|
Critical & Creative Thinking Program |
|
A GRAND April 1
Open House!.... The CCT Program hosted yet another successful Open House on Friday evening, April 1, 2005. The venue for the Spring Open House was the Bay View Conference Room in the new Campus Center. Our guests, which included Deans Goodchild and McDermott, Curriculum & Instruction Associate Chair Glenn Mitchell, alumni, current and prospective students and their friends, were treated to a fabulous view of the harbor from beautiful Columbia Point before the program began.
A riveting presentation was given by Rita
Nethersole, Assistant Dean of Graduate Studies and CCT alum, on
"The Escape of Little Joe". Rita's avocation as a zoo
interpreter gives her insight not only into animals (she obviously loves
those gorillas!) but also into how the public reacts to the tremendously
popular zoo. Her multi-faceted analysis of this event shed important new
light on the implications of what had happened and what had been learned
due to the escape of a 300 pound gorilla who turned up at a Roxbury bus
stop. Many thanks to the GSA (Graduate Student Assembly) for providing funding to support this event, to the Campus Center staff (who were extremely helpful and prompt when there was a minor technical difficulty), and to Sodexho for a great repast. It was wonderful to see so many people - students and alumni - who maintain such a close and active connection with the CCT Program. For those of you who missed this wonderful program, you can look forward to our next function on May 6 when Dr. Barton Kunstler, author of the compelling new book, "The Hothouse Effect" discusses how groups and organizations can use the secrets of history's most creative communities to generate a dynamic culture of creativity. Stay tuned for details! |
Steve
Schwartz, a co-founder of the CCT program who is retiring in June, was
paid tribute for his indispensable contributions to the preservation and
welfare of the program and for his years of teaching for the program
(sprinkled with humorous recollections!) The CCT faculty honored him
with an original caricature, drawn by editorial cartoonist and alum Kyle
Lindholm, depicting Steve as Freud's analyst -- a playful twist on
Steve's portrayal of Freud which he loved to do over the many years he
co-taught the Creative Thinking course! It's CCT's good fortune that
Steve will be back in Spring 2006 to co-teach an online version of CCT
602 (Creative Thinking) with Delores Gallo, also a CCT co-founder, who
retired several years ago.
In the process, Rita also got us to think about the an
"escape" on another level. To say that the significance of
this event "escaped" the media would be an understatement!
Their simplistic understanding of what had happened and how they chose
to present it to the public missed the boat. What should have provoked
much deeper levels of understanding about the connections between
animals and humans and the importance of preserving this ecology became
a "scare" piece sprinkled with inappropriate humor. The story
of Little Joe's escape had something for everyone to take away and we
are grateful to Rita for her wonderful presentation.
