PARTICIPANT BIOGRAPHIES
KEN BALDAUF
Innovator | Educator | Facilitator | Consultant
Florida State University Innovation Hub www.kenbaldauf.com | www.innovation.fsu.edu | ken@innovation.fsu.edu
BIOGRAPHY: Ken Baldauf is the Founding Director of Florida State University’s Innovation Hub, where students from all disciplines work together, utilizing Design Thinking with emerging technologies, to confront the demanding and complex problems of our day. After over 25 years as an FSU faculty member with a background in music and computer science, having taught tens of thousands of students in computing and technology classes, Ken has pivoted from machine to human, now fostering curiosity, creativity, compassion, and innovation across the disciplines.
Through his Innovation by Design class, and through a wide variety of workshops, design sprints, and boot camps, Ken and his team teach and facilitate Design Thinking sessions that win hundreds of new enthusiasts each year. Ken has authored several textbooks and has presented at educational conferences across the U.S. (and now Canada). In addition to his work in academe, Ken serves on the Boards of Moonshot Florida, The Sharing Tree, and Cornerstone Learning Community, three organizations that exemplify the values that Ken holds dear.
ARTIST STATEMENT: I am an optimist in the age of “great acceleration,” a time when optimism is being sorely tested. I am a humanist, technologist, futurist, and banjoist. I believe in the inherent strength, beauty, and goodness of the human spirit. I direct an Innovation Hub and teach Design Thinking to inspire creativity in young adults. I believe in nurturing creative confidence in children in order to safeguard our future. I cycle to work and practice yoga and meditation in order to keep my balance.
BIOGRAPHY: Margaret Boersma, OCT is an educational consultant, teacher trainer, speaker, curriculum writer and teaching artist. Her career in teaching, combined with her expertise in social/emotional learning allows her to integrate the affective domain (people skills) with the curriculum. Her innovative programs are experiential in nature and have teachers highly engaged creating memorable and practical integration into their teaching and into the lives of their students. This results in students increasing leadership and communication skills while becoming compassionate citizens. Margaret’s use of brain- compatible strategies to engage and internalize learning also allows her to create unique, cross-curricular programs and provide powerful learning through demonstration lessons, which are highly popular. She works with schools, school boards/districts and faculties of education in Canada, the U.S. and Europe.
KATHY BROWNING
BIOGRAPHY: Kathy Browning is an Art Educator and Artist. She has a Ph. D. and B. Ed. from University of Toronto, an M. F. A. from York University, and a B. F. A. Honours from the University of Manitoba. Kathy has taught Visual Arts and Technology at the elementary, secondary and university levels and Visual Arts, Methods: Instructional Strategies, and Social and Legal Issues in Education in the Faculty of Education, Laurentian University.
Kathy has been having photography exhibitions for over 40 years. She has shown work in all art media in Canada and the United States. Her photography was chosen for the Arts Researchers & Teachers Society Juried Art Space.
Kathy directed and produced 14 Videos of Visual Artists in Greater Sudbury which profile Aboriginal, Métis, Francophone, and Anglophone artists and the interconnections they have made with the community. Kathy presents her videos and Teachers Facilitation Guides along with her students’ exemplars and curriculum created at provincial, national, and international conferences. This video series has received the Curriculum Services Canada Seal of Approval and the Canadian Network for Innovation in Education, Excellence and Innovation in the Integration of Technology in the
K – 12 Classroom award. She recently received a national publication award from the Arts Researchers and Teachers Society for Innovative Exemplars and Curriculum Created from On-line Videos of Visual Artists in Greater Sudbury published in the Journal of the Canadian Association for Curriculum Studies. 16(1) 104-126.
BIOGRAPHY: Since 1988, Brigitte has served as the senior Instructor and Studio Head (Jewellery/Metal Arts) at the New Brunswick College of Craft and Design. Brigitte continues to teach and mentor emerging artists, while remaining actively engaged in her personal studio practice. She has exhibited her work across Canada and abroad.
Brigitte is the recipient of many awards from the Canada Council for the Arts, Arts NB, The Strathbutler Award and the Award of Excellence in Crafts from the Province of New Brunswick. In 2017 she received the inaugural Fredericton Arts Achievement Award. In 2018 and 2019 she was nominated for Bronfman Award from the Canada Council. Her work is in private and public collections, most notably the Royal Ontario Museum, Victoria and Albert Museum-London England, the MacDonald Stewart Art Center (Art Gallery of Guelph), the New Brunswick Museum and the Province of New Brunswick. She was inducted into the Royal Canadian Academy of the Arts in 2000. She became a Fellow of NBCCD 2019.
