Creative Connections Network Spring 2013 Newsletter

Growing the Creative
Connections Network: 

The Creative Connections Network is the alumni group of the International Center for Studies in Creativity. 
 
As befits a Spring newsletter, we’re excited to share with you the growth of the Creative Connections Network since our last writing.

Last winter, we told you of the revival of the CCN and introduced you to some of our work to date. At the time, we put out a call for Board members to fill key rolls. We’re pleased to introduce you in this issue to the skilled and passionate people serving in the roles of Treasurer, Professional Development, Membership Development, and Technology.

Also in this issue, an interview with Hedria Lunken – the first president of Creative Connections. Read about the days when Gerard and Sue were students, Sid and Ruth were around, and CPS was Post-It-free.

Yours in the Creative Spirit,

Amy Frazier
CCN President

The Creative Connections Board

Board Members are recruited by a search committee comprised of the Vice President and Faculty Advisor, with input from the community. They serve year-long terms, renewable up to three years.

We added a number of new members in January, who are busy with their plans for turning the CCN into a thriving alumni network. Meet the current members of the CCN:

New Board Members - 2013

Laura Ryan –  Treasurer
Laura is the founder of LAMA Innovation, a Buffalo-based consulting firm. Laura specializes is training people on the language and tools necessary in optimizing their creative potential.  In addition, Laura enjoys facilitating creative problem solving and strategic planning for private and public corporations, government agencies, and non-profits. Laura has a BSME in Mechanical Engineering from Boston University and has completed her coursework towards her MS from the International Center for Studies in Creativity at Buffalo State. Laura plans to graduate in May, 2013.

Laura’s goal as Treasurer is to ensure the group is fiscally sound as we carry out of the planned programs and various offerings. 

Shawn Kassirer – Technology

Shawn is currently a Business Analyst and has provided support in electronic automation, enterprise analysis, and process improvement techniques within healthcare & non-profit facilities worldwide. Shawn’s areas of interest include idea innovation, team collaboration, and finding benefits of new technology. He currently resides in Buffalo, NY where he is a member of the Project Management Institute and International Institute of Business Analysts. He is a current student in the Creativity Studies Masters Program.

As CCN Technical Advisor, Shawn is involved in the CCN database and website development. His plans include incorporating additional visual tools and platforms within the CCN website to serve the unique needs of the community, such as allowing users to electronically post and prioritize ideas, align goals with strategies, access ideas for facilitating electronically, etc.

Florian Rustler, ‘10  - Professional Development


Florian is an innovation coach based in Munich, Germany. He is founder and managing partner of creaffective. He supports organizations worldwide in German, English and Mandarin Chinese to become more innovative. Prior to his degree at the ICSC he studied Political Science, Psychology and Chinese in Munich and Taiwan. He graduated from the ICSC in 2010.

Florian's goal is to facilitate alumni in finding work, training and conference opportunities around the world. His plans include setting up an online database/resource listing that allows people to search for and enter information related to conferences, trainings and work and writing opportunities.

Cory Wright, ‘99 – Membership Director

Cory is a 1999 ICSC graduate residing in Rochester, NY.  While working as a Sales Engineer in Utah, he caught the “Creativity Bug” trying to help his employer adapt to the wave of outsourcing taking place in the 90’s.  Now he is establishing a nonprofit called Creative Leadership America, is a partner with ZiDEAS Creativity and Innovation Group and a part-time educator.  Cory was honored to write the case studies found in the book “Creative Leadership, Skills that Drive Change.”  He is actively researching and speaking on topics related to creativity and innovation. 

As Membership Director, Cory’s focus is to facilitate and coordinate efforts to promote and engage alumni through building a sense of community, collaboration, and valued connectedness. Look for signs of his work at creativity conferences near you.

Courtney Johnson-Woods – Communications

Courtney Johnson-Woods is a college instructor and director of Clarkson University’s Writing Center. She is also a consultant working for clients primarily in the forest products and biofuels sectors. She completed a graduate certificate at ICSC in 2009, and a year later went back to obtain her Ph.D. at SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry in Syracuse. Her research interests include the intersection of people, their sense of and connections to “place,” and the natural environment.

