Faculty Creativity Roundtable
The Creativity Roundtable is a dynamic faculty cohort group who contribute to the growing interconnected landscape of creative engagement, research and practice on all Wake Forest University campuses. These collaborators are actively shaping a Sustainable Program for Creativity and Innovation and the national symposium, “Creativity: Worlds in the Making” slated for March 18-20, 2009. The RoundTable was launched by Lynn Book to develop a community of interdisciplinary discourse and exchange about creativity – practices, approaches and potentials. Many of the diverse faculty participants were featured guests at the annual forum, Cook It UP!, with more joining as the Program for Creativity and Innovation has continued to grow in scope and outreach.
These faculty collaborators are involved in a number of ways with the Program. They include: developing and teaching new courses with creativity, innovation and/or entrepreneurship themes, collaboration on planning for the Creativity Symposium from leading panels to facilitating departmental and collegial interest. Many are actively involved with developing other Program initiatives for 2008-09 from faculty research intensives to organizing smaller guest/workshop events as lead-in activities for the Symposium.
Reynolda Campus:
Lynn Book, Director of the Program for Creativity and Innovation with the Office of Entrepreneurship and Liberal Arts and Associate Professor with the Department of Theatre and Dance, is an interdisciplinary artist who creates performance art works and new music/text compositions that explores self in society through embodiment, critique and radical imagination.
Sharon M. Andrews, Associate Professor of Directing/Acting for the Department of Theatre, is a founding member of the Virtual Theatre Project, an international theatre company focused on collaborating with artists around the world to give voice and venue to new works.
Susan Fahrbach, Reynolds Professor of Neuroscience in Biology, is a leading researcher in developmental neuroscience, neuroanatomy, and social insects.
Michele Gillespie, Associate Provost for Academic Initiatives, Kahle Associate Professor, History. Her research interest is constructions of gender, race, class and region in the American South across the long 19th century, 1790-1920.
Dilip Kondepudi, Thurman D. Kitchin Professor, Chemistry. His general theory of spontaneous chiral symmetry is recognized within the field. Dr. Kondepudi was trained as a physicist and as a theoretician.
Herman Rapaport, Reynolds Professor, English, is a writer with research specialties in critical theory and aesthetics. Dr. Rapaport is currently working on a publication regarding language poetry and its American and British predecessors.
Wanda Balzano, Director, Women’s and Gender Studies. Dr. Balzano’s research focuses on feminist critical theory, gender and religion in Irish literature and film and representations of women in comparative literature.
David Finn, Professor, Art. His teaching and artistic practice centers around Public Art and issues and processes of creativity.
Jennifer Gentry, Full Time Lecturer, Art, is a painter and her company Gentry Visualization, founded in 2002, is an illustration and design firm specializing in the visual presentation of medical, scientific, and technical subjects.
Mary Gerardy, Vice President, Office of Student Life travels annually with students to Vietnam for a three-week service trip and has a special interest and background in creativity.
Cecilia Solano, Associate Dean of the Graduate School, Associate Professor, Psychology. Her research interests have included the dynamics of social interaction and attitudes toward the gifted child.
Jacqui Carrasco, Associate Professor, Music, is a violinist who performs a large and adventurous repertoire that includes classical and contemporary music, jazz improvisation and Argentine tango music.
David Phillips, Director, East Asian Languages and Cultural Studies, is currently working on a book project on the architect Kenzo Tange and his utopian plans for the city of Tokyo.
Stan Mandel, Executive Profess and Director, Angell Center Babcock MBA School. Dr. Mandel is an educator, frequent speaker, and consultant on issues that influence success within family businesses, entrepreneurial ventures, and university based entrepreneurship programs.
Christina Tsoules Soriano, Assistant Professor, Theatre and Dance, is a choreographer and dancer who is actively touring solo and group works in a post-modern vein. Her current scholarship includes interdisciplinary collaborations with a mathematician.
Bowman Gray Campus:
Nancy M P King, Director for the Program for Bioethics, Health and Society, Professor, Department of Social Sciences and Health Policy. Her current scholarship interests include ethical questions in sports medicine as well as improvisation and other creative approaches to generating individual and community knowledge.
Dwayne Godwin, Neuroscience, His clinical interests include vision, alcoholism, epilepsy, Parkinson’s disease, adult stem cells. Dr. Godwin recently developed and co-taught a new Biomimetics graduate level course with William Connor, Professor of Biology.
Babcock, Charlotte Campus:
Dan Fogel, Associate Dean for Working Professional Programs, Executive Professor of Strategy. Dr. Fogel specializes in strategic management, especially innovation processes in firms, including those located in emerging and transition economies and in emerging industries.
