Scott Preston

Dr. Scott Preston studies applied game design, games-based learning, and the history of games and popular culture. He is particularly interested in exploring how developments in modern tabletop game design can be used to create games for change.

With his research group, Resolve, he has created Campus Paths, a tabletop university sim for career counselling and advising, and UNB History: In the Cards, a collaboration with UNB Archives and Special Collections. Resolve provides work-study and internship opportunities for students to study game design and develop important career competencies such as problem-solving, teamwork/collaboration and professionalism.

In the classroom, Scott teaches introductory courses in film studies, design and creativity, as well as advanced courses in media and cultural studies, film studies and game design. He has media production background in community television and his previous research and publications have focused on popular genres, Canadian culture and identity and film history.

Currently serving as Director and Advisor for the Media Arts and Cultures program, Scott has also recently served as Department Chair (Culture and Media Studies, 2019 to 2022) and sat on the Steering Committee for Arts Academic Planning (2021 to 2023).

Education

• PhD, Communication and Culture, York/Ryerson (2010)
• MA, Film Studies, Concordia (2000)
• BFA, Film Studies, Concordia (1998)

Publications

“The Bloody Brood: Canadian Horror Cinema, Past and Present”. The Oxford Handbook of Canadian Cinema. Will Straw and Janine Marchessault, Eds. Oxford University Press, 2019.

"The Strange Pleasure of The Leopard Man: Gender, Genre and Authorship in a Val Lewton Thriller", Cineaction. 71, Spring 2007.

"Scary Movie Scholarship: Some Recent Work and New Directions (Review Essay)", The Communication Review. 9.3, Summer 2006.

Courses taught

• MAAC 3675: Games for Change
• MAAC 3722: Film Directors
• MAAC 1023: Media, Technology and Creativity
• MAAC 2022: The Art of Film
• MAAC 3001: Media Arts
• MAAC/CCS 3082: History of Canadian Cinema
• MAAC/CCS 3065: The Thrill of Fear - Horror Narratives Across Media and Cultures
• MAAC 3075: Framing Reality - Theory and Practice of Documentary Media
• MAAC 4021: Advanced Studies in Popular Culture