Faculty for Game Production Management Major

Learn from committed and knowledgeable industry-expert faculty in the Game Production Management program.

Meet Our Faculty

Jonathan Ferguson

Assistant Professor

Division of Communication & Creative Media, Game Design Major, Game Production Management Major, Game Programming Major and Game Sound Design Major

Jessie Leigh Gagnon (Hough)

Chair of the Game Studio

Game Business & Publishing Major, Game Production Management Major and Stiller School of Business

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Rachel Hooper

Adjunct Instructor

Creative Media Major, Division of Communication & Creative Media, Game Design Major, Game Production Management Major and School of Social Innovation

Jalil Laalami Ouali

Adjunct Professor

Division of Communication & Creative Media, Game Business & Publishing Major and Game Production Management Major

Kyle Patterson

Adjunct Instructor

Division of Communication & Creative Media, Game Art Major, Game Business & Publishing Major, Game Design Major, Game Production Management Major, Game Programming Major and Game Sound Design Major

Areas of Expertise

Game Production, Project Management

Andersen Pinckney

Adjunct Instructor

Division of Communication & Creative Media, Game Art Major, Game Design Major, Game Design Major, Game Production Management Major and Game Programming Major

Dana Steinhoff

Program Director

Creative Media Major, Division of Communication & Creative Media, Game Business & Publishing Major, Game Production Management Major and Stiller School of Business

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Peter Wehr

Visiting Professor

Division of Communication & Creative Media, Game Art Major, Game Business & Publishing Major, Game Design Major, Game Production Management Major, Game Programming Major, Game Sound Design Major and Stiller School of Business

Jonathan Ferguson

Assistant Professor

Faculty Member	Division of Communication & Creative Media Game Design Major Game Production Management Major Game Programming Major Game Sound Design Major
Pronouns	He/Him/His
Education	Champlain College, MSMIIT Innovation & IT; University of Maryland-College Park, Bachelor of Arts
Areas of Expertise	Game Design Game Development and Game History Cybersecurity
Contact	CCM 231F

Biography

Jonathan Ferguson, Assistant Professor, Game Design and Game Production, Division of Communications and Creative Media at Champlain College is a Game Designer and software freedom advocate. Prof. Ferguson has over 27 years of technology development experience, spanning careers in Cybersecurity, Software Development, Game Development, and Teaching. Prof. Ferguson maintains particular interests in free and open source software, game technology, game history and game preservation and access. Prof. Ferguson holds a Masters of Science in Managing Innovation in Information Technology from Champlain College.

Prof. Ferguson is the creator of the Game History Collection at Champlain College. The mission of the Game History Collection is to preserve and provide access to historical games for study and play. This requires ongoing preservation and maintenance of game software, hardware and online platforms needed to replicate the experiences of historical games. Providing access to past experiences drives the preservation efforts of the Game History Collection in The Game Studio at Champlain College. The GHC offers access to thousands of games for students to study and play, providing direct access to original hardware, emulated games, and hardware-reimplementation.

Since 2009, Prof. Ferguson has served as the Faculty Advisor for the 3 hours weekly project-based Free and Open Source Technology Club (FOTC) at Champlain College, offering weekly opportunities to explore and discuss software and hardware freedom. Over the 2022-2023 academic year, students built a small-scale (Beowulf) compute cluster, and learned about Amateur Radio and Electronics.

Prof. Ferguson also supervises the Games Testing Lab in The Game Studio at Champlain College. Games Testing Lab typically runs five sessions of Games Testing per week, supporting testing options for Personal Computer, Mobile, Virtual Reality and physical prototypes.

Prof. Ferguson is also the Faculty advisor for the Juggling Club and the Destiny 2 Club.

Distinctions & Awards

2021 John Lavallee Innovation Award

Professional & Scholastic Affiliations

ACM
IEEE
AAAS
IGDA

Curriculum Vitae

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Jessie Leigh Gagnon (Hough)

Chair of the Game Studio

Additional Roles	Assistant Professor
Faculty Member	Game Business & Publishing Major Game Production Management Major Stiller School of Business
Pronouns	She/Her/Hers
Areas of Expertise	Agile Management, Cultural Anthropology, Game Development, Narrative Design, Project Management Unreal Engine, Unity Engine, VR Development,Transmedia, Visual Anthropology, Media Anthropology Equality & Diversity, Team Leadership, Organizational Leadership, Startups, Indie Development
Connect 365体育官网	LinkedIn
Contact	Stiller 214A Email Me

Biography

Jessie is a passionate writer, producer, and anthropologist who lives for games, film, and interactive media. Her creative side has melted over and fused to her project management side, and she thrives on opportunities to solve problems, hit milestones, mentor others, and make a positive impact in the lives of people and projects. With over eleven years in the game industry, Jessie has worked on AAA titles like League of Legends and volunteers time for organizations like Women in Games. She has a track record of happy, healthy, interdisciplinary teams and successful projects that shipped with clarity of vision, data-informed decision making, and an empathetic, people-driven focus. A specialist in crunch prevention and conflict resolution, she dedicates much of her spare time these days to helping developers with traditionally marginalized identities learn to thrive in game development.

Distinctions & Awards

Lambda Alpha Anthropological Honors Society, Global Citizenship Certificate,

Publications & Abstracts

“Cosplay,” World Book Encyclopedia; 2014
“Escape from the Mainstream: The Japanese Cosplay Youth Subculture,” Franklin Pierce University; 2008, Temple University Japan; 2010

Professional & Scholastic Affiliations

American Anthropological Association

Favorite Quote

“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.”

