Support CMU’s Center for Learning Through Games and Simulations this Giving Tuesday

This Giving Tuesday, we’re inviting alumni, friends, and supporters to help Central Michigan University’s Center for Learning through Games and Simulations continue transforming how students learn, create, and lead.

CLGS is one of CMU’s most innovative academic centers — a place where play becomes a pathway to deeper learning, where students design and test ideas that stretch their creativity, and where game-based learning prepares them for careers across education, technology, business, and the growing tabletop industry.

Why your support matters

The Center’s mission is powered by donor generosity. Contributions directly support student opportunities, hands-on learning, and the nationally recognized work of CMU’s own game press.

When you give to CLGS, you help:

• Send students to major conventions like Gen Con, where they network with publishers, educators, and industry leaders.
• Expand Break Our Games, a monthly playtesting program where students shape the development of real tabletop games.
• Support CMich Press, the first university press in the country to publish peer-reviewed tabletop games.
• Reduce costs for students participating in immersive learning experiences, creative roles, and Pages of the Press.
• Build toward the future, including a planned Game Design Thinking major and wider distribution of CMU-made educational games.

Every dollar moves student ideas from “prototype” to “possible.”

Learning that sticks — because students build it

CLGS gives students something rare: a working game studio and university press right on campus. Whether they’re designing storytelling mechanics, evaluating prototypes, coordinating logistics, producing social content, or presenting conventions, students gain professional experience in fields where game-based learning is expanding rapidly.

At Break Our Games, they don’t just play — they influence real products. At conventions, they don’t just observe — they work alongside industry experts. Through CMich Press, they’re part of an academic-to-industry pipeline that shapes how games are created, reviewed, and used in classrooms.

These experiences build confidence, creativity, communication skills, and a sense of belonging in a growing field.

A growing program with bold goals

With continued support, CLGS aims to:

• Publish more peer-reviewed games
• Expand its presence at conventions and in retail
• Increase student travel and internship opportunities
• Grow Pages of the Press
• Strengthen its community partnerships and national visibility
• Launch the Game Design Thinking major

Student demand is high — and donor support ensures every qualified student can participate.

Why give now

Game-based learning teaches students to think critically, collaborate, adapt, and lead. It sparks curiosity. It makes learning accessible. And in a world that increasingly values creativity and systems thinking, CLGS prepares students for careers they never realized existed.

Your Giving Tuesday donation keeps this momentum alive — and puts transformative learning experiences directly into students’ hands.

Help CMU students shape the future of learning, design, and play this Giving Tuesday. Make your gift here: https://giving.apps.cmich.edu/fund/9100111