The Applied Creativity Research Group began as a collaborative effort between the Noel Studio director and the co-directors of the Teaching & Learning Center at Eastern Kentucky University. These two areas comprise the primary student-facing and faculty-facing initiatives at EKU. The goal of the research group is to explore topics of creative thinking at EKU in an attempt to:

• Provide learning spaces and environments that facilitate creativity in students from across the curriculum
• Connect domain-general and domain-specific creativity on campus
• Develop opportunities for students to explore creativity in the design of highly effective communication products
• Design assessment, research, and pedagogical resources that improve student learning, recruitment, and retention.

The group produces published research and scholarly texts and founded the book series in Applied Creative Thinking with New Forums Press, which includes the following:

• Transforming Your Students into Deep Learners (New Forums, 2016)
• Introduction to Applied Creative Thinking (New Forums, 2012)
• Teaching Applied Creative Thinking (New Forums, 2013).

The group is also interested in developing creativity initiatives, programming, and workshops on campus. Please contact Dr. Russell Carpenter, Program Director, for creativity programming requests.