Conference 2025
Featured Presenters
Presenters
View the full list of scheduled presenters for the 2025 Board Game Academics conference taking place on October 4-5
Want to attend? Learn how to register from the link below:
Join Us in Rochester, NY
Join us for two days of discussion, networking, research, and fun at the Strong Museum, devoted to the history and exploration of play.
Attendance Options:
- General Admission – $200
- Student/Adjunct Faculty/K-12 Teacher Rate – $100
* Inquire about group rate discounts
Keynote Speaker
Eric Zimmerman
NYU Game Center
New York University
Eric Zimmerman is a game designer who invents new ways to play on and off the computer. His tabletop projects include Quantum, The Metagame, and RATS: High Tea At Sea. As a videogame designer, Eric co-founded Gamelab, a studio in New York City that made games with LEGO and created original online hits like Diner Dash. Eric co-founded The Institute of Play, a nonprofit that designed schools with a curriculum based on play as the model for learning. With architect Nathalie Pozzi, he designed installations for MoMA and the Smithsonian American Art Museum. Eric is an Arts Professor at the NYU Game Center, a program he helped to design in Tisch School of the Arts. His books include Rules of Play (MIT Press, with Katie Salen), The Rules We Break (Princeton Architectural Press), and The Green Games Guide, a best practices guidebook for sustainable tabletop publishing and design.
Presenters
Dr. Emma Reay
University of Southampton
She/her
Emma Reay is an Assistant Professor in Emerging Media at the University of Southampton. Her research interests include gaming and mental health, gaming and dying, and gaming and motherhood.
LinkedIn: @emmajoyreay
Substack: https://emmajoyreay.substack.com/
www.emmajoyreay.com
Dr Laura Davies
University of Cambridge, UK
She/her
Laura is Director of Studies in English Literature at King’s College, University of Cambridge She researches the literature of the long eighteenth century, with a particular focus on the ways in which writing can enable forms of reflection on phenomena and experiences that exist at the end of our comprehension: time, dreams, religious faith, and death. She founded the ‘A Good Death?’ project in 2018 and leads the team in their various projects, at the core of which are the creation of original arts-based resources to encourage positive conversations around death, dying and bereavement.
X: @what_death
Christopher Rondeau
University of Tulsa
he/they
Christopher Rondeau is a dedicated educator, writer, and researcher with a passion for interactive media, storytelling, and literature. They teach courses on writing and rhetoric, helping students develop critical thinking and argumentation skills. Their academic work explores gamification, escapism, and the rhetoric of interactive narratives, with a particular focus on multidisciplinary American culture. Outside of academia, they are an avid tabletop role-playing game designer, crafting immersive settings and adventures. Their ideas are published in the Tian Xia World Guide and Tian Xia Character Guide, where they contributed to reimagining the concept of the hobgoblin. Their creative work often reflects their multi-ethnic Asian and Caucasian heritage, exploring themes of identity, cultural narratives, and mythmaking. Rondeau is currently pursuing a PhD in English Language and Literature at the University of Tulsa.
@skaldstale
rondeauwrites.com
Camille Deschapelles
Georgetown University
she/her
Camille Deschapelles is a senior at Georgetown University’s College of Arts and Sciences, where she studies English Literature with a focus on storytelling across time periods and media. Her academic interests center on how narrative forms shift through adaptation, particularly in collaborative and immersive genres such as tabletop roleplaying games. She is especially drawn to the intersections of myth, memory, and community in games that reimagine historical and literary traditions. Originally from Miami, Florida, Camille brings a background in both creative practice and critical analysis to her work, aiming to bridge the gap between scholarship and storytelling. Outside the classroom, she plays Dungeons & Dragons, draws, and writes fiction. Her current research investigates how medieval motifs and Arthurian themes are reinterpreted in contemporary board and roleplaying games, creating new spaces for fellowship, identity, and cultural longing through play.
Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/camille-deschapelles-a5b760173
Ian Greener
University of Glasgow
him/they
Ian is Head of Sociological and Cultural Studies at the University of Glasgow. I am interested in how we understand social problems, and how we can get students to better engage with them. How social problems are represented in board games seems an interesting question, as does how we might use them as a tool for shared learning and critical analysis. The work I’m presenting here is a first step towards trying to develop a framework within which this sort of work can take place. Ian lives in Dundee, Scotland, with his much-more intelligent partner and a dog called Archie.
