjobs
.@jeffflake AZ is home to 40+ video game companies and 23 AZ colleges offer game programs. @beckercollege is in good company! #STEAMjobs
.@jeffflake Video game programs at @beckercollege & 400+ U.S. schools aren’t wasteful – they’re training a high-skilled workforce #STEAMjobs
.@jeffflake Here is a fact about higher ed video game programs: Grads make $24k MORE than average! #STEAMjobs
.@jeffflake mentions video game programs in waste report but programs at 400+ colleges produce skilled workers #STEAMjobs
(And for those of you who aren’t fluent in Twitter, the period before @jeffflake is intentional – be sure to use it so he sees your message)
If your colleagues, your school and/or your students choose to address the issue in your own words, please advise them to keep their responses positive—we want to remain educational, not confrontational. And to help keep track of all the messages, be sure to tag @jeffflake and use #STEAMjobs in any tweets.
Thank you for your help in drawing attention to the cultural, scientific and economic importance of video game programs at our colleges and universities.
Sincerely,
Constance Steinkuehler
President, HEVGA
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CONTACT
Jonathan Elmergreen
Executive Director
855.304.3842
jonathan@138.197.45.69
About HEVGA
HEVGA’s mission is to create a platform for higher education leaders which will underscore the cultural, scientific, and economic importance of video game programs in colleges and universities. The key is to create a robust network of resources – including unified advocacy, policymaker engagement, media coverage, and external funding – in order to incubate and harness the impact of this community in a 21st century learning environment. For more information, visit hevga.org, like HEVGA on Facebook, or follow @HigherEdGames on Twitter.
PHILADELPHIA, PA – The Higher Education Video Game Alliance (HEVGA) announced today that HEVGA President Constance Steinkuehler will speak at an event during the Democratic National Convention on Tuesday, July 26 as part of a series of talks hosted by think-tank NDN on the future of America and American politics. Her talk, “The Future of Video Games, Interactive Media & Play” will detail the importance of video games and the games industry in America, the emergence of a new game nation in the States, and the role of games in participatory media in democracy and civic engagement. The event will take place at the Pennsylvania Convention Center from 10:30am – 2:30pm.
Steinkuehler’s talk functions as both a beginning and end to games work on the national level. From 2011-2012 she served as a Senior Policy Analyst at the White House in the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP), advising on policy matters about video games and learning. In her role, Steinkuehler set the stage for the first wave of federal policies and initiatives on games, with Mark DeLoura taking the reins from 2013-2014 and currently Erik Martin in 2016. With the current administration wrapping up, Steinkuehler’s talk marks the start of a new phase in the field and will provide a path forward for policy makers, universities, foundations, non-profit organizations, and the private sector.
After leaving the White House, Steinkuehler’s work on the national level continued with the establishment of HEVGA. Here a team of leaders in the games and higher education field assembled to create a platform to underscore the cultural, scientific, and economic importance of video game programs in colleges and universities. The founding Board of Directors with Steinkuehler included Drew Davidson, Tracy Fullerton, Katherine Isbister, and Andrew Phelps.
Since the organization’s inception in 2014, HEVGA has authored two groundbreaking survey reports that changed the conversation around diversity in the games industry and related fields (Our State of Play Report), and the quality of life and employment of game-program alumni inside and outside the games industry (Priming the Pump Report). In December, the organization held its first ever Convening in Washington DC to connect membership to federal agencies funding game-based research and design, and in March it enlisted Jonathan Elmergreen as its Executive Director.
“HEVGA’s surveys have set a national precedence towards understanding the impact of games programs. The results are astonishing: On campuses, game-design programs boast average enrollment rates for women nearly double other computer and information sciences programs,” said Katherine Isbister, Communications & Outreach Officer, “and the retention rate from first-to-second year averages 88%.”
“On the market, 93.1% of graduates find employment after only a single year and the average salary for a full-time position is $76,200,” added Andrew Phelps, Treasurer. “Graduates of games programs also report high job satisfaction, with 82.9% describing themselves as “thriving at work”,” said Drew Davidson, Secretary.
“These reports make at least one thing clear: game-design programs are generators at our universities and on the market. Supporting new game-design programs establish pipelines towards strengthening our communities and creating jobs that stick,” said Tracy Fullerton, Vice President.
“Steinkuehler’s talk is the beginning of a new phase for the field and HEVGA. Our organization boasts over 425 members at 221 distinct institutions and we are leveraging the expertise and thought leadership of our members and board to continue to publish groundbreaking reports, establish key partnerships in government and the private sector, and set the conversation around games at the national level,” said HEVGA Executive Director Jonathan Elmergreen. “Games are vibrant vehicles for learning and impact. HEVGA’s goal is to bring this to the fore and establish avenues for meaningful growth. We look forward to working with policy makers to amplify the work that has already been done and to cultivate a path forward that ushers in the next stage of policy on games.”
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CONTACT:
Jonathan Elmergreen
Executive Director
855.304.3842
jonathan@higheredgames.org
About HEVGA
HEVGA’s mission is to create a platform for higher education leaders which will underscore the cultural, scientific, and economic importance of video game programs in colleges and universities. The key is to create a robust network of resources ¬– ¬including unified advocacy, policymaker engagement, media coverage, and external funding – in order to incubate and harness the impact of this community in a 21st century learning environment. For more information, visit higheredgames.org, like HEVGA on Facebook, or follow @HigherEdGames on Twitter.
PHOTO CREDIT: Game Developers Conference 2015