Torrance Center Newsletter - Spring/Summer 2013

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™ The Torrance Center for Creativity and Talent Development™ Newsletter

Inside this issue! Academic Year Enrichment Programs ............ 2 2013 Torrance Legacy Awards in Writing, Visual Arts, and Music ........... 3 2014 E. Paul Torrance Lecture .................................. 4 GLOBAL MINDS: The International Summer Camp at The Torrance Center .............. 5 New Visiting Scholars............ 5 Upcoming Events .................. 6 Cramond Interviewed on NPR’s “All Things Considered” .......................... 6 Across the World, but Close to Home ................ 7 GSA’s Interdisciplinary Research Conference ............ 7

See the back cover if you would like to make a taxdeductible donation to help support the activities of the Torrance Center™.

Spring/Summer 2013

Interdisciplinary Certificate in Creativity & Innovation Now Available! The Interdisciplinary Certificate in Creativity and Innovation (ICCI) received final approval from the University Council on April 18, 2013. The purpose of the ICCI is to bridge knowledge across diverse disciplines in creativity and innovation and to stimulate the ability of students and faculty to synthesize and apply this knowledge in their diverse fields. As designed, this certificate program cuts across many disciplines, for example, journalism, art, social sciences, management, etc. The ICCI is for graduate students in any major who complete 9 hours of courses in the Creativity Education Curriculum. The ICCI will also require two elective courses (3 semester hours each) that have been approved as part of the 15-credit certificate program. We currently have course offerings from educational psychology for the core; art education; studio art; lifelong education, administration, and policy; journalism; science education; food science and technology; language and literacy education; qualitative research; innovation management; non-profit organizations; and Spanish for the electives. The program offers graduate students an advantage when applying for jobs in the workforce. This certificate improves and documents creative potential – something employers say they are looking for. ICCI is a unique and collaborative partnership among multiple colleges, campus units, and faculty with an interest in promoting creativity and innovation. What makes this graduate certificate unique is that it has become the hub of creativity research across the UGA campus. If an art student wants access to courses on entrepreneurship in the MBA program, this certificate program facilitates such practical and creative endeavors. A complete listing of information, program requirements, and enrollment forms can be found at: www.icci.uga.edu


Torrance Center News • Spring 2013

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Academic Year Enrichment Programs UGA–Duke TIP 2013-2014 Course Dates Scholar Weekend Dates: October 5-6, 2013 February 8-9, 2014

@UGA

April 12-13, 2014 Academic Adventures Dates: September 14, 2013 October 26, 2013 January 25, 2014 February 22, 2014 March 29, 2014

Photo highlights from this year’s UGA–Duke TIP events

The Torrance Center™ is happy to announce that it will continue to offer academic programs to gifted youth by hosting and coordinating the UGA-Duke TIP weekends in 2013-2014. These weekends offer challenging courses on subjects that students most likely won’t be exposed to in school, like designing sustainable architecture, programming robots, studying the physics of filmmaking, and much more. UGA has hosted the events for the past six years, and we look forward to reaching the hundreds of gifted students who attend every year. Depending on their grade, students have two options of programs, each where the student chooses one subject to study in depth. Academic Adventures is a one-day program designed for fifth and sixth graders who are registered with Duke TIP. Scholar Weekends are offered to students in grades 8-11 who are part of the Duke TIP program or enrolled in AP/IB or honors classes. The course offerings change each weekend, and we are always looking for talented teachers and experts in their fields. If you are interested in becoming an instructor, please contact Elizabeth (ejb12@uga.edu). For further information about the programs, including classes to be offered and registration details, please visit the website at: www.coe.uga.edu/torrance/about/duke-tip-at-uga In addition to the Academic Year Programs, we also partner with the Duke TIP Academy for Summer Studies to offer two summer residential programs for qualifying 8th-10th graders. For more information, visit: www.tip.duke.edu/node/374


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Spring 2013 • Torrance Center News

2013 Torrance Legacy Awards in Writing, Visual Arts, and Music DESCRIPTION: Students are invited to submit their finest creative work to celebrate the great legacy of educator and creativity pioneer Dr. E. Paul Torrance, author of more than 2,000 tests, articles, and books. Students in grades 2 through 12 are invited to submit photographs of original paintings, prints, sculptures, photographs, musical compositions, poetry, and short stories.

