All fellows to speak in Center’s Gaming Research Colloquium series
LAS VEGAS – Six scholars have been selected to complete residencies at UNLV Special Collections as part of its Gaming Research Fellow program for the 2011-12 academic year, the program’s sixth year. Since 2007, the Center for Gaming Research has awarded more than two dozen fellowships.
Each fellow will deliver a talk as part of the CGR’s Gaming Research Colloquium series, which presents monthly talks by visiting fellows, UNLV faculty members and invited guests on a variety of gambling and Las Vegas topics, and write a paper that will be published as part of the Center’s Occasional Paper Series.
The 2012-13 Gaming Fellows are: Beverly Geesin, senior lecturer, English language and linguistics, York St John University; David J. Hart, assistant professor of philosophy, West Texas A & M University; Diana Tracy Cohen, assistant professor of political science, Central Connecticut State University; Stephen C. Andrade, associate professor, computer graphics, Johnson & Wales University; David T. Courtwright, presidential professor, Department of History, University of North Florida; and Brian Beaton, assistant professor, School of Information Sciences, University of Pittsburgh.
SHORT BIOS FOR EACH FELLOW
In residency Jan. 17 – 31, 2013, Geesin’s doctoral thesis, recently completed in Sociology at the University of York and titled ‘Resistance to Surveillance in Everyday Life’, examines contemporary forms of surveillance and develops a theoretical framework for understanding individual practices of resistance with a focus on everyday life, urban space and consumption. Geesin’s current research examines how surveillance becomes normalized through consumption and the relationship between surveillance and urban renewal.
Hart, in residency Jan. 31 – Feb. 15, 2013, regularly teaches courses in philosophy and English, directs the UniversityWritingCenter and has consulted for the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board. His primary research interests are early modern thought, the history of empiricism, and the intersections of philosophy and literature. Forthcoming publications include a philosophical essay on sovereignty (“The Remnant Review”), as well as literary essays on James Joyce (“James Joyce Quarterly”) and J. L. Borges (“Variaciones Borges”). Recent funded research includes work at the Leo Strauss Archive at the University of Chicago.
In residency March 18 – 28, 2013, Cohen currently serves as an assistant professor of political science at CentralConnecticutStateUniversity. A scholar with interdisciplinary interests, she conducts research in the areas of Internet and media politics, campaigns and elections, sport, family, and gender. She is currently working a book project that examines a population that she calls Iron Dads, men who balance work, family and endurance sport.
In residency April 1 – 14, 2013, Andrade has been active in the technology field for more than 35 years. He has been affiliated with JWU for 16 years and has implemented several enrollment-leading degree programs in the field of computer graphics. He has collaborated on issues of technology with various university departments and a number of highly regarded innovative “digital” organizations. He has spent the past four years cultivating a special relationship with GTECH – the world’s leader in wager-based gaming and lottery systems. His work includes ongoing research into visual metaphor and games of chance for the digital generation. He has consulted with the U.S. Department of Defense, the Department of Commerce and the White House on issues of technology innovation and reform.
In residency April 28 – May 11, 2013, Courtwright is a presidential professor at the University of North Florida, where he offers courses in American history, comparative history, and the history of medicine and disease. He has published influential books on drug use and drug policy, both in American and world history; the social problems of frontier environments on the land and in the air; and the culture war that roiled American politics during and after the 1960s. Courtwright’s research is concerned with power, policy and social structure; he seeks to identify what drives (or sometimes retards) fundamental changes in modern social and political history. He is currently working on another project in this vein, a book about pleasure, vice, addiction and capitalism in the modern world.
Beaton, in residency May 6 – 17, 2013, is an assistant professor at the University of Pittsburgh’s School of Information Sciences. His research concerns interactions between technology, information and people. Among his current research projects, Beaton is studying public participation in the sciences and the crowdsourcing of scientific and biomedical research. His work at UNLV will focus on the growing use of online games designed to involve ordinary people in the collection, manipulation and analysis of large scientific data sets. He will study how Las Vegas casinos draw crowds, looking for crowd-drawing techniques that seem to hold the most potential for re-use and adaptation within the context of online “citizen science” games. Beaton said he hopes to learn how to attract more people to such games, utilizing those strategies proven effective in Las Vegas casinos and gaming centers.
Those interested in the work being done at UNLV are encouraged to attend the Colloquiums scheduled for the 2012-13 academic year. In these 30-45 minute talks, the visiting scholar describes on-going work in his or her field and explains his or her own contribution. For those unable to attend in person, the Colloquium talks are released as part of the Center’s podcast series.
COLLOQUIUM TALK SCHEDULE
- Jan. 31: Beverly Geesin, “Surveillance and the Marketing of Vice”
- Feb. 14: David J. Hart, “An Illegitimate Child: Epilepsy, Gambling, and the Birth of Probability”
- March 28: Diana Tracy Cohen, “Advertising Parenting in Las Vegas: An Analysis of Time and Space”
- April 11: Stephen Andrade, “Visual Metaphor in Games of Chance – What You See is What You Play”
- May 9: David Courtwright, “Learning from Las Vegas: Addiction, Limbic Capitalism, and Pleasure Meccas”
- May 16: Brian Beaton, “Drawing Crowds to Citizen Science: Data Collection and Analysis as Everyday Gaming”
All talks take place at 3:30 p.m. in the UNLV Special Collections Reading Room in Lied Library. For directions and more information, visit http://gaming.unlv.edu
ABOUT THE CENTER
UNLV’s Center for Gaming Research has been awarding gaming fellowships since 2007 as part of its mission to promote the scholarly investigation of gambling. The Center for Gaming Research is a world-class hub for the scholarly analysis of gambling and gaming issues. Located within Special Collections at UNLV’s state-of-the-art Lied Library, its main resource is the Gaming Collection. Many unique primary resources can be found only within the Collection.
The Center is committed to providing support for scholarly inquiry into all aspects of gaming. Students, faculty and community members interested in academically-oriented gaming research are welcome to use the collection. Through its website, http://gaming.unlv.edu, the Center offers several unique research tools and guides to gaming research.
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