USF St. Pete Ramps Up Study of Creativity

USF St. Pete is adding two faculty-in-residence members, one of whom will present a course on creativity.

The Sustainable Entrepreneurship & Innovation Alliance at USF St. Petersburg welcomes Nathan Schwagler and John Morrow to the campus as Creative-in-Residence and Entrepreneur-in-Residence, respectively. Morrow will guide students and local businesses, Schwagler will offer a course that focuses on creativity. It begins in May 2011.The course will be offered two more times during the academic year.

Schwagler's course rests on findings from The Creative Studies Project that states that creativity is teachable, learnable and sticks. Schwagler says that if he does an effective job of teaching, students will leave with the ability to effectively collaborate with others to identify and take advantage of opportunities for innovation as well as "sell" their ideas visually, verbally and in writing.

"The world needs global citizens capable of unleashing a fury of creative solutions upon the incredibly complex and unprecedented challenges that we face," says Schwagler.

Schwagler, whose interest in creativity was sparked while studying psychology at SUNY Buffalo State, believes that creativity is vital to succeeding in the global marketplace.

"Knowing what the next generation of innovators are up against, it brings me immeasurable joy to think that my time and energy is spent ensuring that they will have access to the latest and greatest creative thinking tools, techniques, processes and research available."

Writer: Missy Kavanaugh
Source: Nathan Schwagler, USF St. Petersburg