News2018May
News from the Graduate Program in Critical & Creative Thinking
University of Massachusetts Boston22 May 2018
Student Matters
Congratulations to all spring 2018 graduates in Critical and Creative Thinking and Science in a Changing World: Akell,Alison; Anker,Erik; Blom,Andrew; Charley,Marisa; Kozel,Bradley; Layne,Rachael; Manning,Denise; McGuire,Stephan; McLaughlin-Hatch,A; Moh,Debra; Ricketts,Bobby; Smith,Andrew. (Likely August grads: Avila Jimenez, Pauls; Flaherty,Shawna; Symonds, Ray)
Commencement (including May and August graduates) takes place Thursday, May 24th at Blue Hills Bank Pavilion, Boston. Please refer to the Commencement web site for information about the event and link to the livestream video of the ceremony.
For graduates: Ways to extend connections and impact from studies in CCT/SICW
Students are reminded to register for fall 2018 courses before June 1 to avoid late registration fees.
All graduate students, regardless of residency or enrollment status, are now required to complete the university's Sexual Assault Prevention online training modules. These modules are administered through the UMass Boston University Health Services office. Students can begin the online modules any time after June 2, 2018. Please note that there is a 30 day 'intercession' between parts 1 and 2 of the modules, and students should start as soon as possible to meet the completion deadline of October 1, 2018.
Space is still available in summer 2018 courses. Current students may register through WISER. Courses are open to non-degree students, who may register here.
CRCRTH 611 Seminar in Critical Thinking (Theme: Design for Living Complexities); (hybrid; course meets Mon & Thurs 5:00-8:00pm EDT from July 16-Aug. 23; face-to-face #1272, online #1419). For more information on the theme, see the course descriptions.
CRCRTH 612 Seminar in Creativity (Theme: Overcoming Creative Blocks) (online only; register for class #1420; May 29-July 12)
CRCRTH 627 Issues and Controversies in Antiracist and Multicultural Education (online only; register for class #1421; July 16-Aug. 23)
Fall 2018 course offerings (all times Eastern). See full descriptions. Register for the class # corresponding to how you will attend.
Note course formats -- hybrid courses combine two section for weekly meetings, where face-to-face section comes to campus, and online students participate directly at the same times via web video conference:
CRCRTH 601, Critical Thinking (hybrid; Thursdays, 4:00-6:45pm). Face-to-face: register for class #9621. Online: register for class #9855.
CRCRTH 603, Foundations of Philosophical Thought (hybrid; Wednesdays, 7:00-9:45pm). Face-to-face: register for class #9622. Online: register for #9856.
CRCRTH 618, Creative Thinking, Collaboration, and Organizational Change (hybrid; Tuesdays, 4:00-6:45pm). Face-to-face: register for class #9623. Online: register for #9857.
BIOL 654, Sustainability Science: Environment, Economy and Equity (Thursdays, 5:30-8:15pm; face-to-face class #14288). Note that this course serves as a substitute for CRCRTH 640, Environment, Science, and Society: Critical Thinking that was originally planned but will not be offered this fall.
CRCRTH 655, Metacognition (synchronous online; Thursdays, 7:00-9:45pm). Register for #9866.
CRCRTH 692, Processes of Research & Engagement (hybrid; Tuesdays, 7:00-9:45pm). Face-to-face: register for class #9629. Online: register for #9867.
Jeremy Szteiter will serve as faculty advisor to students in the summer and fall (when Peter Taylor will be on sabbatical).
