About Me

Hello, good netizens!

My name is Kevin D. Impellizeri, PhD. I am a museum educator and historian and museum professional based in the Greater Philadelphia area.

Education:

I earned my BA in 2006 from Rutgers University with a double major in history and political science with a minor in English. My undergraduate honors thesis examined William Jennings Bryan and the Fundamentalist campaign against evolution during the 1920s. I earned my MA in history in 2009, a Museum Studies Certificate in 2012, and my PhD in history in 2019, all from the University of Delaware.

My Research:

In 2019, I completed and defended my doctoral dissertation. The Multiplayer Game: User Identity and the Meaning of Home Video Games in the United States, 1972-1994 examined the changing meanings of what it meant to own and consumer home video games from their commercial introduction in 1972 to the creation of the Entertainment Software Ratings Board in 1994. It addressed video games as material culture, consumer goods, and popular culture and traced the evolution of the video game user from white suburban families to the adolescent male “gamer” of the 1990s.

Special thanks to my advisor, Katherine C. Grier, and the members of my dissertation committee: Arwen Mohun, Jonathan Russ, and Carly Kocurek.

My research interests include the history of video games in America, game studies, material culture, and historical memory.

Education Experience:

I have taught in traditional classroom settings, virtual classroom environments, and museums for over ten years. My philosophy integrates interactive experiences and game-based learning to foster a hands-on engagement with material.

I have developed tours, lessons, educational programs, and exhibits at The National Constitution Center, Mount Harmon Plantation, Eastern State Penitentiary Historic Site, Fort Mifflin on the Delaware, and The Mütter Museum of The College of Physicians of Philadelphia.

Subjects of note include teen health, the 1918 influenza pandemic, the treatment of military prisoners, and mass incarceration.

I strongly believe in the power of museums to help the public understand and critically and historically examine controversial subjects. Museums, as La Tanya Autry has succinctly explained, are not neutral.

You can follow me on Twitter @KDImpellizeri.

*Disclaimer: The opinions expressed on PrimarySourceCode are entirely my own and in no way reflect the opinions held by The College of Physicians of Philadelphia.