—Margaret Mead

Rachel Hooper

Adjunct Instructor

Faculty Member	Creative Media Major Division of Communication & Creative Media Game Design Major Game Production Management Major School of Social Innovation
Pronouns	She/Her/Hers
Education	Champlain College, Master of Fine Arts; Goddard College, Bachelor of Arts
Areas of Expertise	Human-Centered Design Emergent Technologies Agile Project Management
Connect 365体育官网	LinkedIn

Biography

As a Creative Media Faculty member at Champlain College, Rachel Hooper teaches a range of courses including Human-Centered Design, Creative Media, and Video Game Production. She empowers students to seek patterns, connect dots, and imagine new futures by using data and empathy to uncover and define problems worth solving.

Jalil Laalami Ouali

Adjunct Professor

Faculty Member	Division of Communication & Creative Media Game Business & Publishing Major Game Production Management Major
Pronouns	He/Him/His
Areas of Expertise	Production management AGILE principles
Contact	Montreal Campus

Biography

Jalil has been working in the game industry for over 15 years on three continents. After working on AAA content and coordinating QA teams on massive projects, Jalil went back to smaller teams where he had a stronger influence on company culture and direction. Indie life allowed him to explore AR, VR, playable ads, event installations and his personal favorite: procedural content generation. With a contagious smile and a talent for doing more with less, Jalil is currently coaching emerging indies on production management, Agile principles and happiness at work.

Kyle Patterson

Adjunct Instructor

Faculty Member	Division of Communication & Creative Media Game Art Major Game Business & Publishing Major Game Design Major Game Production Management Major Game Programming Major Game Sound Design Major
Pronouns	He/Him/His
Education	Champlain College, Bachelor of Science
Areas of Expertise	Game Production Project Management
Connect 365体育官网	LinkedIn
Contact	Remote

Biography

Kyle graduated from Champlain College in 2016 with a degree in Game Production Management and has worked at various game and tech companies such as Zynga, Warner Bros Games, Disney Interactive, Jam City, and Snapchat. He is a part time adjunct professor at Champlain focused on supporting the Game Studio.

Andersen Pinckney

Adjunct Instructor

Faculty Member	Division of Communication & Creative Media Game Art Major Game Design Major Game Production Management Major Game Programming Major
School/Division	Division of Communication & Creative Media
Programs	Game Design Major
Class	2020
Pronouns	He/Him/His
Areas of Expertise	Game Development Game Production
Connect 365体育官网	LinkedIn
Home State	Vermont
Study Abroad	Champlain College Montreal campus

Biography

Andersen is a Game Design graduate from Champlain College’s class of 2020. He has worked as an aerospace software engineer for Saber Astronautics, a project manager for the DoD, and in production for Rockstar Games. He has been an adjunct professor for Champlain College since Fall 2021.

Favorite Quote

“Shake and bake, baby!”

–Ricky Bobby

Dana Steinhoff

Program Director

Faculty Member	Creative Media Major Division of Communication & Creative Media Game Business & Publishing Major Game Production Management Major Stiller School of Business
Pronouns	She/Her/Hers
Areas of Expertise	Agile project management with scrum Startup formation and operations Small group communications
Connect 365体育官网	LinkedIn
Contact	S.D. Ireland Global Center 213B Email Me

Biography

Dana Steinhoff is Program Director of Game Business and Publishing, and Game Production Management in the Game Studio at Champlain College. She holds an MFA in Emergent Media from Champlain. Her specialization is in teaching interdisciplinary teams to create interactive digital products while learning about leadership, interactive design, team dynamics, and agile project management methodology.

Steinhoff co-founded and served as the Executive Director of Rad Magpie, a Vermont-based non-profit organization that is doing its part to dismantle the patriarchy and white supremacy in video games by radically empowering underrepresented voices through video game development. Previously, she managed the Exquisite Corpse Company, an avant-garde immersive theater company in NYC.

Steinhoff enjoys renovating her Winooski home and acting, most recently with Vermont Stage. You may be able to catch her performing in her cover band Dana and the Dads (limited engagements).

Distinctions & Awards

Academic Innovation Award 2023, Champlain College: For work completed on Re/Imagining Science DEIBJ Committee

Publications & Abstracts

My reflection on the evolution of Rad Magpie, the nonprofit organization I cofounded to support marginalized video game developers.

Curriculum Vitae

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Favorite Quote

“Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one’s courage.”

—Ana?s Nin

Office Hours

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Peter Wehr

Visiting Professor

Faculty Member	Division of Communication & Creative Media Game Art Major Game Business & Publishing Major Game Design Major Game Production Management Major Game Programming Major Game Sound Design Major Stiller School of Business
Pronouns	He/Him/His
Education	Michigan State University, Master of Arts; Lawrence University, Bachelor of Arts
Areas of Expertise	Game Production The history of electronic game development.
Contact	244 CCM

Biography

Peter Wehr has been an Adjunct and Instructor at Champlain College since 2011 teaching Game History and Game Production. Working mostly with first and second-year students, Wehr works very closely with student game production teams teaching them to function effectively to implement their game concepts.

Wehr has worked in academia and the entertainment industry for over four decades specializing in project management and developing infrastructure for new technologies for museums, games, film, television, CR-ROM, DVD, kiosks, and the web. Wehr has been fortunate to work with a variety of industry leaders such as the Smithsonian, HBO, PBS, the Rolling Stones, Sony, CBS, Pepsi, and Dilbert. While working in NYC in the independent television and film postproduction industry, Wehr created a reputation for taking on untraditional and unusual media projects. As one coworker pointed out to him “Whenever you are in a launch meeting, I know it is going to be an interesting ride.”

In his spare time, Wehr plays and coaches soccer, hikes, kayaks, Nordic skis, and snowboards, dabbles with Arduino and Raspberry Pi, reads history, and listens to a wide variety of music.

Curriculum Vitae

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