Creative Campus

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This fall, New College, the University of Alabama’s interdisciplinary studies department and one of the oldest programs of its nature in the country, was finally given the opportunity to host the annual Association of Integrative Studies Conference. AIS has been the principle advocate of interdisciplinary education for the past thirty-one years, and the conference theme, “Creativity and Play Across the Disciplines,” promised a weekend of diverse subject matters, intriguing workshops, and unorthodox (but perfectly appropriate) keynote speakers.

The first of these speakers, Dr. Timothy K. Eatman, a faculty member at Syracuse University and founder of Imagining America, spoke on his work involving revolutionizing the teacher tenure system in universities. Eatman focused on tenure and integrative educational application, honing in on the idea that steps were being taken to protect and motivate both teachers and students in the movement for interdisciplinary approaches to learning. As he so boldly put it, the purely research oriented, lecture driven, lackluster philosophy of so many collegiate both sucks students dry of creativity and makes the act of integrating creativity and learning a tall task. According to Eatman’s presentation, Imagining America’s work and research in the area of the tenure system would encourage teachers to worry more about integrative forms of learning. Subsequently, job security, college education related politics, and the like, would take care of themselves. 

The next day, Dr. Hank Lazer, Alexis Clark, and three Creative Campus Interns, Caleb Sexton, Ryan Davis, Natasha Perrine, and Kinsey Russell, presented in a panel discussion. While the panel focused on the facilitation of both creative work and creative play in learning environments, the interns had ample opportunity to share their interdisciplinary experiences with those in attendance. Additionally, the panel was split with a duo of Auburn professors, including Associate Professor of Art Barb Bondy, who has done a number of projects related to graphics and its musical interpretations. While the panel presentation and following discussion served to make those in attendance aware of the activities of Creative Campus and leave a strong and positive impression, a more direct result was the establishing of a relationship with certain art faculty at Auburn University.

That afternoon saw Dr. Joe Trimmer take the concept of creativity and play to a different dimension with his presentation. Trimmer heads Ball State’s Virginia Ball Institute for Creative Inquiry, a program that draws students of various disciplines together and gives them fifteen credit hours to collaborate in the completion of an interdisciplinary and community enriching project. Over the course of an hour, Dr. Trimmer showcased and explained the various projects that his students has completed over the past years, all of which are award winning. These included a study of rape victims, work in anthropology, video game development for school children, and much more. 

Overall, the AIS conference was loaded with the exchange of ideas, excitement about the future, and learning about positive changes in education around the country. It served as an opportunity for networking and connecting not just for Creative Campus, but for the University of Alabama as a whole.