Click here for Photos1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8

Hello CCT Community,

        

         It's a pleasure to report that our October 8 open house was a wonderful success! More than 25 current students, alums, CCT faculty, faculty from other UMB programs, prospective students and interested others attended the three hour program. Arts educator Elaine Sisler, Chair of the Mass Alliance for the Arts, engaged us in exercises designed to relax and open us up to bodily-kinesthetic ways of communicating -- from practicing tension reduction techniques to participating in a spiral dance (inspired by a favorite painting of Elaine's) in which we joined hands moving together to music as a flowing unit. Late on a Friday afternoon, this was a welcome respite from work-a-day cares and a reminder of the importance of creativity for our survival!

 

         Charly Rauscher, Barbara Ditullio and Jane Lachance (former CCT 612 invention students) shared the unique (very marketable!) products they developed for the course -- an ergonomic neck cushion that's a major improvement in manageability and comfort over typical models, and a variety of attachable/detachable pockets that solve the problem of pocketless clothing. Discussion focused on encouraging CCT inventors to to commercialize their ideas, and invention as a CCT immersion process.

 

(Important note: if anyone is interested in working with mentors from the invention course to commercialize an idea, please let me know as soon as possible. We've applied for permission to use remaining funds from our NCIIA grant (National Collegiate Inventors and Innovators Alliance) for this purpose.

 

         Arra David, award-winning inventor, who was scheduled to make a presentation at the open house, unfortunately had to cancel at the last minute in order to oversee installation of one of his inventions. He looks forward to presenting to the program later this year.

        

         It was a delight to be reunited with alums Marie Kenerson, Jane Rando and Nancy Sullivan, along with former CCT instructor, Hilary Hopkins. They highly recommended holding an alum-led symposium this year. In addition to bringing old friends together and sharing ways in which they the program has changed their lives, (an ongoing topic of conversation during evening), this could also be a forum for attracting prospective students. Let me know your thoughts about this -- e.g., how such a day might be structured, when, why, for whom, etc.

        

         Recruitment efforts are moving forward, taking direction from many excellent ideas generated at last April's open house. Many thanks to alum John Lewis for staffing a CCT table at the recent Boston Harbor Educator's conference and to CCT student Bob Lingley for making a promotional video to be shown during the campus-wide open house this Saturday, Oct. 23, from 9-12 in the campus center. Bob has filmed "testimonials" from CCT students and faculty. Several current and former students will be on hand to help staff our table. There's a prize for the best tables, so let's hope ours is a good contender! We'll have a rolling video, music, balloons, student projects, CCT magnetized "business cards", plenty of candy treats and a bunch of us to talk with visitors. Also, I will be giving a 45 minute workshop for people interested in the program.

 

         I'd like you to know that CCT program literature was distributed at the recent Northeast Conference on Gifted Education. Also, I am currently in the process of exploring collaborative program possibilities with the Kodaly Music Institute, an affiliate of the New England Conservatory, with the Educational Development Center (EDC, Newton, MA.), and the Museum of Science, Boston. On another level, thought is being given to a CCT discussion series led by faculty, students and guest presenters. If you are interested in presenting and/or helping to coordinate this, please let me know. Thanks for your ideas about this too.

 

         In closing, to assure that all of our spring courses adequately enroll, it is absolutely essential that students PREREGISTER by the Nov. 29 deadline! I cannot underscore the importance of this more, so  please make yourselves a reminder to preregister by the 29th. In preparation for this, I suggest meeting with your advisor to discuss your questions and concerns. Let me know if I can be helpful to you as well.

 

         Thanks so much for your continuing support and willingness to help grow and maintain the CCT program -- still with the distinction of being the only one of its kind in the country!

 

With gratitude and best regards,

Sincerely,

Nina Greenwald, Acting Director