CCT Community
CCT student Bobby Ricketts has been selected as the graduate student speaker at UMass Boston commencement (see citation for a CCT award he's receiving). A Boston-area native, he now lives in Copenhagen and has undertaken his M.A. in Critical & Creative Thinking from afar. Also, see the university web site article on Bobby: For Graduate Commencement Student Speaker, the World Is His Stage. 25 May: Video of speech
May 24 additions:
(Bobby Ricketts's speech at graduation)
Photos: Synthesis presenters, CCT graduation group , Bobby and family
Capstones will soon be ready to be be viewed on Scholarworks
Congratulations to CCT students recognized for spring 2018 convocation awards (citations):
Shawna Flaherty (Critical and Creative Thinking Award for Personal and Professional Development)
Bobby Ricketts (Delores Gallo Award for Creative Development and Outreach)
Brad Kozel (Science in a Changing World Award)
CCT Faculty Nina Greenwald and David Martin offer their Thinking Matters special presentation to your organization, school, staff or personnel, on ways critical and creative thinking can assist everyone to become better problem-solvers. Increasingly, in this "beyond Google” age, standard thinking practices aren’t sufficient to avoid thinking traps and move us forward. In a fast-moving technological world, increasing interconnectedness, and new forms employment, learning new tools and techniques is essential for improving our thinking for life and work. Thinking effectiveness improves dramatically when practiced within relevant areas of focus and real-world contexts. It's why we like to talk with people internal to a group or an organization to understand important goals and objectives. From this, we can tailor presentations to incorporate relevant examples and exercises that address specific needs and interests. Our interactive sessions incorporate both learning and coaching in enjoyable formats that engage humor, and promote thinking agility and beneficial thinking attitudes in a climate of personal safety. As well, we are prepared to make presentations designed to engage localities or wider communities in problem-solving based on overarching matters of concern. Please share this announcement with others who might like to know about what we do. Currently, we are scheduling presentations for spring/summer/fall 2018 and can be reached at: nlgreenwald@comcast.net and davidmartindr@aol.com
CCT Events
Please see future newsletters for announcements about upcoming CCT events in the 2018-2019 academic year.
Alum and CCT associates Notes
Steve Guenin (CCT '15) has recently finished his first year of teaching a course in Innovations at Hamilton Southeastern High School (Indiana). The course was developed through Steve's experience in the CCT program and focuses on "inspiring the creative confidence to generate, pursue, develop, and implement breakthrough ideas". This is part of a three-year pilot program and includes working toward making this a credited course in Indiana. For more information, see the course web site. Congratulations to Steve and his colleagues for this achievement!
CCT alums and associates are encouraged to send items of interest to the Critical and Creative Thinking community to be included in future newsletters. Please submit events, announcements, and opportunities through this form: http://bit.ly/CCTSICWi
Events
Fall 2018 Courses are available through MIT's Consortium for Graduate Studies in Gender, Culture, Women, and Sexuality (GCWS) Courses and may be of interest to those in the CCT community. Applications accepted until August 20. To learn more and apply, see the web site
Understanding Pornography: Mondays 3:00-6:00 PM, 9/10/2018-12/10/2018; Faculty: Dr. Sarah Leonard, Simmons & Dr. Emily Rothman, BU
Feminist Inquiry: Tuesdays 5:00-8:00 PM, 9/11/2018-12/11/2018; Faculty: Dr. Chris Bobel, UMass Boston
Dissertation Workshop: Fall and Spring 2018-2019, Thursdays 5:30-8:30 PM, 9/6/2018 - 5/2/2019 (meets every other week); Faculty: Dr. Sandy Alexandre, MIT
Beyond Identity: race, class, power, and winning the world we need
Online Workshop Series presented by White Awake, with facilitators Eleanor Hancock and Andy Banks
Online sessions from 3:00-5:00 EDT on three Saturdays: May 26, June 9, and June 23
This workshop series focuses specifically on the relationship between racism and capitalism. The goal is to help participants develop a strong political and historical analysis that can direct our energy into social movement spaces that are focused not on infighting or trying to “get it right,” or even forcing small improvements to the the current social/economic order, but on a complete and radical change...
For more information and to register, see the web site.
38th Annual International Conference on Critical Thinking
July 16-20, 2018
Rohnert Park, CA, DoubleTree Hotel
Conference theme: Critical Thinking Throughout Education and Across the Professions – in Every Classroom, Every Boardroom, Every Business, Every Government, in Every Country Around the World
For full details and registration, see the web site.
