Cristina Turdean

Associate Professor University of Mary Washington

  • Fredericksburg VA

Turdean's expertise focuses on museum studies, and the intersection of technology and society.

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Biography

Cristina Turdean is an expert in Museum Studies for the Department of Historic Preservation, where she teaches a number of related classes. She also serves on the Museum Studies Minor Committee at the University. Since coming to the University of Mary Washington in 2011 Dr. Turdean has actively engaged her students in the local museum community by planning a number of exhibits, conducting collections management work, developing school programs, and writing grants for organizations like the George Washington Foundation, the Washington Heritage Museums, James Monroe Museum and Fredericksburg Area Museum and Cultural Center.

A unifying theme throughout her work as a graduate student and faculty is the entwined configuration of technology and society – the intricate ways in which people shape and are shaped by the technologies they create. Titled “Betting on Computers. Digital Technologies and the Rise of the Casino Industry in the United States (1950-1995),” her dissertation project shed light on the adoption of computers in casinos as a key factor that made possible and decisively shaped the expansion of the casino industry to the extent we see today.

Currently, she is conducting research on two other topics: the evolution of museum cataloging systems from an epistemological point of view; and, the development of the first hand-held commercial GPS receiver by Magellan Systems Corporation in the 1980s.

Areas of Expertise

Museum Studies
Technology and Gambling
Technology and Society
Historic Preservation

Accomplishments

Faculty Development Grant

Awarded by the University of Mary Washington, 2014.

Faculty Teaching Grant

Awarded by the University of Mary Washington, 2013.

Goldman-Sachs Fellowship

Awarded by the National Museum of American History, 2012 and 2013.

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Education

University of Delaware

Ph.D.

History

2012

Dissertation title: “Betting on Computers. Digital Technologies and the Rise of the Casino Industry (1950-1995)”

University of Delaware

M.A.

History

2006

State University of New York at Oneonta, Cooperstown Graduate Program

M.A.

Museum Studies

2004

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Articles

Computerizing Chance: The Digitization of the Slot Machine (1960-1984)

Center for Gaming Research Occasional Paper Series

Cristina Turdean

2012

The digital slot machine entered the gambling floor in the mid-1970s and, within a decade, it became gamblers’ favorite and the main contributor to casinos’ gross revenue. This paper traces the main developments of this transition, particularly the role of the inventors, entrepreneurs, and the business context that made it possible. Decisively shaped by the culture of the casino floor and advancements in computer technology, the emergence of the microprocessor slot machine involved the gradual replacement of mechanical parts with digital components and created new opportunities for
casino managers.

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Casinos and the Digitization of the Slot Machine

IEEE Annals in the History of Computing

Cristina Turdean

2011

The last 30 years marked the unprecedented expansion of the casino industry and advances in gambling technology, particularly the slot machine. The development of the digital slot machine demonstrates the ways in which the culture of the casino floor and the specifics of the mechanical machine shaped the evolution of its digital successor.

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