Cogswell College's Albert Chen Featured Speaker at

SUNNYVALE, Calif., July 29, 2013 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Cogswell College , one of the world's leading regionally-accredited institutions offering a unique curriculum that fuses digital arts, engineering and entrepreneurship, is pleased to announce that game design and development assistant professor, Albert Chen , will speak at the IDGA Summit , Wednesday, July 31 at 2:00 pm at the San Francisco Hilton. His presentation will highlight student works that use the power of games to tackle difficult subjects such as rape, suicide, and physical and sexual abuse.

The IDGA Summit brings together luminaries and professionals across the global gaming industry to address issues such as diversity and industry perceptions as well as best practices in core design and production principles, leadership, entrepreneurship, funding and business management.

"The students who participated in this project conducted painful research followed by agonizing design decisions," says Chen. "They were inspired by game designers like Brenda Brathwaite and Ian Bogost . Their projects illustrate how the power of games can tackle difficult subjects like no other media can."

Tackling this type of subject matter illustrates the unique teaching philosophy at Cogswell. Small classes, taught in a collaborative industry environment, allow students to explore facets of their chosen profession beyond technical skills and design programs.

Chen's industry credits include Electronic Arts, LucasArts, Factor 5 and the 3DO Company. He is an expert in game design & development and engineering simulation & animation and he and his team of Cogswell students were awarded the Boeing Performance Excellence Award in 2008.

About Cogswell College

Located in Sunnyvale, California, in the heart of the Silicon Valley, Cogswell College is a WASC accredited four-year institution of higher education with a curriculum that fuses art, engineering and entrepreneurship ( http://www.cogswell.edu/index.php ). As one of the Bay Area's premier colleges, its novel academic approach offers a collaborative, project-based, learning experience.

Cogswell College alumni credentials include Modern Warfare 3 , Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, Gears of War 3 and Halo 4 . Cogswell alumni have gone on to careers with Activision, DreamWorks, Disney, Electronic Arts, Pixar and Microsoft Game Studio as well as starting their own creative ventures.

Bonnie Phelps Cogswell College 408-498-5145 Kimberly Hathaway Gallagher Group Communications 415-994-1097