@ijgreener
Stephanie Hedge
Associate Professor of English and Writing Program Director
University of Illinois Springfield
She/her
Dr. Stephanie Hedge (she/her/hers) is an associate professor of English and the Director of the Writing Program at the University of Illinois Springfield, where she teaches classes on first year writing, digital literacies, and the ways that words do work in the world. She researches digitally mediated pedagogies and game studies, and she is the co-editor of Roleplaying Games in the Digital Age: Essays on Transmedia Storytelling, Tabletop RPGs and Fandom (McFarland 2021) with Jennifer Grouling Snider and the first year composition textbook Digitally Mediated Composing and You: A Beginners Guide to Rhetoric and Writing in an Interconnected World (Kendall Hunt, 2nd ed 2024) with Courtney Cox. She is currently working on a new edited collection for the McFarland Studies in Gaming Series called Playing Outside the Mainstream: Essays on Indie Tabletop Roleplaying Games.
Tamara Stenn
Assistant Professor
Suffolk University, Sawyer Business School
she/her
I’m an Associate Professor of Entrepreneurship at Suffolk University’s Sawyer Business School in Boston. As an author, I focus on sustainable business, change, and development economics. In my book Social Entrepreneurship as Sustainability, I introduce the “”Sustainability Lens,”” a framework for building sustainable businesses. Another book, The Cultural and Political Intersection of Fair Trade and Justice, dives into Fair Trade practices and how economics and justice intersect. Outside the classroom I’ve launched initiatives like the Sustainability Lens Game, a creative tool that helps organizations build resilience and spark innovation, Inti Wasi an artsy surf resort in Nicaragua, and A Perfect Seed, Inc., a farmer-run cooperative that supports Royal Quinoa growers in Bolivia – inspired by Fulbright research (2015–2018) on the well-being of indigenous women quinoa producers. Earlier in my career, I founded KUSIKUY, a fashion brand that supported sustainable livelihoods for Bolivian women through alpaca knitwear production.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/tamarastenn/ https://www.sustainabilitylensgame.com/
Jenny Yanzhi Wang
Designer
Columbia University, New York University
She/her
Jenny Wang is a designer and artist based in New York, originally from southeastern China. With a background in developmental psychology, game design, and learning sciences, she explores how play, creativity, and culture shape meaningful learning experiences. She is currently exploring how lightweight board games like Nine Tiles Extreme and similar fast-paced, social games can support cognitive flexibility and decision-making under pressure. Jenny is interested in how games can make learning more engaging and hands-on—especially for learners with diverse needs. Blending artistic expression with research and design, she creates educational experiences that invite curiosity, collaboration, and reflection. Her practice is shaped by her cross-cultural journey and a belief that learning can be both personal and shared. Through her work, she seeks to design educational experiences that are as imaginative and dynamic as the learners themselves.
Mx. Tarae McQueen
San Francisco State University
They/them
Tarae McQueen is a current MA student in the Cinema Department at San Francisco State University. They are a part-time gamer, mainly collecting niche fandom-related indie board games and playing a lot of D&D. While their primary research focus lies in examining ttrpgs as new media, they also focus on depictions of race, class, and African diasporic spirituality on film.
TikTok/Insta: munchkiin.rae
Bsky: munchkiin-rae@bsky.social, head-meddler@bsky.social
Tumblr: meddling-in-horror, meddling-in-antiquity
Discord: plotmachine
YouTube: Meddling in Antiquity
Dr. Stephen Blessing
Janet R. Matthews, PhD. Endowed Chair in Psychology
University of Tampa
Dr. Blessing examines how cognitive psychology principles can be applied to educational and everyday settings. He has studied how game playing can illuminate cognitive processes such as decision making and theory of mind. These studies have used games like Incan Gold and Apples to Apples. In addition to these research projects, he has also conducted studies involving how generative artificial intelligence can be used effectively to promote learning. He has also lead research projects at the Glazer Children’s Museum examining how to encourage and promote play in child development. Dr. Blessing hosts the Cognitive Gamer podcast where he discusses the intersection of game playing and cognitive psychology. When playing games, he prefers being the red meeple.
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stephenblessing/
https://www.ut.edu/directory/blessing-stephen-b
Catherine Croft, Ph.D.