Opportunities
CCT graduates interested in seeking doctorate study may be interested in the fairly new PhD program in "Global Inclusion and Social Development" in the School of the same name at UMB. The program welcomes practitioners from a wide variety of arenas who, with a social justice commitment, want to expand the range of voices and participants in change in work, education, social movements, and creative arts. That sounds like CCT. Also like CCT, the program of studies and faculty are flexible so as to accommodate students’ interdisciplinary students, with their core focus centering on transdisciplinary and action-oriented research. Global in the program’s name indicates that it seeks to attract students who are from abroad and/or want to stretch their understanding and impact beyond local work. Indeed, the program has some online courses and is considering the hybrid format CCT uses to bring students from a distance into regular class sessions. The student profiles suggest that the program focuses on inclusive disability practices and research, but in actuality that is just 20% of the student's primary interest area. Contact sheila.fesko@umb.edu to learn about information sessions. Sheila is also able to connect interested students with current students with similar interest areas.
Online Learning Consortium: OLC Accelerate Conference
November 14-16, Orlando, FL
Proposals are requested for this upcoming conference focusing on a theme of Accelerating Online Learning Worldwide. Due date June 4th.
See the web site for proposal guidelines and information on expected types of sessions, and for general information on the conference.
Resources
Everyday Feminism's School for Social Justice: Online learning for healing, justice, and liberation
From the Climate Equity Reference Project:
This is a quick notice of a brief "correspondence" piece, just published in Nature Climate Change. Cascading biases against poorer countries was written by an ad-hoc group of analysts and philosophers who got together in 2017 to respond to Equitable mitigation to achieve the Paris Agreement goals (the sharable link is https://t.co/vXFWgLDBOV), which du Pont et. al. published in December of 2016 in Nature Climate Change.Our published response, Cascading biases against poorer countries, is quite short, but we think it manages to make its core points well enough. See the sharable link at https://rdcu.be/MMbA
Food for Thought
(additional web links and posts can also be found on CCT's Diigo pages. General critical and creative thinking focus: https://groups.diigo.com/group/ccreflect; Science in a Changing World focus: https://groups.diigo.com/group/sicwumb)
Video:
Talking drums (YouTube)
How one cell gives rise to an entire body
Articles:
The Internet Apologizes (New York Magazine)
With €1.5 billion for artificial intelligence research, Europe pins hopes on ethics (Science)
Kim Stanley Robinson Makes the Socialist Case for Space (In These Times)
Project Based Learning: Start Here (Cult of Pedagogy)
Can the building industry break its addiction to concrete? (CNN)
The Namibian Critical Thinking Competition underway (Namibian)
Teaching creativity and critical thinking through the curriculum is already happening (The Conversation)
Meet the Literary Design Studio Bringing Classic Literature to New Technology (Adobe)
Educational System Fails To Implement Critical Thinking In Modern Classrooms (The Ticker)
In Massachusetts, no one wants to talk about sex ed (Boston Globe)
New rule could force EPA to ignore major human health studies (Science)
The Ship of Theseus and the Question of Identity (Utne)
How to become an 'elastic thinker' and problem solver (BBC News)
What Is Consciousness?: Scientists are beginning to unravel a mystery that has long vexed philosophers (Scientific American)
Kids Say #MeToo After Each Performance of This Play (Yes Magazine)
As lab-grown meat advances, U.S. lawmakers call for regulation (Science)
After Centuries of Housing Racism, a Southern City Gets Innovative (Yes Magazine)
Looking in the Wrong Places: A Conversation With Sabine Hossenfelder (Edge)
Simple Strategies for Reducing Stress – A guide for Educators (UK Ed Chat)
How NAPLAN could assess creativity and critical thinking (The Conversation)
Humor
5-Minute Film Festival: Educational Parodies (Edutopia)