13 June 2024

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Student Matters

Congratulations to 2024 May CCT graduates: Sangya Dhungana, Kelsey Fagan, Matt Hales, Matt McCann, Joyce Swagerty, T.J. Karis!

The CCT program has awarded special recognition to students in spring 2024: Joyce Swagerty (recipient of the Critical and Creative Thinking Award for Personal and Professional Development), and Sangya Dhungana (recipient of the Peter Taylor Scholarship for Critical and Creative Thinking). Congratulations to Joyce and Sangya.

CCT summer courses: The following summer course still open for student and non-degree registration:

CrCrTh 612, Seminar in Creativity (Theme: Creative Realization of Ideas); July 15-August 22, 2024; online only, with meetings on Thursdays, 6:00-9:00pm ET (all students: register for class #2951). Registration deadline: June 26th. Open to prospective and non-degree students.

CrCrTh 612 theme for summer 2024: “Creative Realization of Ideas”. The course is directed to center the student on framing the question: ‘What do you want to create for yourself (and/or for your students?)’ – and then actualizing the product, in real life. Instructor Ben Schwendener facilitates dialogue and discussion of elements and structure used in the creative process of each of the individual class participants and in the unique products themselves.

Fall 2024 courses are open for registration by current students (see here for descriptions):

• CrCrTh 601 Critical Thinking (Tuesdays, 7:00-9:45pm)
• CrCrTh 618 Creative Thinking, Collaboration, and Organizational Change (Tuesdays, 4:00-6:45pm)
• CrCrTh 655 Metacognition (Thursdays, 4:00-6:45pm)
• CrCrTh 692 Processes of Research and Engagement (Wednesdays, 4:00-6:45pm)

CCT Events

Thinking Critically and Creatively About Citizenship
A 4-week exploratory seminar
Free and open to all.
Online meetings Tuesdays, 12:00-1:00pm EDT, July 9, 16, 23, 30.
RSVP here and see the full description for more details.

This free, non-credit seminar uses the Collaborative Exploration (CE) format, which is problem-based learning approach to lifelong learning. The seminar includes an hour-long structured dialogue (in Zoom) once per week for 4 weeks in a row which emphasizes inquiry, reflection, and curiosity about the theme, and then independent exploration in between the weekly meetings based on each participant’s specific interests and questions about the topic.
Description of theme, Thinking Critically and Creatively About Citizenship: In this seminar, we ground our exploration in the concept of citizenship and what happens when we view this from a critical and creative thinking perspective. This might lead us to consider the assumptions that we make about citizenship in today’s society and how we understand social problems and solutions in relationship to citizenship….see full description.

Alum, Student, and CCT Associates Notables

Bob Schoenberg, a graduate of the CCT Program and a former Faculty member, recently conducted a workshop for former Cult Members on Critical Thinking. Bob, who spoke to the CCT Community in December of 2023, shared his experience of unintentionally joining a Cult and emphasized the importance of using Critical Thinking Skills. Bob has previously stated that Cults detest Critical.Thinking because it undermines what they are trying to do. At the recent workshop he gave via Zoom, he taught former Cult members several Critical Thinking skills to use to challenge and unravel the “mind control and Brainwashing techniques” that Cult Leaders use to control members. Bob is continuing to apply Critical Thinking Skills in various areas and emphasizes the practical application of various Critical Thinking Skills. Critical Thinking is now recommended by various therapists who treat victims of Cults. But, cults aren’t the only ones who are against Critical Thinking. Certain political and religious groups and even ultraconservative schools are enemies of Critical Thinking as well! To reach Bob – email him at Bobsch3@gmail.com

CCT students, alums, and associates are encouraged to send items about accomplishments, new publications, or offerings to the Critical and Creative Thinking community to be included in future newsletters. Please use this form to submit items for the upcoming newsletter.

Events

Creative Problem Solving Institute Conference
June 23-27, 2024 at Niagara University, Lewiston, NY
The Creative Problem Solving Institute (CPSI Conference) features over 50 in-depth sessions or breakout workshops focusing on a wide range of topics, with skills and tools you can immediately apply at work and at home. Network with like-minded professionals, reignite your passion and uncover endless possibilities. Ignite breakthrough personal growth, accelerate professional success, and unleash your inner innovator. See the website for more conference details and registration requirements.

Association for Humanist Sociology
October 24-26, 2024, Rochester, NY
Inspired by the Black Panther Party’s survival programs, the theme for this year’s conference is Serve the People. There are as many kinds of public sociology as there are publics. From Gans to Burawoy, public sociology has been imagined and then reimagined. Humanist sociology was born from the Lees’ question of “sociology for whom” and thus has always been done in the service of others, with others. It is a bottom-up form of sociology; an engaged form of scholarship; an activist project. Humanist sociology is at its very core a public sociology. With simultaneous assaults on higher education/knowledge, vulnerable/marginalized populations, human rights, etc., sociology is at a point where we must rethink our discipline’s relationship to the people we study. As Hartman recently wrote, we must do this “not abstractly or in theory but in actual application and practice-in engaging the worlds, the communities, the social problems, and the public programs in our midst.” There is an urgent need for public sociology to be a dominant way of understanding and doing sociology. As humanists, we must lead the way. We must, as the Black Panther Party urged, serve the people. We welcome papers and panels on anything related to public sociology. The Association for Humanist Sociology has always been oriented towards “a common concern for the real life problems of equality, peace and social justice. We share a commitment to address all facets of the human condition in our scholarship and in our practice, and to make sociology more relevant to human needs.” For information about the conference, registration details, and requirements for proposals, see the website.

Societal Impact of Scientific Research – The 2024 Conference of the organization for Advancing & Evaluating the Societal Impact of Science
June 26-28, 2024, Dublin, Ireland
https://aesisnet.com/events/societal-impact-of-research-2024.html
For the 12th time in a row, AESIS will be organising their annual conference on Societal Impact of Science, to bring together stakeholders in- and outside of the science eco-system to engage with each other on the most effective approaches for implementing effective policies, strategies, methods and tools to optimise societal impact of science and evaluate success.
See the full description for details and registration information.

California Institute for Integral Studies – select Online Summer 2024 Public Programs:

• On What it Takes to Heal – A Conversation With Prentis Hemphill and W. Kamau Bell (Livestream) (June 26, 2024 6:00-7:30pm PDT)
• On Repairing Ties to Indigenous Ceremony & Culture Through Art – A Conversation With Tricia Rainwater and Chantal Jung (Livestream) (July 25, 2024, 6:00-7:30pm PDT)
• Embodiment Practices for Sustainable Social Change (June 29-30, 2024)
• Opening Your Heart With the Enneagram (August 17-18, 2024)

Association for Interdisciplinary Studies
46th Annual AIS Conference
Theme: Interdisciplinary Bridge Building: Reconnection and Traversal
Virtual conference on September 27-28, 2024.
For information, see the website.

SpeakOut’s 5th Annual Virtual Summer Institute
July 10 & 11, 2024
This year’s lineup includes inspiring speakers like Linda Sarsour, Tim Wise, and Mohammed Soriano-Bilal, and it’s a fantastic opportunity to reconnect and engage in meaningful discussions.
Registration is open and costs $69. See the website.