Courtney has assumed the position of communications with CCN. Her goal is to promote communication among alumni and increase connections between alum practitioners, the ICSC, and current and future creativity studies students. Her hope is to increase the visibility of the CCN through traditional communications and social media platforms.

Returning Board Members - 2013



Amy Frazier ’11 – President

Amy works in the field of organizational and leadership development through her company Stages of Presence, and is also a contributor at Innovation Bound. With a background in theatre, she brings a deep awareness of the artistic process to creativity and leadership development. Amy has contributed a chapter on creativity and leadership for the forthcoming book on Big Questions in Creativity Studies 2013, to be published by the ICSC Press this year.

Amy is working on Board development and increasing the visibility of and participation in the CCN.

Stavros Michailidis ’10 – Vice President

As founder of Innovation Bound, Stavros consults with global enterprises, academic institutions, government agencies & NGO's on their innovation initiatives and in creating valuable thought leadership. He conducts research and guest lectures at the University level and his presentations have been recognized and received awards at creativity conferences. In addition to his MS in Creative studies, Stavros holds a Bachelor Degree in Project Management.

Stavros’ main focus is to recruit great talent from our alumni pool to the CCN board.  We still have to fill two more spots, so contact him if you're interested : )

For current open positions, scroll down. 

Interview with Hedria Lunken on

Creative Connections, the early days:

 By Amy Frazier, '11 and Hedria Lunken, '90, Founder and first CCN President 


Q:  When did you graduate? 
A: 1990.

Q: When did you begin the CCN? 
A: In 1989 we were a small group of students and under 100 graduates.  The course of study was very intense and we felt the need to get together socially and include our families. We planned weekends at the lodge, skiing, making meals together and practicing our presentations.  In addition many of the graduates wanted to reconnect with the profs and since they were often busy with other students, this gave them a way to stay connected (hence the name creative connections, coined by Rita Ganim) to the program and meet new people who were involved. We wanted to get everybody connected, to know each other. In class you’re so busy…

Q: What was the department like at the time?
A: Roger Firestien, Scott Isaksen, and Mary Murdock were our teachers. I was in Mary’s first classes. She helped get the CCN started by giving extra credit to Dennis Carter to help me organize the group.  Sue Keller-Mathers and I went through the program together, she has also served as CNN president . Gerard was a student, one year ahead of our group.  I was one of the first students Roger guided through a master’s paper. Sid and Ruth were around, but not teaching. Ruth became my mentor. You knew they were the stars. And, there were no post-its! We wrote and rewrote. Should have invested in 3M, but we didn’t.

Q: What were some of the hot topics at the time? 
A:It was still the very beginning – were we psychology, or not psychology? We were carving out that it was a discipline on its own. When we interviewed companies for jobs, we needed to explain what creativity was, and how we could benefit their company to convince them to hire us. Now creativity is a core competency in many companies. It was the beginning of creativity training in most industries.

Q: If you could grant the current CCN one wish that you could pick, what would it be?
A: Stay connected. The graduates and students are a special group of people, who have been trained in a very special discipline, to think in a positive/creative way:  they are fun, interested and interesting, and extremely open and helpful to each other. 

Open Board Positions with the CCN...

Want to become involved in the revival of the Creative Connections Network? Over the next several months we will be looking for people who would be interested in serving in the following positions. Contact us at ICSC.creativeconnections@gmail.com to learn more.

Current Creative Connections Board
Amy Frazier, President
Stavros Michailidis, Vice President
Laura Ryan, Treasurer
Shawn Kassirer, Technology
Florian Rustler, Professional Development
Cory Wright, Membership Director
Courtney Johnson-Woods, Communications
Dr. Cyndi Burnett, Faculty Advisor

Open Positions

Secretary

Documenting our work through minutes and cataloging materials.
 

Special Projects

A dedicated person for trying new things, such as community outreach, funding sources, etc.

