The work and ongoing legacy of E. Paul Torrance, the late UGA educational psychology professor, will be celebrated at the National Association for Gifted Children’s annual convention Nov. 7-11 in Minneapolis.
Known around the world as the “Father of Creativity,” Torrance developed the Torrance Test for Creative Thinking as a faculty member at the University of Minnesota. The test became the benchmark method for quantifying creativity and created the platform for all research on the subject since.
To honor the Milledgeville native, the NAGC will launch the inaugural E. Paul Torrance Distinguished Lecture Series at this year’s conference. Canadian educational consultant Garnet Millar will moderate the first lecture, which will focus on his book, The Torrance Kids at Mid-Life. The conference also will host a “Torrance Kids Reunion,” in which at least 100 of the 215 children who attended two elementary schools in Minnesota from 1958-64 and participated in the landmark 40-year longitudinal study will meet again.
Torrance, who died in 2003, also created the Future Problem Solving Program and developed the Incubation Model of Teaching. He authored dozens of books and more than 2,000 published articles on creativity during the course of his career, making him one of the most published faculty members in UGA history.