Creativity Network

Leadership

Laurie Abeel, Chair

Kyung-Hee Kim, Chair-Elect

Wendy Leader, Convention Program Chair

Cynthia Dwyer, Newsletter Editor

Mission

The Creativity Network believes that creativity is a basic and necessary function of healthy and productive individuals, and that the health and productivity of a society is reflective of the degree of creativity among its citizenry. Therefore, it is the commitment of this Network to initiate, develop, and implement practices and materials that will promote the creative potential of all persons. Specifically, the Network undertakes activities that: 1) promote the recognition and acceptance of, and the commitment to, creativity as a critical area of giftedness; 2) promote research in the area of creativity, as well as creative approaches to research; 3) provide practical strategies and activities to foster creativity; and 4) increase the public's awareness and acceptance of creative thinking as an essential skill.

Join Now!

If you like what you've read and want to be a member of the Creativity Network, we'd love to have you! You must be a member of NAGC before you can become a network member, so click here to find out how.

Current Newsletter 
Fall 2011

Newsletter Archive 
Spring 2011
Fall 2010
Spring 2010
Fall 2009 
Spring 2009 

The Creativity Network sponsors a newsletter for current Network members and those who want to keep up with new research and curriculum articles. If you have a potential article, book review, lesson plan, or other creative idea that you think would fit our mission statement, please e-mail Cynthia Dwyer . 

E. Paul Torrance Awards 

TheTorrance Award acknowledges significant contributions of individuals and groups whose work facilitates the enhancement and spread of creativity, especially among gifted children, and who are themselves creative thinkers. The award carries the name of the man who probably more than any other individual has promoted the values and behavior the Creativity Network wishes to honor.

Recent E. Paul Torrance Award Winners

	2011 Joan Franklin Smutny (nominated by Kathryn P. Haydon) Joan Franklin Smutny is one of the leading thinkers and advocates for creativity in action in the classroom.  She demonstrates her commitment to creativity and to Torrance’s work by providing model programs where thousands of students each year have the opportunity to problem solve and create; training teachers to incorporate creativity, the arts, and problem solving in their classrooms; writing books that draw upon Torrance's thinking and methodology; and, most recently, working tirelessly to support the Torrance Legacy Creative Writing Awards contest.  Dr. Smutny embodies Torrance's seminal work in every fiber of her life and life work.
	2010  Dr. Dean Keith Simonton Dean Simonton is among the world's most influential creativity scholars. His publications (10 books and hundreds of articles) have been enormously influential, and his contributions to our understanding of creativity and innovation are too numerous to list. He has received numerous awards for his research and teaching, served as editor of Journal of Creative Behavior, and served as president of the Society for the Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts. His influence shows no signs of diminishing: In 2009 alone, he had 29 publications, and he has recently produced an important series of studies on cinematic creativity.
	2009 - Dr. Bonnie Cramond is a Professor of Gifted and Creative Education at the University of Georgia. She served as director of the Torrance Center for Creativity and is on many editorial boards, including the Journal of Creative Behavior and Creativity Research Journal. Her research interests are in creativity assessment and the nurturance of children’s creativity. She has published numerous papers, chapters, and books on creativity; supported visiting foreign scholars’ creativity research; taught creativity for children, graduate students, educators, and parents; organized creativity training seminars nationally and internationally. She served on the NAGC board of directors since 2003 and received the Torrance Creativity Award from the GAGC in 2004.
	2008 - Dr. James C. Kaufman is an Associate Professor of Psychology at the California State University at San Bernardino, where he directs the Learning Research Institute. He received his Ph.D. from Yale University in Cognitive Psychology in 2001. Kaufman’s research broadly focuses on nurturing and encouraging creativity.  He is specifically interested in creativity’s role in fairness; everyday creativity; increasing creativity in the classroom; and the structure and assessment of creativity. He is also interested in related topics such as intelligence, personality, motivation, and thinking styles.  Kaufman is the author or editor of 16 books either published or in press.
	2007 - Dr. Jonathan Plucker
	2006 - Dr. Robert Sternberg, Dean of Tufts' School of Arts and Sciences and Director of the Psychology of Abilities, Competencies and Expertise(PACE) Center received the E. Paul Torrance Award at Creativity Night on Friday, November 3rd at the NAGC national conference in Charlotte, North Carolina. Dr. Sternberg, a past president of the American Psychological Association is the author of over 1000 books and articles and has received numerous awards for his work.  He has made significant contributions to our understanding of creativity, intelligence, leadership, and wisdom.  Under Dr. Sternberg’s leadership, work at the PACE center continues to advance theory, research and application of the notion of intelligence as modifiable and capable of development throughout the life span.

Full list of E. Paul Torrance Award Winners 

More Information

Torrance Legacy Creative Writing Awards
NAGC co-sponsored this contest that invited students to submit their best creative work to help celebrate the legacy of educator/creativity pioneer Dr. E. Paul Torrance.  Over 200 submissions were received.

2009 First Place Overall Winners

Top Prize - Poetry
Bethany Dilda
“Refuge of the Pines”
 Branson, Colorado - 12th grade

Top Prize - Stories
Sam Teeter
 “Hamartia”
Topeka, Kansas - 11th grade

From NAGC's ERIC Digest Archives:

"Creativity in Young Children"

Full List of ERIC Digest Archives