ARTIST STATEMENT: My work often challenges functionality. An object may need to be held in contemplation to find its function. I am currently working on still life compositions with unadorned vessel forms in the company of cast silver discarded food items. These textured ‘silver skins’ are meant to be held in the palm of the hand, eschewing the untouchable mirror finish of previous work. Currently in the production of new works for a solo exhibition art the NB Museum 2020, Futile Abundance showcases the challenges of food insecurity, food waste, constant decay and perceived value of material. Following “Wasted, 1861 grams” which was built for the Canadian Craft Biennale in 2017, and which is in the McCain exhibition 2019, I am further investigating table centerpieces as a way to invite the curious gourmand and to challenge desire and repulsion. Tabletop trays or platters carry inks on paper onto which compositions of silver and bronze are created. Small silver skins are nestled into a composition of cast metal discarded foodstuff, found objects; detritus of every day.
JILL CUMMINGS
University of Toronto, Curriculum, Teaching, and Learning
Associate Dean Faculty Development Yorkville University
https://www.yorkvilleu.ca/ | jcummings@yorkvilleu.ca
BIOGRAPHY: Creating effective learning/teaching communities is at the heart of my work. I enjoy working in teacher education and program development/administration, curriculum, teaching, and research for online and face-to-face programs - post secondary, and K-12 contexts.
I was pleased to present research (Cummings & Graham, 2019) re. the Communities of Inquiry (COI) framework and innovations in post secondary education at the Creative Connections Conference 2019.
As Associate Dean Faculty Development, I develop and facilitate faculty courses for orientation and professional development for our professors who teach online and/or on campus. I work with an energetic and innovative faculty who come from the fields of Counselling Psychology, Education, Interior Design, Business, and more!
A special moment was the publication of “Creative Dimensions of Teaching and Learning in the 21st Century” with Mary Blatherwick (UNB). Our curriculum text offers innovative approaches for teaching, learning, and research across disciplines and levels from more than 45 educators. https://brill.com/search?q1=creative+dimensions+of+teaching+and+learning&searchBtn
Contact me at jcummings@yorkvilleu.ca or (506) 328-5151. Let’s continue the conversation!
SOME RESEARCH PROJECTS AND PUBLICATIONS:
http://www.linkedin.com/in/jill-cummings-ph-d-85180124 Cummings, J., Sturm, M., & Avram, A. (2019). Researching the effects of blended learning in Language Instruction for Newcomers to Canada (LINC): A demonstration research project. LearnIt2teach and IRCC: Ottawa, Canada. https://learnit2teach.ca/wpnew/
Cummings, J., & Graham, P. (2019). Community of inquiry framework: Innovations that work in online post secondary education. Creative Connections Conference: Fredericton, N.B.
Cummings, J., Sturm, M., & Avram, A. (October 24, 2019). The effects of blended learning in LINC: A webinar for Tutela and LINC/ESL teachers. https://tutela.ca/
Cummings, J. & Graham, P. (in progress). Communities of inquiry approach in online teaching and learning: A literature review with recommendations for design and delivery of effective online programs.
Cummings, J. (May, 2018). Imaginative education, online teaching, Moodle and me. Creative Academic Magazine. http://www.creativeacademic.uk/
Cummings, J. & Blatherwick, M., Eds. (2017). Creative Dimensions of Teaching and Learning in the 21st Century. Netherlands: Brill Sense Publishers. https://brill.com/search?q1=creative+dimensions+of+teaching+and+learning&searchBtn
Cummings, J. (2008). An Activity theory analysis of three instructors’ knowledge for teaching writing in a pre- university English-for-academic purposes course: Teacher mind as mediated action. Unpublished Ph.D. Thesis. Toronto: University of Toronto/OISE.
PAUL J. GRAHAM
MA (UNB, Philosophy), MLIS (Dalhousie University) University Librarian, Yorkville University
https://www.yorkvilleu.ca/ | pgraham@yorkvilleu.ca
BIOGRAPHY: My professional work began not with librarianship but with sociology, working as a Professional Research Associate directly within the Sociology Department at the University of Saskatchewan. In this role I engaged in a wide range of research projects, including Youth Gambling, Knowledge Transfer, Physician Mentorship, and other health-based research projects.
For Yorkville University, I work as their University Librarian managing a small staff and developing various online support strategies for helping students with research questions and assignments in an asynchronous learning environment. For the future I’m interested in how the Community of Inquiry framework can illuminate the critical role of librarian-Instructor collaboration for course development and implementation.
