CREATIVE THINKERS GATHER AT UNIVERSITY FOR WEEKLONG CONFERENCE

Creative thinking may be hard to define, but Dr. Corliss McCallister is betting there will be plenty of it at Southeast Missouri State University during the next week.

That's because American Creativity Association directors are holding their fall conference here.

McCallister, who frequently teaches at Southeast, is on the ACA's board of directors.

She currently teaches behavioral science as an adjunct faculty member at Southern Illinois University-Carbondale. She has a doctorate in educational psychology.

McCallister has taught a number of subjects from public speaking to visual arts in various school settings. She began her career in 1973 as an elementary school teacher.

McCallister recognizes she has varied interests. "I am kind of a renaissance woman in that respect," she said.

The ACA is a non-profit organization that was founded in 1990 in St. Louis. Its goal is to promote personal and professional creativity.

The association has about 400 members in a variety of occupations. Its members include artists, art therapists, research scientists, lawyers, doctors and representatives from corporate America.

Eleven of its 15 board members will attend the weeklong conference, which started Thursday.

The conference is billed as "A Meeting of the Minds: Creativity, Culture & Collaboration."

"We like to look at problems and brainstorm about how things might work in a new way," McCallister said.

Through presentations, workshops and seminars, the board will share ideas about innovative thinking and problem-solving with students, faculty and community leaders. In all, there will be some 22 sessions.

If McCallister has her way, the conference will bombard students with messages about the power of innovative thinking.

"We plan to write creativity quotations in chalk all over the sidewalks," she said.

The world is changing so quickly that people have to come up with new solutions. She said, "We have to make up more stuff as we go along."

McCallister described ACA board members as original thinkers.

Those who will attend the conference include several consultants on creative thinking, a trial lawyer from Minneapolis, a research scientist, a marketing manager for a medical company and college educators who have dealt with gifted students.

Area hospitals and the university's College of Health and Human Services will sponsor a seminar on "Creative Leadership in an Integrating Health Care Environment" from 1 to 4 p.m. Monday in the University Center Ballroom.

Some 100 area residents have been invited to an 11:30 a.m. luncheon Monday in the Missouriana Room of the University Center. ACA executive director Joyce Juntune will speak on "Creating Change, Creating Success."

McCallister said she and five others chose the 100 people as creative leaders. The other five were Art Wallhausen, assistant to the president at Southeast; Jim Biundo, assistant vice president of university relations; Anne Bradshaw, former Southeast regent; Mike Shain, KFVS-TV anchorman; and Shirley Ramsey of the Community Caring Council.