breakthrough
stories by Neil Caudle
Sure, we want to be creative, but are we ready to handle the risks and the rigors? Meet some people who are.
Creativity, Paul says, does not necessarily yield a work that everyone instantly recognizes as good. In many cases, it reconfigures our idea of what good is.
Working at the intersection of art and science, Hung “tweaks the methodologies of science,” she says.
Ann Pegelow Kaplan specializes in contemporary photography and digital arts but was trained as an anthropologist.
As a poet and as a scholar who studies science communication, Steve Katz finds one not-so-obvious relation between “the two cultures” of the sciences and the humanities: creativity
Lesly Temesvari would like to bury the notion that creativity and science are somehow at odds.
The personal ambition to create, Summers says, is probably the same for an engineer as it is for a painter or a poet.
What is a creativity professor?
Jeannie Davis
The Creativity Professorship Program recognizes and supports faculty members in the College of Architecture, Arts, and Humanities who are engaged in creative teaching and research. At least three professors are selected from the college each year, one from each of the college’s three schools—the arts, design and building, and the humanities. Each professor is appointed for a two-year term.
Faculty members nominated for the program undergo a selection process, with the final decision being made by the dean of the college, Richard Goodstein. Each creativity professor receives a cash award and a stipend for professional development.
“The point is to encourage creative engagement of our students in the classroom, in the colloquium, in the studio, in the rehearsal room, in the lab,” Goodstein says. “When I launched this program two years ago, I imagined it as a series of seed grants that would help faculty focus on using creativity in the classroom and in their research. What I’ve discovered, however, is a groundswell of creative initiatives, innovative thinking, and collaborative spirit among these seven professors.”
Creativity professors meet often with Goodstein to exchange ideas and seek ways to support and increase creativity in teaching and research in the college. Last October, members of the group presented examples of their creative work during the Forum on Creativity, sponsored by the college.
By fostering a culture of creativity, Goodstein says, the college can prepare its students for a world in need of creative solutions and new ideas. “Our futures depend in large part on our ability to rise to challenges and harness opportunities creatively, with imagination and courage,” Goodstein says.
Creativity Professors
Terms end 2013
Terms end 2014
- James Burns, associate professor of history. See Selling soap and saving souls.
- Keith Green, professor of architecture, professor of electrical and computer engineering, and director of the Institute for Intelligent Materials, Systems, and Environments
- Dan Harding, associate professor of architecture and director of the Community Research and Design Center
- Christina Hung, assistant professor of art. You can see a sample of her work in Creativity can make art of science.
- Ulrike Heine, assistant professor of architecture
- Linda Li-Bleuel, professor of music
- Catherine Paul, professor of English, whose work is featured in Jumping the ditch.
