Dear Incoming or Prospective CCT Student,
Welcome to the Critical and Creative Thinking Program, a unique and innovative inter-disciplinary graduate program offered only at UMass Boston [see homepage for overview of the program]. The CCT Handbook provides a guide to joining and moving through the Program. CCT also produces a flyer in advance of each semester to inform you about the specific course offerings ahead. The most current information about CCT activities and updates on courses are available the CCT website (www.cct.umb.edu) and through biweekly email news postings. Those interested in CCT are encouraged to email the program office (cct@umb.edu) to join the distribution list and keep us informed of any changes in your email address.
As an interdisciplinary, cross-college program CCT has to be critical and creative in the way it secures its resources and uses them, especially in times of state budgets cuts and shifting institutional priorities. Given the reduction in full-time program faculty over the last several years, we have worked to build more "horizontal" exchanges and support among students and alums in the larger CCT community. In this spirit we have over the last few years initiated:
- "CCT in Practice" evening sessions and open house days (presentations covering the range of ways people put critical and creative thinking into practice -- faculty present on their work, students do practice run-throughs of lessons and workshop sessions for their synthesis projects, we have music and performances from the talented pool of CCT students, and alums return to speak about how their current work builds on their CCT experience )
- a Thinktank for Teachers of Critical Thinking and Thinking for Change Fieldbook, and
- a Community Directory (designed to foster on-going support, communication, and the sharing of resources among current and former students, and others who have been associated with the Program).
We also want the time students spend consulting with faculty to focus as much as possible on issues of personal, professional, and intellectual development, so we have designed the web-based handbook to enable students to handle most bureaucratic matters on their own. (Students recently admitted should take note of the guidelines about advising.)
We would also value help getting CCT's website (http://www.cct.umb.edu) linked in appropriate places and any good old word of mouth about CCT would be appreciated. The graduate school has set CCT a target of 21-25 new students per year, which requires us to reach out and find people who might not know about us.
Finally, we view the CCT program as works-in-progress, which means that we encourage members of the CCT community to find opportunities to affirm what is working well and to suggest directions for further development. It helps our spirits to know that others are thinking about how the Program can move ahead.
Sincerely,
Peter Taylor, Faculty Advisor
updated:7-14-02