RESEARCH PROJECTS:
My most recent publication is a 2018 co-authored work titled Food Safety in China: The Structure and Substantive Foci of an Emerging Field of Social Science Research which assesses the degree to which social science papers have addressed Food Safety issues in China.
You can review a full list of papers and works at Academia.edu. https://yorkvilleu.academia.edu/PaulGraham
PHILIP LAMBERT
PhD - Positive Change Through and Innovation
BIOGRAPHY: Philip Lambert is a researcher and practitioner offering consulting services in the areas of:
Creativity and innovation,
Education (strategy and curriculum development),
Strategy and business plan development,
Market validation,
Business development, and
Business startup support/evaluation.
Philip’s breadth of experience and education gives him uniquely diverse perspectives, ideal for facilitating organizational planning sessions. A selection of his accomplishments includes
Launched and managed a highly successful master’s degree in innovation and entrepreneurship,
Cofounder of the largest custom courseware development company in North America,
Responsible for significant growth in two adult education companies
Successfully managed a significant change effort in a 500-person advanced-manufacturing facility,
Oversaw manufacturing improvements leading to a 10% cost deduction in one year in a nuclear fuel bundle manufacturing plant.
His education includes college and university engineering programs, an MBA, and a PhD.
Lambert’s research has led to the discovery and development of simple rules arising from complexity science that can have a profound affect on the creativity and innovation efforts of individuals and organizations, rules which also inform product or service launch initiatives. This research reveals that highly creative individuals and organizations are more dynamic along a number of continuums. Understanding these dynamics, and learning to be flexible along them, opens the door to the necessary dynamic balance organizations require to optimize the present while preparing for the future.
Dr. Thomas Mengel, APF
Professor of Leadership Studies, Renaissance College (RC), University of New Brunswick, Canada
tmengel@unb.ca.
BIOGRAPHY: Thomas is a professional futurist, a writer, and a scholar of leadership studies. He has been facilitating learning around leadership and project management for over 30 years. His degrees are in theology, adult education and psychology, history, and computer science (minor in business administration).
Before joining academia, Thomas has held project management and leadership positions in Europe and North America. Recently, he is particularly interested in the connections between futures studies and leadership education. As an active member of the International
Leadership Association (ILA), the World Future Society (WFS), the World Futures Studies Federation (WFSF), and the Association of Professional Futurists (APF), Thomas tries to imagine and conceptualize what implications learning about the futures might have on learning about and preparing for leadership processes and positions.
At RC, Thomas has included futures perspectives and futures-oriented learning opportunities into his leadership courses. For example, in addition to imagining what leadership in the future might look like, learners engage in questioning their assumptions about the future and in creating personal and professional alternative scenarios.
Jean Rooney
Professional Artist & Visual Art Educator
jean@jeanrooney.art | www.jeanrooney.art
BIOGRAPHY: Jean Rooney is a professional artist and art educator with twenty years experience in the fields of art, design and collaboration. She is currently Studio Head of Advanced Studio Practice, the graduate studies program at the New Brunswick College of Craft and Design. Rooney holds; a Masters in Multimedia (MSC) from Trinity College, Dublin University, Ireland, additionally she is completing a Masters of Education in Critical Studies (MEd) at the University of New Brunswick and, holds a Bachelor of Fine Art (BFA) in Printmaking from The National College of Art and Design, Dublin, Ireland.
She is a graduate of the Catapult Program - business training for artists with ARTSLINK. Her work is held in private collections in Ireland, England and Canada. Her Public commissions include the Delta Hotels, Fredericton and Opportunities New Brunswick, and GNB Public Art Project for Schools. Rooney has been awarded numerous grants from The Arts Board of New Brunswick, The Arts Council of Ireland and The Government of New Brunswick; Departments of Education, Tourism, Heritage and Culture, for a diverse range of highly successful collaborative projects across New Brunswick. Her work is included in the permanent public collection of the Province of New Brunswick.
ARTIST STATEMENT: New Brunswick-based artist Jean Rooney makes artworks that are informed by contemporary iconography, identity and place and demonstrate the complexity of our image rich environment. Through a praxis of play and a love of narrative, Rooney creates pieces that are known for their colour, graphic marks, and layering. The second element of her practice is collaborating with community groups, facilitating the designing and execution of collaborative works. She has led numerous artist-in-residency school partnership projects to produce engaging public artworks.
Seaside Sightseeing, 2017-2018, ceramic mural, 6 feet by 28 feet
Mary Stewart
BIOGRAPHY: Professor Emeritus Mary Stewart taught in the Department of Art at Florida State University from 2006 to 2017. Her work has been shown in over 90 exhibitions nationally and internationally. She received a Southeastern College Art Association Excellence in Teaching Award in 2010, the Foundations in Art: Theory and Education Master Educator award in 2009 and the National Council of Arts Administrators Award of Distinction in 2008.