DEADLINES: All submissions must be postmarked by August 15, 2013. Applications are now available. For more information, visit www.ststesting.com/torrance

VISUAL ARTS AWARDS

CREATIVE WRITING AWARDS

Accepted Genres: Students may submit photographs of any 2D or

Accepted Genres: Poetry and short-story

3D visual art, including without limitation painting, collage, printmaking, photography, sculpture, ceramics, or other related work. Submissions may focus on one of the following creative themes: Let Humor Flow, Keep Open to the Snow, Digging Deeper, Lessons from Nature, Overcoming Obstacles, and Standing Alone. Students are encouraged to freely interpret these themes. Please note that you must submit a photographic representation of your work of art. Each student may submit only one submission for the category of 2D or 3D art or both.

submissions may focus on one of the following creative themes: Let Humor Flow, Keep Open to the Snow, Digging Deeper, Overcoming Obstacles, Lessons from Nature, and Standing Alone. Students are encouraged to freely interpret these themes. Please note that there is a 1,250word limit for stories. There is no prescribed word limit for poems. Only one story and/or one poem will be accepted from each student.

Eligibility: Students in grades 2 through 12. Please note, participants need not be enrolled in gifted programs. Students will compete in one of four divisions: grades 2 and 3; grades 4 and 5; grades 6-8; or grades 9-12.

Eligibility: Students in grades 2 through 12. Please note, participants need not be enrolled in gifted programs.

MUSIC ARTS AWARDS Accepted Genres: Students may submit original musical compositions for any solo instrument or any combination of instruments or voice (e.g., solo piano, multiple instruments, voice and accompaniment, vocal duet). Submissions may focus on one of the following creative themes: Let Humor Flow, Keep Open to the Snow, Digging Deeper, Overcoming Obstacles, Lessons from Nature, and Standing Alone. Students are encouraged to freely interpret these themes. Please note that all submissions must include a recording of the composition and a score. All materials must be submitted on a CD/DVD.

Eligibility: Students in grades 2 through 12. Please note, participants need not be enrolled in gifted programs. Students will compete in one of four divisions: grades 2 and 3; grades 4 and 5; grades 6-8; or grades 9-12.

SPONSORS: The National Association for Gifted Children; the National Association for Gifted Children Creativity Network; the Torrance Center for Creativity and Talent Development; the Future Problem Solving Program International; Ignite Creative Learning Studio; Knox College; The Center for Gifted, a Northern Illinois University partner; and Scholastic Testing Service, Inc.


Torrance Center News • Spring 2013

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2014 E. Paul Torrance Lecture Monday, April 7, 2014 5:30 p.m. Coffee 6–7 p.m. Lecture 7–7:30 p.m. Reception

Photo Credits: Palma Kolansky & Stephen Sheffield

Branford Marsalis

NEA Jazz Master, renowned Grammy Award-winning saxophonist and Tony Award-nominee composer Branford Marsalis is one of the most revered instrumentalists of his time. The three-time Grammy Award-winner has continued to exercise and expand his skills as an instrumentalist, a composer, and the head of Marsalis Music, the label he founded in 2002 that has allowed him to produce both his own projects and those of the jazz world’s most promising new and established artists. Having gained initial acclaim through his work with Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers and his brother Wynton’s quintet in the early 1980s, Marsalis also performed and recorded with a who’s-who of jazz giants including Miles Davis, Dizzy Gillespie, Herbie Hancock, and Sonny Rollins. He has also collaborated with such diverse artists as Sting, the Grateful Dead and Bruce Hornsby. His expansive interests are further reflected in his explorations in film, radio, and television, including his role as the musical director of The Tonight Show with Jay Leno for two years in the early 1990s. Marsalis has also acted in popular movies such as “Throw Mama from the Train” and “School Daze,” provided music for “Mo’ Better Blues” and other films, and hosted National Public Radio’s syndicated program Jazz Set. Whether on the stage, in the recording studio, in the classroom or in the community, Branford Marsalis embodies a commitment to musical excellence and a determination to keep music at the forefront. Bio provided by branfordmarsalis.com


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Spring 2013 • Torrance Center News

GLOBAL MINDS The International Summer Camp at The Torrance Center On June 17, 33 students and their parents will arrive from Istanbul, Turkey, to participate in the inaugural Global Minds Summer Program at the Torrance Center. In collaboration with the Gifted and Talented Education Center of Turkey, this program welcomes gifted students from the ages of 7-12 for three weeks of intensive academic instruction in English. Courses range from Secret Agent Scientists, Multiplicative Reasoning, to Personality Psychology, and much more, thus giving students exposure to subjects they typically will not learn in school. We are thrilled to offer this program for the first year and hope to extend the opportunity to participate to students from even more nations. To follow the fun of the program, please “like” the Torrance Center’s Facebook page and follow us on Twitter @TorranceCenterU, where we will post pictures and other highlights of the program.

For more information, please contact Elizabeth Brantley at ejb12@uga.edu.

