CCT News

28 September 2010

See also previous news, alum news and exchanges, items for the upcoming news, and CCT calendar.
Inform cct@umb.edu if you have news OR want to be emailed when there's a new news compilation (no more than once/month) OR want to be removed from such mailings.

Contents: Student matters, CCT community, CCT events, alums, other events, opportunities, resources, food for thought, humor

Student Matters

Technology, PeopleSoft, WISER & Library training workshops for the Summer & Fall Semester: http://www.umb.edu/training and click on "Upcoming Workshops"

CCT Community

Users of the CCT community's social network, our "Ning", (http://cctnetwork.ning.com), will notice that some features have changed due to a way that the company changed subscription rates. Our page allows for member profiles, discussion boards, and blog entries, while no longer supporting the event calendar, the chat feature, and creating of subgroups for special-interest discussion. Please visit the page to see more, and please continue to keep your profile up to date.

CCT Events

Continuing the "Our Lives and Other Worlds" series...
Monday, October 4, 2010; 6:30- 9p.m.
CCT Community Open House
Theme: Thinking Through Science in a Changing World
Join us as we hear from CCT alum speakers involved in science, technology, and math as they describe how they have extended their CCT experience into their current work.
Wheatley 4th floor lounge, W-4-0148. Email cct@umb.edu to RSVP and for additional details.

The next CCT Community Open House will take place on the evening of Monday, November 1 and focus on storytelling and the connection to critical and creative thinking.

Alum and CCT associates Notes

David Rudewick has started a new job working at Granite State College in Conway as their Academic and Resource Coordinator.

Megahnn McNiff Lindholm reports on completed her consultancy in Afghanistan, "17 action plans and 15 scopes of work later! The AMA [Afghanistan Midwife Association] will now hire 8 full-time staff and begin managing grants from donors and establishing themselves as a stand-alone organization."

Events

Gendering War and International Security. A lecture with J. Ann Tickner, Professor of International Relations, University of Southern California
Monday, October 4, 2010, 4:00-6:00pm, Campus Center room 3540
Presented by yhe Consortium on Gender, Security and Human Rights and the Department of Conflict Resolution, Human Security and Global Governance

Current Economic Events: A Speaker Series

Graduate Studies Showcase
November 17, 2010
4:00-7:30pm, Campus Center Ballroom
If you know someone who might be looking at starting graduate study, please refer them to the UMass-Boston Graduate Studies Showcase, a great way for prospective students to meet faculty, staff, and students from a wide variety of graduate programs at the university.

Opportunities

Graduate Student Employment Opportunity: Institute for Community Inclusion (ICI) at the University of Massachusetts
Seeks applicants for a Research Assistant position for the Fall 2010 school year, visit http://www.communityinclusion.org
If you are interested in applying for an assistantship, please provide a resume and cover letter by email to: Martha Klemm martha.klemm@umb.edu

Wanted: Student Ambassadors to represent the National Collegiate Inventors and Innovators Alliance (NCIIA) on campus. Help increase knowledge and awareness of NCIIA grants, programs and offerings, as well as other entrepreneurial activities on campus and regionally. Geographic areas of interest include Boston or Cambridge, MA.
Students will be trained, receive a stipend, have goals to meet and be rewarded at the end of their one-year "term" if they fulfill the objectives. the full job description

Resources

The Creativity Packet, http://www.tcp.com.mt

90-minute Workshops for students from the Human Resources department, Chancellor’s Conference Room, Quinn Administration Building, 3rd Floor
To register, contact Heather Batherwich at (617)-287-5176 or heather.batherwich@umb.edu

Upcoming Workshops for the UMB community - especially training in various IT topics and help with research and library services http://univmassboston.gosignmeup.com/

Library resources acquired in support of research and teaching on campus: http://www.lib.umb.edu/node/3885

Free DVD and info kit for human rights, http://humanrights.com

Food for Thought


New blog by Peter Taylor on critical thinking and reflective practice in environment, biomedicine, and social change

Do You Dream in Color? promo for an upcoming film at http://vimeo.com/14807767

Bob Herbert in http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/17/opinion/17herbert.html?src=me&ref=general

The fine art of fooling around
August 27, 2010

  • Dear Nina,
  • Some of us, mature and otherwise, beg daily for greater foolery. Others, beginners included, often feel that's what we're doing anyway. This letter is about the business of fooling around as a vital part of the creative process. With accumulated understanding, the hard-won building of technical skills and the knowledge that you can accomplish the same ends with a variety of approaches, you give yourself permission to just "do it."

  • Here are a few ideas:
  • Artists tend to get used to doing things in a certain order. Reverse, or at least vary, your usual order. The starting order, particularly, can often be quite arbitrary. You may have a tendency to finish certain areas or subjects within the work. Try to leave some passages unfinished in the knowledge that you will return to them later. Many of us have a tendency to "conceive and execute." The "foolery way" is to make it up as you go along. Leave your options open. We also have a tendency to over-involve and obsess about things. Back off, move around, look around, loosen up.We all have areas in our work that disappoint and tumble toward the substandard. Often, another time, another piece of music, will reboot the quality. If your work depresses you, and depresses you more as you go, you need to get happy. Count your blessings. Count your winnings. Take a few minutes to fly the flag of optimism. I don't know about you, but I often feel I'm getting drunk on a painting. It's better to be a happy drunk than a mean one.
  • We also have the tendency to get too serious. Besides asking "What could be?" you need to ask "How can I play here?" "Play," said Martin Buber, "is the exultation of the possible."
  • Take chances. Fooling around includes making boo-boos. In most media you can pretty well always cover up your boo-boos. In this way, ours is a unique sport. Creativity, invention and exploration all stem from the same root. Not every member of the community puts forth these shoots. The business of invention is the act of trying this and that. The making of art needs to be a dynamic, evolving event, of joyfully trying this and that. To keep both yourself and your viewers interested, it has to be.
  • Best regards,
  • Robert

Tim Wise, "Imagine: Protest, Insurgency and the Workings of White Privilege," http://bit.ly/9xeb0w

Have you seen the Festo Air Penguin?

Humor

A funny thing happened on the way to the newsdesk...