She is also the author of Launching the Imagination: A Comprehensive Guide to Basic Design, a best-selling design textbook. Professor Stewart is in Fredericton until December, offering various presentations and interviewing exemplars of creativity in any discipline for her new book.
ARTIST STATEMENT: What forces drive change—in nature and in ourselves? What is the rate of change, and how might it vary from person to person or from site to site? How does change in one person or object trigger change in another?
When working representationally, I am interested in possibilities that exist below the surface or in an earlier time. For example, in my Surface Tension series, photographs from north Florida’s blackwater rivers provide both reflective surfaces and and evocative (even threatening) undercurrent. When the work is more abstract, visual layers are built up and then broken apart, as the net of certainty is ripped by the complexities of change. Close-ups are often superimposed on a base layer of recurrent patterns to suggest both the general movement of water and the specific twigs or flowers we observe in greater detail when we walk along the river bank. Taking it further, how do we construct and express knowledge, both of ourselves and of the world around us? What do we see and what do we understand? What do maps tell us that direct observation cannot?
I am most interested in how we construct and express knowledge, both of ourselves and of the world around us. By digitally reconstructing photographic imagery to create new visual structures, I invite viewers to reflect on their existing knowledge and seek new understanding.
Paul Syme
Teacher, Horton High School
Adjunct Professor, Acadia University, Wolfville,NS
www.creativepedagogy.ca | paulsyme@me.com | @symecreative
BIOGRAPHY: Paul Syme resides in Nova Scotia where he is a high school art teacher, an adjunct professor within Acadia University’s School of Education and has recently taught in Cape Breton University’s Department of Education. Paul ignites passion in teachers and youth to develop principles and passions for drive, agency, community, and sustainability. His approach is guided by a creative pedagogy.
Education
Graduate Diploma in Curriculum Studies (2016) Cape Breton University, Sydney, NS
Master of Art in Art Education (2002)
Nova Scotia College of Art and Design, Halifax, NS
Bachelor of Education, Int./Sen. Program, Art Education and History (1995) University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON
Bachelor of Arts, Honours Fine Art (1994) University of Guelph, Guelph, ON
Select Publications and Presentations
Syme, P. (2019). The Ecology of Creative Pedagogy: Setting the Stage for Transformative Learning. CONTACT 2019, St. John, NB.
Syme, P. (2018). Restoring the human element in education — a creative pedagogy perspective. AVISO Winter 2018 (pp. 10-17). Halifax: Nova Scotia Teachers Union.
Syme, P. (2017). Stop Blaming the Cellphone and Other Lessons from a Pedagogical Focus on Creativity. Creative Connections Conference, Atlantic Centre for Creativity.
Syme, P. (2017). Assembly Lines or Assemblages: What the Human Equation Can Teach Us About Creativity and a Modern Education System in the Digital Age. Special Issue of Knowledge Cultures: Learning, technologies, and time in the age of global neoliberal capitalism (pp. 11-31). Knowledge Cultures 5(2) Doi:10.22381/KC5220178
Syme, P. (2017). Time to Learn with Creativity in Mind. In Blatherwick, M & Cummings, J. Creative Dimensions of Teaching and Learning in the 21st Century (pp. 23-35). Toronto: Sense Publications. Doi:10.1007/978-94-6351-047-9_2
Syme, P. (2017). Towards Creatively Composing Transformative Learning Spaces. E- Learn 2017. Academicexperts.org
Syme, P. (2016). Seeking a Learning Ecology to Frame a More Creative Pedagogy In The Digital Age. Emergent Art Education, Next Directions in Canadian Research (pp. 105-113). Victoria: Canadian Society for Education through Art.
Bennett, S & Syme, P. (2014). “Probing the Impact of Computer Integration Through The Laws Of Media.” EdMedia, Tampere, Finland, 2014.
Syme, P. (2013). Creative Inquiry through the Laws of Media. Paper presented at Interconnection. Montreal: Canadian Society for Education through Art, 2013.
Syme, P. (2013). Apparitions After the Machine: What we need to know about schooling in the electronic age, Aviso, Halifax: Nova Scotia Teachers Union. Spring 2013.
Bennett, S & Syme, P. (2008). Creating an Effective Website through the Website for Learning Framework. Aviso, Halifax: Nova Scotia Teachers Union. Spring 2008.
