News2009May

=CCT News=

18 May 2009
See also previous news, alum news and exchanges, items for the upcoming news, and [|CCT calendar]. Inform cct@umb.edu if you have news OR want to be emailed when there's a new news compilation (no more than once/month) OR want to be removed from such mailings.

Contents: Student matters, CCT community, CCT events, alums, other events, opportunities, resources, food for thought, humor

__**Student Matters**__

CCT Summer Courses (term code 1840 on WISER): http://www.cct.umb.edu/summer09.html > Non-matriculated students can register thru http://ccde.umb.edu/credit/summer09/gr/crcrth/ > __Online__: Seminar in Creative Thinking (CRCRTH 612) > __Face-to-face__: Metacognition (CRCRTH 655) > Critical Thinking (CRCRTH 601) > Creative Thinking, Collaboration and Organizational Change (CRCRTH 618) //Please spread the word, especially for Critical Thinking and for Metacognition, which seek more students//

CCT Fall Courses (term code 1910): [] > Current students must register for at least one course by the end of May or get charged a late fee. > [|CrCrTh688], Reflective Practice (1-3 credits), has now been approved as a formal course, to work in conjunction with the CCT Network events.

Sign up now for mid-program check-in for current students (who have completed 5 or more courses) and entrance interviews for new students in September

Express your interest now for writing improvement & incomplete-completion sessions on Tuesdays from 5.30-7.30 during the fall, starting Sept. 8, place TBA

Students can now get their own free, ad-free wikispace wiki via http://www.wikispaces.umb.edu/

Graduate Convocation (where book prizes are awarded) is Thursday May 28, 3:30pm-5:30pm, Campus Center Ballroom. (Attendance is optional.) [|Commencement] is Friday, May 29. U.S. Senator John Kerry will deliver the principal address, and honorary degrees will be presented to Joseph Kennedy, Sister Margaret Leonard, and Edwin Moses. > 9:00am - 12:30pm: Main Ceremony > 1:00pm - 2:30pm: Individual College Ceremonies (athletic field/track for GCE)

Congrats to May (or perhaps in some cases August) graduates: Virginia de la Garza, Tara Tetzlaff, Michael Lihon, Jeff Craig, Jeremy Szteiter, Alyssa Hinkell, Andy Reyes, Matt Tower, Scott Goddess. > Starting with these graduates the Program will be asking specific alums to write "reviews" (or even a single paragraph appreciation) of a newly-minted synthesis, which will be posted on the wiki. This is part of creating a vertical community, giving alums a charge, getting synthesizers' work read more widely,... **Alum volunteers welcome.** Reward? Parking pass to next CCT Network event...

__**CCT Community**__ Congratulations to Jeff Craig, Alyssa Hinkell, Jeneen Mucci, Andy Reyes, Ashley Smith, Jeremy Szteiter and Tara Tetzlaff, who shared a new College of Education Master's degree scholarship. > The CCT awards were made to every student more than half way through the program who had a GPA > 3.8 and no incompletes.

Congratulations to Professor Peter Taylor, winner of the **2009 Chancellor's Award for Distinguished Teaching.** Thank you Peter, for all that you have done to bring out the best in students and the whole CCT community!

Congratulations to [|2009 Convocation Award winners]: Tara Tetzlaff: Delores Gallo Award for Creative Development and Outreach Jeremy Szteiter: Critical and Creative Thinking Award for Personal and Professional Development

Congratulations to the CCT Forum (the student group) for Beacon Student Leadership award for Best Student program, namely, the CCT Network

CCT has a new M.A. and Graduate Certificate track, [|Science in a Changing World] (subject to final approval this month), which differs from the regular track in that 4 alternative core courses can be taken -- spread the word.

Volunteers needed to help Nina Greenwald staff a CCT publicity table at the [|Creative Problem Solving Institute conference], June 21-24 at the Sheraton Ferncroft hotel in Boston. Contact Nina.

__**CCT Events**__

April-May synthesis presentations can be watched and listened to via http://cct.wikispaces.com/CCTSynthesesSpring09

Marathon Day on May 16th saw the current crop of synthesis students, some "old-timers" (Constance Cook, Michael Lihon, and Julie Barrett) and some students from other CCT courses working through the day to finish their work this semester. Students helped each other; Arthur Millman and Peter Taylor also aided and abetted.

Thurs. May 28, 6-8pm, Workshop on initiating and updating your own Reflective Practice Portfolio, W-2-209 (date & place to be confirmed, RSVP) -- Before this workshop, come to the Convocation and/or reception (see above). This workshop is the last of the spring's CCT Network events. The fall schedule for CCT Network events is taking shape -- starting on Sept. 10, then continuing on Oct 8, Nov 9, Dec 10.

[|CCT on the Cape] courses start in the fall. Open House, June 2 in Hyannis. Spread the word.

__**Alum and CCT associates Notes**__

Congratulations to Kyle Lindholm (CCT '04), winner of the Delores Gallo Award for Creative Development and Outreach

Georgiana Pall (CCT certificate student) is now the mother of Sofia Olivia, born on March 26.

Andrea Brenner-Shaevitz (CCT '05) is now the mother of 4-months-old Lauren Mia.

Catherine Weber (CCT '99) has changed the name of her firm to [|Weber Media Partners] and is now focusing on using Social Media.

**__Events__**

__**Opportunities**__

Are you interested in an internship in the Brookline schools Gifted & Talented program? View the full description for details and contact information.

**__Resources__**

Playing For Change Music and Videos, previously featured in the CCT news, available for purchase from [] The most current UMass-Boston [|Community Front Page].

__**Food for Thought**__

The nocebo effect, in which dummy pills and negative expectations can produce harmful effects, see e.g.,[|The Overdose].

This is nominally about bikes, but more about accomplishing the impossible and barely imaginable: []

"a new wave of direct action among workers in rich countries. Co-ops are once again emerging as a practical alternative to more lay-offs..." []

according to one view, there are [|Eight Fallacies About Contemporary Art]: "More than in any other field, misperceptions about contemporary art keep audiences from effectively engaging it. Even within the art world itself, I see people buying into myths that cloud the viewing experience.":

__**Humor**__

"Researchers have shown that [a cockatoo, Snowball], who bobs his head and lifts his legs to the Backstreet Boys' song Everybody, is in fact listening to and following the beat. The findings... challenge the notion that only humans have the neural wiring for dancing in time to music." []

For an encore: [] (p.s. these videos are also food for thought)