The Centre for Digital Humanities is pleased to welcome Dr. Jason Hawreliak to the position of Assistant Professor, Game Studies.

Hawreliak comes to the Centre for Digital Humanities from the University of Waterloo’s Games Institute, where he was a SSHRC Accelerate Mitacs postdoctoral fellow researching gamification and problem-solving. His research interests include the rhetorical, psychological and cultural function of videogames. He is particularly interested in how games convey meaning and how they can be used for persuasive purposes. Hawreliak is also currently involved in a project which examines playfulness in maker culture and its impact on self-esteem. He ultimately hopes to bridge the gap between game studies (analysis) and game development (production), and believes that each has a great deal to offer the other. Hawreliak is a co-founder and editor of the online game studies periodical, First Person Scholar, which seeks to occupy the middleground between academic journals and personal blogs.

The Centre for Digital Humanities currently offers an undergraduate program in Interactive Arts and Science (IASC) that supports learning in a wide range of practices and disciplines informed by human-computer interaction, visualization, and simulation. In 2015, pending Ministry approval, IASC will launch the GAME program, a collaboration between IASC, the Brock University Department of Computer Science, and the Game Development Program at nearby Niagara College.