Dr. Fei Zi Called by his American name, Frank, Dr. Zi arrived at the Torrance Center™ in January. He is visiting from the Department of Psychology at Beijing Forestry University, Beijing, China. Frank is currently working on a research study entitled A Cross-cultural Study on the Development of Perfectionism and Obsessivecompulsive Personality Disorder in High School Students. Dr. Zi is joined by his wife, Xiaoying Wang; son, Juanguo; and daughter, Huimo. We are pleased to welcome Frank and his family to the Torrance Center™!

Dr. Young Myung Song A senior researcher at the Center for Daegu Supporting Gifted Education, Dr. Song is visiting from Daegu, South Korea. In 2009, she received her Ph.D. from Kyungpook National University, South Korea in the field of educational psychology. Her research interests include gifted education, creativity, learning motivation, and happiness. She is joined by her 10-year old son, Seungil Jun, and will be here until February 2015.


Torrance Center News • Spring 2013

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Can Creativity Cans make you more creative? We don’t know, but stop by the Torrance Center in Room 123 Aderhold Hall and try one out. The cans were generously donated by TWIST Creative Inc. Find out more at creativitycan.com

A visit from Bo Stjerne Thomsen from the LEGO Learning Institute got us thinking about the role “play” has on our work. He kindly donated a set of LEGOs to indulge our playful spirits!

Upcoming Events

Cramond Interviewed on NPR’s “All Things Considered”

www.coe.uga.edu/torrance/about/internationalgifted-talented-educational-camp

Bonnie Cramond, director of the Torrance Center for Creativity and Talent Development, was interviewed on National Public Radio’s “All Things Considered” in the second of a three-part series about education and the arts which aired on April 17.

July 9 – 10, 2013 Torrance Test of Creative Thinking FIGURAL Scoring Workshop

To hear more, visit www.npr.org/2013/04/17/177040995/more-than50-years-of-putting-kids-creativity-to-the-test

June 16 – July 5, 2013 Global Minds International Education Camp

www.coe.uga.edu/torrance/ training-opportunities

July 11, 2013 Torrance Test of Creative Thinking VERBAL Scoring Workshop www.coe.uga.edu/torrance/ training-opportunities

April 7, 2014 2014 E. Paul Torrance Lecture featuring Branford Marsalis Imagination Stage in Washington, D.C.


Spring 2013 • Torrance Center News

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Across the World, but Close to Home

GSA’s Interdisciplinary Research Conference Already this year, the Torrance Center™ has conducted Torrance Test of Creative Thinking Scoring Workshops at home and across the world. New faces were welcomed in Aderhold Hall during March for a TTCT Figural and Verbal Scoring Workshop. Later that month, Drs. Bonnie Cramond, Nukhet Yarborough, and Nur Acar conducted TTCT Figural and Verbal Scoring Workshops in Turkey. Bahrain was a new place for us to hold the TTCT when Dr. Sumners conducted a TTCT Figural workshop for participants at Arabian Gulf University. Participant surveys declared the workshops an overwhelming success. Please join us for our next TTCT Figural workshop scheduled for July 9-10 and the TTCT Verbal workshop scheduled for July 11, both in Athens.

This spring, UGA’s Graduate Student Association held its 13th Annual Interdisciplinary Research Conference (IRC). The theme of the conference was “Unity through Diversity: Collaboration, Creativity and Contribution.” The IRC promoted collaborative works and explored topics including the relationship between music and medicine or what Sherlock Holmes might have to do with social media. This student-driven conference brought together graduate and professional students from departments and universities throughout the Southeast to share research and ideas, featuring research presentations, workshops and art installations. Dr. Tracie Constantino, an associate professor of art education at UGA, gave an elegant keynote, as she spoke to “Meeting in the Commons: Putting Collaboration at the Center of Interdisciplinary Research.” “The fact that UGA is holding its 13th Interdisciplinary Research Conference shows how the long-held value of working together is here,” said Garrett Jaeger, Vice President of UGA’s Graduate Student Association and conference director. “This year’s conference highlighted teamwork across disciplines, with a focus on research that pushes the boundaries of specialization into those of curious collaboration.” The Torrance Center was a proud sponsor of this event and applauds the efforts of our Graduate Assistant, Garrett Jaeger, organizer of the event, as well as everyone who helped to make the conference a success.


Torrance Center News • Spring 2013

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Make a Gift to the Torrance Center™ Please consider a gift to the Torrance Center™. Funds are needed to provide support for activities such as this newsletter to continue building upon the legacy of Dr. E. Paul Torrance and his research. To make a gift to the Torrance Center™ Fund, go to the web site at:

http://bit.ly/torrance-center-gift Or, make the check payable to the UGA Foundation and in the “for” blank, write the Torrance Center Fund. Send it to: Aldon Knight Executive Director of College Advancement College of Education The University of Georgia G2C Aderhold Hall 110 Carlton Street Athens, Georgia 30602

Thank you for your support of the UGA COE Torrance Center™ for Creativity & Talent Development!


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