Creative Class Notes

Jonathan Vehar ’95, along with David Horth, had a white paper published by the Center for Creative Leadership entitled, "How to become a Leader of Innovation" and were also interviewed by European CEO magazine about innovation leadership for a special edition that was distributed at the Davos Conference in January. Jonathan also '95 facilitated conversations after the four keynotes at the IIR "Back End of Innovation" conference in Boston in October 2012.

Linda Salna and Shari Walczak are partnering to earn their final credits working on an Independent Study Project to increase the awareness and engagement in World Creativity and Innovation Week (April 15-21, 2013), founded by ICSC alumna Marci Segal over 10 years ago.  The Toronto pair is collaborating with a team to create a repeatable framework that other regions can follow. To keep up-to-date with the project, like the page on Facebook

Lee Anne White '11 recently published Her Own Way: Creating an Authentic Life, a guide to self-discovery for college women and recent graduates. It features a mix of stories, interviews and creative exercises, and is designed to help young women explore their passions, tap their talents, develop a creative mindset and embrace life's journey.

Ismet Mamnoon ’13 has been awarded both The President's Medal, the highest honor awarded to a student by Buffalo State College, and the SUNY Chancellor’s Award, the highest honor bestowed by SUNY upon a student. The awards recognize Izzy’s outstanding achievements in academics, community service and leadership, among other contributions. Izzy will deliver the student address at Commencement in May.

Laura Barbero Switalski '03 is the recipient of this year's Creative Studies Alumni Achievement Award. The Award honors graduates of the program who are making a long-term impact in the field of creativity. Laura's work includes founding the CREA Conference, serving as adjunct faculty, and contributing to the development of the Thinking Skills Model. Laura has coauthored the book Creativity Rising: Creative Thinking and Creative Problem Solving in the 21st Century, published by ICSC Press in April 2012. She will be presented with the Alumni Achievement Award in a ceremony on May 18.

Got a Creative Class Note to share? We'd love to publish it! Send info to ICSC.creativeconnections@gmail.com 

Creative Connections Network Winter 2012 Newsletter

(Re-)Introducing the

Creative Connections Network: 

The Creative Connections Network is the alumni group of the International Center for Studies in Creativity. The CCN was revived earlier this year, and we're pleased to roll out out first quarterly newsletter with this Winter 2012 edition.
Enjoy!

An introduction to the CCN:



Dr. Cyndi Burnett, CCN Faculty Advisor :
The Creative Connections Alumni Network was started by Hedria Lunken, more than 20 years ago.  Hedria saw the network as a means to provide a professional framework for continued networking and development  for the current students, alumni, staff and faculty of the International Center for Studies in Creativity (ICSC).

Dr. Mary Murdock was the faculty advisor of Creative Connections for many years.  When she became ill, Creative Connections became quiet, and lives became busy (as they do). 

Last year, when the ICSC faculty created their goals and vision, we realized that one of our goals to was to have a robust Alumni Network.  We knew this could be achieved, in part, through our Creativity Expert Exchange conference, but we wanted to create something bigger.  At that point, I volunteered to be the faculty advisor, and began to solicit the alumni community to find interested people who were willing to commit to an initial six month term for reviving the CCN, with the option of continuing on.  Amy, Stavros, Izzy, and Jenna have been very active in propelling this goal forward and I have already seen the connections being made!

Dr. Cyndi Burnett, CCN Faculty Advisor

Amy Frazier, '12, CCN President:
The revival of the CCN comes at a great time for the ICSC. New initiatives, a steadily increasing enrollment, and the forthcoming launch of the PhD program in 2014 all testify to the dynamic growth of our community – and our field. In this context, it would seem incredible to not have the sort of robust Alumni Network the faculty envisioned last year. So, speaking on behalf of Stavros, Jenna, Izzy and myself, I will say that we have all been very excited and honored to helm the first several months of the revived CCN. (And a thanks and acknowledgement to Dana Calanan for her early efforts in the position of secretary.)
         Our work since last spring has been to “lay the pipes” –  putting some structure in place so that we may invite your greater participation in the Network. To this end, we have established our mission and governance structure; deployed a “Conference Ambassador” to spread the word at the various creativity conferences; launched a quarterly newsletter under Jenna’s expert guidance and graced by Ana Castelan’s handsome CCN logo design; established the basis for a mentoring framework, as Izzy describes elsewhere; and – in a complex project headed up by Shawn Kassirir – embarked upon the testing phase of an interactive database which we hope will demonstrate the variety of connections existing among alumni as well as stimulate your interest in creating even more connections.
         As we enter into the next phase of the CCN revival, we’re looking for people to serve in a variety of positions – and are eager to know in what ways you might like to contribute. If you’re curious to know more, contact us at icsc.creativeconnections@gmail.com.

