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Creativity in the University

Phi Beta Kappa to sponsor open discussion

Art historian Richard Powell believes universities are creative places. But when he tries to define what that means, he comes to a stop. "The wonder of creativity is unexpected," Powell says. "That is the fun of creativity — it's a total surprise as to what you might get."

So when Powell sits down Sept. 18 with Duke President Richard H. Brodhead and other colleagues for a panel called "Creativity in the University," he expects the discussion to go in surprising directions.

The panel, sponsored by the Duke chapter of Phi Beta Kappa, will include Powell, Brodhead, Pratt School Dean Kristina Johnson, mathematics professor Robert Bryant and several graduate and undergraduate students.

creativity
President Brodhead will join Duke faculty members and others for a Phi Beta Kappa-sponsored discussion on "Creativity in the University" on Sept. 18.

Phi Beta Kappa chapter president Seymour Mauskopf says each participant will speak for about five minutes about creativity and the university's role in cultivating it, followed by a question-and-answer session.

It's the second year the organization has sponsored a public "armchair discussion." Last year, more than 200 people came to see Brodhead, Chancellor for Health Affairs Victor Dzau and others discuss the theme of C.P. Snow's The Two Cultures and the differences between the sciences and humanities.

Mauskopf says he wants Phi Beta Kappa to "make an intellectual difference on campus." He hopes the discussion will become an annual event.

"I think the organization is wonderfully honorific, but it's somewhat marginalized," says Mauskopf, a professor of history. He added he wants to change that by providing a provocative subject for discussion that involves the whole community.

Most important, Mausfkopf says, this kind of activity gives students what he calls "an intellectual stake" in the university.

"It was most extraordinary to see the entire academic community empowered" at last year's event, he says. "The students were as interesting as the officers and professor, and they weren't the slightest bit abashed or inhibited."