HARRISBURG, PA — Kelly Boudreau, Ph.D., has been elected a 2026 Fellow of the Higher Education Video Game Alliance (HEVGA), a distinction reserved for senior scholars whose work has shaped how games are studied, designed, and taught at the university level.
Boudreau is associate professor of Game Studies and Design at Harrisburg University of Science and Technology (HU) and chair of the Department of Ludic Design and Creative Leadership. She was one of four scholars inducted this year and the only one based at a U.S. institution, joining Lissa Holloway-Attaway of the University of Skövde in Sweden, Bart Simon of Concordia University, and Nick Taylor of York University. HEVGA announced the 2026 class at the Games for Change Festival in New York City.
“It is an absolute honor to be recognized for my contributions to the field and to be among an international group of scholars,” Boudreau said.
Established in 2017, the HEVGA Fellows Program recognizes significant contributions to game design, theory, or research. There is no way to apply; nominations come only from sitting Fellows, and a candidate advances through an extensive vetting process to a final ballot of the current Fellows. Those elected are inducted as lifetime members and serve as ambassadors for the organization.
“The Fellows come from an impressive list of institutions — MIT and Tampere University among them — and to be elected by that group, by people whose scholarship I have followed for years, means a great deal,” Dr. Boudreau said.
HEVGA credited Boudreau with more than two decades of work advancing game research, education, and industry collaboration. The organization pointed to her development of undergraduate and graduate programs in game design, digital media, and interactive technologies, and to scholarship spanning game design, player experience, digital culture, and creative practice, alongside editorial leadership, peer review, and international collaborations that connect academic inquiry to professional practice.
“Game studies is still a young discipline, and recognition like this helps make the case that it belongs in academia,” Boudreau said. “That matters for students here at HU, who are learning to treat play as something worth studying rigorously — not only something worth building.”
Boudreau also chairs HU’s Promotion Oversight Committee and is an affiliate associate professor in Communication Studies at Concordia University in Montreal. She is a Fellow of Advance HE in the United Kingdom.
“There is no application for this honor,” said Kevin M. Purcell, Ph.D., provost and chief academic officer at Harrisburg University. “Dr. Boudreau was nominated and elected by the senior scholars already doing this work, which is the most credible endorsement a faculty member in an emerging discipline can receive.”
The fellowship is a lifetime appointment.
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