         We look forward to continuing the journey with you, already begun.

Yours in the creative spirit,
 Amy Frazier, CCN President

Mentoring:

Building a community of creative leaders.
By Ismet Mamnoon 

The graduate program at the International Center of Studies in Creativity (ICSC) emphasizes creative leadership.  A significant aspect of a leadership role is mentoring.  The Creative Connections Network (CCN) hopes to provide opportunities for alumni and students to connect and benefit from mentoring relationships. 

The benefits of a mentoring program are twofold. The mentored will benefit from the sharing of experience, guidance and collaboration opportunities with their mentor.  The mentors will benefit from the sharing of a reconnection with the ICSC and the recharging of passion by plugging into the energy of a new graduate/student.  Additional benefit for mentors is that this relationship provides a connection to the newest research and developments at the ICSC.

The ICSC currently promotes such meaningful exchanges at a community level through the Creative Experts Exchange.  The CCN hopes to promote connection and exchange at an individual level through the mentoring program.  In order to facilitate the connections in the CCN mentoring program, alumni will be able to create mentoring profiles on the anticipated CCN database.  These profiles would allow the mentor and mentored to find those individuals who have similar areas of expertise and interest.

The CCN will be responsible for providing the platform for making the connections, however the framework for the mentoring relationship will be created by the individuals who wish to connect.  Information for best practices in mentoring relationships will be posted and shared but will simply be provided as guidelines.
 

ICSC 4.0:

Promoting four generations of creativity scholarship.
By Ted Mallwitz , '12

Current students and alumni comprise the fourth generation of future ICSC scholars or ICSC 4.0. With this in mind, the ICSC 4.0 is focused on promoting the growth of the International Center for Studies in Creativity both internally and externally through the fostering of collaboration, community, and goal setting that creates synergy between our individual goals and the goals of the ICSC. The ICSC 4.0 will begin with a retreat (details to come soon) open to current students, distance students, and alumni in order to set clear goals, gather data, and develop a concrete vision for the future of the ICSC from the student and alumni perspective. Key concept areas include: expansion, branding, collaboration (both in person and virtually), creating opportunities, and the mindful alignment of ICSC faculty goals and our goals. Through these efforts ICSC 4.0 seeks the realization of the growth and unification of our vast and diverse ICSC family.

Interview with Paul Reali on the ICSC Press:

 By Stavros Michailidis, '10 and Paul Reali, '09

Q:  What is ICSC Press?

A: ICSC Press is the new imprint of the International Center for Studies in Creativity (ICSC) at Buffalo State College. Ultimately, the purpose of our press is to support ICSC’s vision: “Igniting creativity around the world: facilitating the recognition that creative thinking is an essential life skill.” 

Q:  Why did the center create ICSC Press?

A:  The ICSC has long been recognized as a clearinghouse for information on the field of creativity. To expand this role, and to more actively disseminate original and rigorous work, the ICSC decided to launch its own imprint. Bypassing traditional publishers will allow the Press to publish works with more discrete audiences, and to get more quickly to market.

Q:  What type of content will ICSC publish?

A: The goal of ICSC Press is to produce high-quality work that contributes to expanding our understanding of creativity and supports effective creativity practices. To accomplish this goal, ICSC Press will serve as a vehicle for members of our community and other creativity professionals to publish and disseminate their original thinking, in book, ebook, and other forms.  One current initiative is to publish a collection of case studies that demonstrate the effectiveness of creative process, Creative Problem Solving, FourSight, and related methodologies and tools.