Nova Scotia (2007). Advanced Visual Art 11 & 12 curriculum. (Editor)
Syme P. (2006). AVRSB Fine Arts Certificate. Berwick: Annapolis Valley Regional School Board, 2006.
Syme, P. (2005). Art3: Multimedia Art and Design. Jacksonville: Teaching-Point Press, 2005.
Nova Scotia (2005). Visual Art 11 and Visual Art 12 curriculum. (co-author)
Bennett, S & Syme, P. (2004). Bypassing The Pitfalls Along A Digital Highway: A Ten Step Guide To The Fundamentals Of Web Design, Aviso, Halifax: Nova Scotia Teachers Union, Fall 2004.
Golden Leaf Award from the Canadian Educational Press Association
Syme, P. (2003). Designing an Art & Technology education for New Times, Aviso. Halifax: Nova Scotia Teachers Union.
Syme, P. (2003). Places Manipulating the Soul. Paper presented to Nova Scotia Art Teachers Association, Halifax, NS.
Syme, P. (2002). Challenging Authority: Changing paradigms for art education in Nova Scotia. (MA Thesis) Halifax: Nova Scotia College of Art and Design, 2002.
Syme, P. (2001). The Dividends of Metacognition. Toronto: Adaptive Tutoring Systems, Inc.
Nova Scotia (1998). Design 11 curriculum.
Co-wrote the curriculum outcomes and framework.
Wrote the Design Foundations, Communication Design, and Design of the Built Environment modules.
Dean Verger
BIOGRAPHY: A degree in Business Administration from the University of Western Ontario led Dean Verger to create and run Rasputin’s Folk Café in Ottawa. For 28 years Rasputin’s featured singers, songwriters, poets, authors, storytellers, playwrights, and visual artists from around the world (well, mostly from Canada). Inspired by the talent that surrounded him, Dean slipped into the realm of storytelling. These many decades later, he continues to appear on stage telling stories as varied as Bram Stoker’s Dracula, Herman Melville’s Moby Dick, and biographical family tales centered in Newfoundland and Montreal.
Ever curious, Dean continued his educational journey earning his PhD in Cognitive Psychology. When asked what course he would like to teach, Dean merged his interests in psychology, business, and the arts developing a fourth-year seminar: The Psychology of Creativity. The course brings in guest creatives from business, the arts, and government. The students study creativity through many lenses, including cognitive, mental health, cultural transmission, and the effects of a supportive environment.
Personal Philosophy
Education: Although I have nothing against lecturing at students, after all, I do like to tell stories, I believe in getting my students’ hands dirty to gain a more visceral understanding. I also feel that the students must take responsibility for their own learning. To implement this, the student needs to find meaning in the subject matter and the tasks they are required to complete. My job is to provide them with opportunities to learn, supports to help understanding, mechanisms that help keep them on track, and a respectful classroom experience.
Performances: I love the spoken word; a well-turned phrase, a play of language structures that changes our experience of time. I dive into the research and exploration involved in bringing each new show to life. I enjoy bringing the audience on an adventure, filled with emotion, crises, and new perspectives. My sense of self disappears as I perform the epics, full-bodied tales that allow listeners to set aside the concerns of the day, and immerse themselves in an entire other world, be that the mythic gothic of the vampire, or the glory, or rather, gory days of the whaling industry. I want my audiences to gasp, cry, and laugh. With the art of storytelling, the only tools I have are those spoken words. No visuals, no sound effects, no props. They already exist in the mind of my audience, a full palette of colours, sounds, and experiences.
Jennifer Lee Wiebe
BIOGRAPHY: Jennifer Lee Wiebe received her MFA in Painting and Drawing from the University of Wisconsin- Madison, her MEd in Curriculum Studies with a master’s project on Creativity, and her BA (Magna Cum Laude) in English and American Literature from Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Maine.
She is the graduate of the Great Teachers Program, the Instructor Development Program, and a presenter for Creative Connexions Conference (2018) at the University of New Brunswick. Her work is held in private collections in the U.S. and Canada as well the permanent collection of the New Brunswick Arts Bank. Her piece entitled “Dancers” (2015) is currently traveling as part of the Art Bank’s VanGo educational outreach program.
Jennifer is a Canadian-based professional visual artist and educator with twenty years of experience in the field of creativity. While trained in the conventional scales of design, drawing, colour and painting, her unique approach to art-making brings together equal measures of social commentary, critical analysis as well as skill-based aspects of the creative process. Jennifer is currently the Studio Head of Drawing at the New Brunswick College of Craft and Design, has taught in the Departments of Education and Multi Media Studies at the University of New Brunswick, Canada.
