Gaming? In Park? NO WAY. (But yes, it's true...and isn't that SO cool?)

Hey everybody,

There are so many great things happening in Park these days that I can hardly find the time to stop and blog it all for you...this one is really important, so PLEASE: Stop. Read. And share the information with the students you know don't read the blog.

First, one of the most exciting and important projects underway in Park is an initiative to establish a gaming degree program in the school. Yup. Games. But SERIOUS games: An academically rigorous, intellectually engaging, and WAY exciting degree program that will teach our students to understand, analyze, critique and produce immersive technologies in the form of games.

Interested? Then respond to two different invitations:

The first is an invitation to participate in a course with Cornell Computer Science students who share your interest in gaming. Parkies will provide the expertise in media, in narrative, in interface presentations, and CS students will work on the coding. It will be a team effort, a collaboration between and among the creative and the code. It's the first such course we've considered offering through Park, I'll pay for the shuttle to take you to class, and you'll have the chance to be a part of something brand new -- and truly extraordinary.

If you're interested, please contact me at dlynch@ithaca.edu, or Dr. Tammy Shapiro in the OCLD department. We'll have details in the next week or so.

And in the meantime, be SURE to attend the organizational meeting of the gaming initiative here in Park. Here's an invitation from the faculty who are spearheading the program:

Do YOU like video games?
Do YOU want to create games?
Do YOU want to study games?
Do YOU want to work in the game industry?
Do YOU think Park should have courses devoted to games?

If you answered YES to any of the above YOU should attend the

Student Input Session
Working Group on Video Games at Ithaca College
March 31 @ 12noon in Park 220

Topics to be discussed:

-Bring together students who want to be involved in research involving games
-Make students aware of resources, faculty, and students interested in games
-Host discussions, panels, forums on topics and issues surrounding games
-Bringing in guest speakers from the game industry
-Hosting a conference on games
-Creating courses or workshops on game design and creation
-Bring together students interested in collaborating on creating games

Interested students should contact Kim Gregson (kgregson@ithaca.edu) or
Dennis Charsky (dcharsky@ithaca.edu) for more information.

Hope to see you on Thursday March 31st at 12noon in Park 220!