Q:  Who is the ideal author for ICSC?

A:  The authors best suited to ICSC Press are: ICSC Faculty, ICSC Graduates, CPS and creativity practitioners, and other academics and creativity professionals who want to make a contribution to the field while bypassing the lengthy academic and trade book publishing industry.

Q:  How should interested parties contact you?

Talk: 716-253-1871
Email: editor@icscpress.com

Growing the CCN...

Want to become involved in the revival of the CCN? Over the next several months we will be looking for people who would be interested in serving in the following positions. Contact us at ICSC.creativeconnections@gmail.com to learn more.

Current Creative Connections Network Leadership Team

Amy Frazier, President
Stavros Michailidis, Vice President
Jenna Smith, Secretary
Ismet Mamnoon, Treasurer
Dr. Cyndi Burnett, Faculty Advisor

Open Positions

Membership

A liaison to the membership community.
 

Technology

A coordinator of technology for CCN, including database and website.
 

Professional Development

A steward for opportunities and the development of programs.
 

Communication

A central point of contact and messaging.
 

Special Projects

A dedicated person for trying new things, such as community outreach, funding sources, etc.h

Creative Class Notes

Liz Aebersold '11 recently keynoted at the Project Management Institute Seattle Chapter on the need for Project Managers to be catalysts for creativity and change.  Liz teaches in the UT Austin Executive Education program in the School of Engineering on Creativity, Innovation and Leadership.

Chris Grivas '99 ICSC Graduate and co-author of "The Innovative Team" has recently had pieces related to his book published in Training Magazine, Forbes.com, Fast Company Magazine, and Entrepeneur.com among others.

Marta Davidovich Ockuly  '11 and eminent creativity researcher Dr. Ruth Richards were invited to present the results of the research study they co-authored titled: “How Do You Define Creativity?" at the 120^th Annual Meeting of the American Psychological Association in Orlando, FL, August 3, 2012.  Link to the presentation is here.

Erik op ten Berg '12 served as a creativity expert at the opening show of the ConceptLab at the Dutch Design Week, where design students competed to create new products for smart houses, during three days situated in a glass house.  Erik also shared best practices for accelerating the creative process, amid chaos in the house! 

Nathan Schwagler '08 is currently serving the University of South Florida, St. Petersburg College of Business as: "Creative in Residence", and as an Instructor of Entrepreneurship. Recent accomplishments include mentoring a team of students to a 1st place finish in a national entrepreneurship competition.

Marci Segal '01  was recently named a futurist by the World Future Society and invited to present at their 2013 conference in Miami on "What humanity will be like in the year 2100." She also led a pre-conference session at the 2012 WFS conference, "Human Dynamics of Creating" with Megan Mitchell. 

Got a Creative Class Note to share? We'd love to publish it! Send info to ICSC.creativeconnections@gmail.com 

The Tools: Transform your problems into courage, confidence, and creativity. A Book Review by Graduate Student Ian Rosenfeldt.

I came across The Tools in the Cultural Studies section of the bookstore. After flipping through, it looked appealing enough to investigate. The premise is straightforward - outlining five tools to be used to develop one’s self actualization. It occurred to me that there are plenty of cognitive tools to guide creative thinking and yet I hadn’t come across many whose purpose was to guide our thoughts so as to optimize our mindset for creative thinking. How do we suspend judgement? How do we accept opinions even if we disagree with them? Since the elements of courage and confidence are fundamental to developing creativity, perhaps The Tools, developed by Phil Stutz and Barry Michels, would show a path to do just that and more?

Chapter one is written in call-and-response style from each author. One talks about his experience as a psychotherapist, encountering challenges with patients and looking for answers himself. The other talks about being approached by a young patient who was searching for answers. Not to why she thought the way she did, but on how to change her way of thinking. This led Barry Michels on his own quest to find tools that could do just that. The historical perspective on how the authors came to be acquainted with each other and the Tools made for an easy an engaging read and heightened my anticipation for more.

