Athens, Ga. – Dozens of scholars, researchers and innovators from around the world will forge new connections and discover new applications for their work at the University of Georgia’s first International Creativity Collaborative Oct.16-18 at the Georgia Center for Continuing Education.
Organized around the theme of “Creativity and Innovation in an Interdisciplinary and Multicultural World,” the conference is designed to help interested faculty, students and practitioners in the field develop new global networks and innovative opportunities, according to Sarah Sumners, interim director of the UGA College of Education’s Torrance Center for Creativity and Talent Development. Organizers plan to hold the conference annually.
Renowned scholars Dean Keith Simonton, Distinguished Professor of Psychology at the University of California-Davis, and UGA’s own Mark Runco, professor of gifted and creative education in the department of educational psychology in the College of Education, will be keynote speakers.
Runco will speak on “Supporting Creativity to Support Innovation” Oct. 18 at 9 a.m. Runco has been senior editor of the Creativity Research Journal since its founding in 1989 and has co-edited two editions of the Encyclopedia of Creativity (1999, 2011). He has published several books and approximately 200 articles and book chapters on creativity. He has been quoted by the Wall Street Journal, Newsweek, U.S. News and World Report, Oprah, Women’s Health and NPR. His textbook, “Creativity: Theories, Themes, and Issues,” has been translated into six languages. Runco received his doctorate in cognitive psychology from the Claremont Graduate School.
Simonton will speak on “Diversifying Experiences and Creative Development: Historiometric, Psychometric and Experimental Findings,” in a dinner address Oct. 18. Simonton’s research concentrates on aspects of genius, creativity, leadership, talent and aesthetics. To his credit, he has more than 470 publications including more than a dozen books. He has received numerous awards including three Mensa Awards for Excellence in Research, and the Joseph B. Gittler Award for “the most scholarly contribution to the philosophical foundation of psychological knowledge.” He is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Psychological Society, and 11 divisions of the American Psychological Association. He recently edited the “Wiley Handbook of Genius,” the first handbook ever devoted to that subject. Simonton received his doctorate in psychology from Harvard.
Other creativity scholars including Bonnie Cramond, Todd Lubart, Kathy Goff and Ivete Azevedo will present results from their research and applied programs. Other conference presenters hail from the Creative Oklahoma Torrance Center, the Midwest Torrance Center for Creativity, the Marconi Institute for Creativity, the Torrance Center Portugal, the International Center for Studies in Creativity, the Washington International Center for Creativity and the Idea Marathon Center in Tokyo.
“While there are many creativity conferences around the world that focus on sharing information from presenters, the International Creativity Collaborative will focus on forming collaborations between and among presenters and connecting the various creativity centers across the world,” said Sumners. “It’s special because it will give researchers, students and practitioners access to one another in a small collaborative setting where the focus will be on communication and sharing of ideas.”
The ICC is a state-of-the-art conference sponsored by the UGA Office of the Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost, the College of Education’s Institute for Interdisciplinary Research in Education and Human Development and the Torrance Center for Creativity and Talent Development.
For more information and to register online, see www.georgiacenter.uga.edu/uga-hotel/conferences-events/register/international-creativity-collaborative.
