With a novel lecture series, the creative industries program in Northeastern University’s College of Arts, Media and Design will bring industry leaders to the classroom to discuss game design and animation with the University community.

The inaugural 2011 Game Design and Interactive Media Lecture Series was introduced by Terrence Masson, director of the creative industries program.

“We are incredibly fortunate to have some good friends of ours be a part of the excitement our new college,” said Masson. “The lectures and events are free and open to all, and with the very large active game design community in and around Boston, this will be a great benefit to both students and professionals in the area.”

Confirmed speakers include Frank Gladstone, world-renowned animation historian and creative executive of DreamWorks and Disney Animation and “vision advisor” for the SIGGRAPH 2010 Conference; Glenn Entis, cofounder of Pacific Data Images (now DreamWorks Animation), former head of DreamWorks Interactive, senior vice president and chief visual officer for Microsoft, and a founding partner in a venture capital fund for innovative digital media companies; Steve Jackson, of “Steve Jackson Games,” an icon of game design who created such classics as “Car Wars” and the “Munchkin” series of tabletop games; and Ed Fries, a former Microsoft executive, developer of the Xbox videogame console, and currently a partner in numerous new creative tech and gaming start-ups.

The creative industries disciplines touch virtually all sectors of entertainment, media and learning. The program at Northeastern prepares students to integrate creative content with technology in a wide variety of venues and projects through academics, experience, creativity, logic, individual expression and team process.

Students in the combined majors choose between game design and interactive media, culminating in a group-based senior-year capstone project that is individually tailored to fit the mix of skills and interests of each graduating class. Past capstone projects have ranged from games to interactive stories, short animated films to educational websites and Web 2.0 social networking.

For more information visit the Creative Industries website: http://www.ci.neu.edu