The tools are a way to bring positivity to your consciousness and to connect you to something called the Higher Power (and yes, it’s capitalized in the book). When first reading about the Higher Power, skepticism came naturally. The authors invite skepticism and ask only for one thing - for the reader to practice the tools. Given that simple request, I read on with an open mind, curious about what lay behind these Higher Powers. By inviting skepticism, the reader is forced to examine the book from deeper perspectives, to be open minded and yet look for cracks in the process.

Each of the next five chapters, one for each of the tools, starts with a story from their experiences - giving personality and context to allow the reader to identify with. They present situations that would prompt you to use the tool, the higher force that you will connect with, the process on how to use the tool (with simple illustrations), how the tool works and what the benefits are. The authors also address frequently asked questions they’ve had for each tool before ending off with a summary. This layout works very well. As I progressed through each chapter, I was trying to identify how I would use each tool. As each chapter summary drew near, there were additional examples given and alternative uses offered. Many of my own questions were addressed.

Thus far, I was grateful for finding The Tools and yet, the chapter on Higher Power was yet to come and my skepticism alarm started to chime. Turns out the Higher Power is not meant as a concept to challenge or replace anyone’s god, religion or spiritual belief. It offers a way of explaining how the power of happiness and confidence is actually a never ending well that we can tap into...only it comes from inside of us and not from external sources. To paraphrase the authors - these tools are a means of defeating inner enemies, using the weapons that enable us to believe in and experience higher forces without sacrificing our mental freedom to anyone or anything.

Despite my skepticism, I realized that the perspective presented isn’t revolutionary or even that scary. What is unique about this book is how the tools and this unique perspective of Higher Powers are presented, in an easily digestible way with simple and plain language that is not steeped with cultural, religious or spiritual dressings.  I found its simplicity and presentation refreshing, and after some short term practice I can say that these tools have had a positive impact on me. More practice is in the cards, most definitely.

The concluding chapter espouses practice and has us consider what might happen if more and more people tapped into these Higher Powers - how we as a society could benefit from the resulting positivity. One theme underscoring the entire book is that Western society is hell bent on consumption as a route to happiness, as if the latest and greatest will allows us to harness our creativity and confidence even better than before. What Stutz and Michels stress, however, is that along with developing a more positive mindset we each have the limitless power to develop our own creative selves. In effect, creating is more powerful than consuming.

Reading between the lines, it is not a far cry to draw connections to humanistic psychologists such as Rollo May or Abraham Maslow. The field of positive psychology is there as well, with the elements of motivation that could have easily referenced Teresa Amabile and Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi and even psychologist Viktor Frankl.

Reaction

The tools seem like mantras, images and stories to be repeated and experienced repeatedly in one’s head. What is most interesting is that we’re not being told what specific images to use (i.e. not of someone else's creation) but scenarios to create ourselves, based on our own experiences, insecurities, goals and wishes. It takes imagination to visualize these future scenarios and The Tools calls upon our metacognitive efforts to practice them.

The authors mainly draw upon their experiences as psychotherapists in developing these tools. It was disconcerting as a reader to have no references to draw upon, and yet a core tenant of the book is that having faith in a process despite not being able to prove it, doesn’t detract from its effectiveness. Getting through the book is pretty easy, so I encourage a temporary suspension of judgement while you read it. Once through the book, having gained an understanding of the tools themselves, the concept of Higher Powers may be easier to digest and reformulate in a way that makes more sense to you.

I would recommend this book to anyone who is craving an infusion of fresh perspective to their stale inner dialogue. If you’re looking for techniques to be used to top up your positivity, courage and confidence then The Tools is worth further investigation.

About Ian

Ian is an energizing facilitator of deliberate creativity, team training and Creative Problem Solving. He is a specialist in coaching for success, providing the tools to optimize creative thinking and facilitating diverse groups through their unique challenges.

Ian is a current Masters student at Buffalo State College, studying creativity, innovation and change leadership. He pursues optimal experience in the mountains (not often enough), on bikes of all sorts and behind two turntables.