Catlilli Games
She/her
Catherine Croft, Ph.D., earned her B.S from Duke University and her Ph.D. in Neuroscience from the University of Virginia. Dr. Croft then performed neurobiology research for eight years, mostly at the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Although she loved research, she ultimately gave in to her passion for teaching and transitioned to a career in education. She became a teacher in 2016, focusing on subjects including Biology, Anatomy & Physiology, Chemistry, and AP Research. Games are a centerpiece of her teaching style, and she co-founded the STEM game design company Catlilli Games with Jonathan Nardolilli (now Croft) out of her desire to reach a nationwide audience. Their games have won numerous awards, including from Serious Play (gold, silver, bronze) and Imagination Gaming (silver, bronze). Her mission in life is to enhance public knowledge of STEM concepts, and she views board games as a powerful tool to accomplish that.
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CatlilliGames
Instagram: @catlilli15
Bluesky: @catlilli.bsky.social
www.catlilli.com
Jonathan Croft
Catlilli Games
He/him
Jonathan Croft (formerly Nardolilli) is a middle school mathematics teacher with a passion for using games in the classroom. He graduated from Carnegie Mellon University with a degree in civil engineering but immediately switched into teaching at a charter school in Washington DC. After a few years of various educational jobs ranging from being a tour guide at National Cathedral to hosting science themed birthday parties, he settled into being a fulltime classroom teacher at the Nysmith School in Herndon, Virginia. For the past decade, his classes there have utilized projects and simulations to empower gifted students to use math to solve relevant and interesting problems. He adapts many of these classroom tasks into marketable tabletop games with his wife, Dr. Catherine Croft, and their company Catlilli Games. They share a house in Warrenton with her two children, Benjamin and Anna, and their potbelly pig, Hamlet.
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CatlilliGames
Instagram: @catlilli15
Bluesky: @catlilli.bsky.social
www.catlilli.com
Paul Hoard, PhD
LMHC Associate Professor of Counseling Psychology
The Seattle School of Theology and Psychology
He/him
Dr. Paul Hoard is an associate professor of counseling psychology, licensed counselor, and psychoanalytic psychotherapist whose scholarship centers on Lacanian theory, relational psychoanalysis, perpetration trauma, and the psychology of play. His interdisciplinary work explores how unconscious processes shape ethical life, religious practice, and education. With a focus on the clinical and cultural implications of desire, lack, and transference, Dr. Hoard brings psychoanalytic insight into conversations at the intersection of theory, therapy, and game studies.
https://paulhoard.substack.com/
Caleb Levy
New York University
He/She
Caleb Levy is an undergraduate at New York University’s Gallatin School of Individualized Study, where he studies folklore, mythology, and game design – and the intersections between the three. Caleb is thrilled to be making his debut as an academic conference speaker at Board Game Academics. His research primarily focuses on the ways that analog and digital games interact with, participate in, and co-opt folklore from different parts of the world. In addition to his academic research, Caleb has been a member of the Folklore Society since high school; helps run Critlab Review, a student-produced art criticism magazine; and engages with the Irish-speaking community at ciorcal comhrás around New York City.
Pascal Verheul, MA
Nottingham Trent University
He/him
Pascal Verheul is a PhD candidate at Nottingham Trent University, having been awarded a competitive studentship for the project “The Role of Literature and Creative Practice in Acclimating Urban Dwellers to Nearby Nature.”
His research foci are ecodystopian studies, eco-Marxist entanglements, poshuman studies and game studies. He has multiple forthcoming articles and book chapters within these foci and has spoken on them at international university conferences.
Vanessa Michelle Cozza
Director of Communication Studies Online Program
Colorado State University
She/her/ella
Vanessa Cozza is the Director of the Communication Studies Online Program at Colorado State University. She previously taught a variety of writing and advanced rhetoric courses, both facilitated in person and online; some of which included first-year writing, research writing, rhetorical conventions and principles, rhetoric in popular culture, and the rhetoric of racism. Her current research investigates how nineteenth-century board games reflect the ongoing process of reinventing and redefining American society through cultural artifacts and embody narratives of the nation’s struggles and accomplishments, revealing insights into history and the rhetorical power of design-based messaging. These games also helped transform the United States’ identity and culture.
Also Presenting:
- Dan Tibbles, University of Washington
- Mariah Kemp, University of Cincinnati
Interested in attending?