Center for Applied Imagination

10/14/2026

Looking to put your creative leadership skills to work in Western New York?

We’re sharing an opportunity with our Creativity and Change Leadership community: Buffalo Together, Inc. is seeking a Director of Community Investment & Impact.

The role will lead community investment initiatives, grantmaking, partnerships, and impact measurement, with a particular commitment to Buffalo’s East Side. It calls for a leader who brings creativity to complex challenges and values community participation in shaping decisions.

Candidates should bring at least seven years of relevant experience in fields such as nonprofit leadership, philanthropy, or community development.

Salary: $85,000–$105,000 annually, plus benefits
Application deadline: October 26, 2026

To apply, send a resume and cover letter to [email protected].

Know someone who might be a good fit? Please share this opportunity!

10/12/2026

Take Your Creativity Further!

Here at the Center for Applied Imagination, we offer three microcredentials with remote options to help turn your interest in creativity into practice:

• Applied Creative Thinking and Problem Solving
• Creative Education: Innovative Learning, Thinking, and Problem Solving
• Teaching for Creativity & Innovation

Build practical skills for your work or classroom through graduate coursework that can also count toward our certificate and master’s programs in Creativity and Change Leadership.

Know someone who might be interested? Share with a colleague, educator, or friend!

Explore our microcredentials:

Take Your Creativity Further Try a microcredential before committing to a degree program. Our specialized microcredentials differ from traditional degree and certificate programs in that they can be completed in much shorter time spans! Applied Creative Thinking and Problem Solving Business, educati...

10/09/2026

The work of our creative community reaches well beyond campus.

At our June gathering, we celebrated The Palgrave Handbook of Applied Creativity in Global Higher Education. As we revisit photographs from the evening, we’re reminding our alumni, students, and colleagues that the book is available to explore.

Led by editor Gerard J. Puccio, alongside Amanda Lohiser, Camille A. McKayle, and Frederik Hertel, the handbook examines how colleges and universities around the world teach and apply creativity.

Our Buffalo State program is featured in a chapter co-authored by Molly Holinger, Susan Keller-Mathers, and Gerard J. Puccio: “Igniting Creativity Around the World: Academic Programs and Initiatives at the Center for Applied Imagination.”

With contributions from our alumni and colleagues, the book offers both a connection to our community and an opportunity to learn from creativity educators around the world.

Congratulations and thank you to the editors and contributors for sharing this work.

[Explore the handbook and chapter listings](https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-031-89816-7)

10/05/2026

It was a pleasure to welcome representatives from the American Arbitration Association (AAA) to Buffalo State University this past week!

Their visit included a campus tour and time in the Alex F. Osborn Brainstorming Room in Butler Library, where we shared the work of the Center for Applied Imagination and explored the role creative thinking can play in professional practice.

We’re always glad to introduce visitors to Buffalo State’s creativity resources and hear how these ideas connect with their own work.

Thank you to our AAA guests for joining us and bringing their perspectives to the conversation!

09/30/2026

We glow here at the Center for Applied Imagination. ✨

Our June dedication of the Dr. Sidney and Beatrice Parnes Creativity Collection brought us together to celebrate Sid and Bea’s legacy and the many contributors who helped shape the creativity movement.

Each person brings a spark. Together, we build on their work and bring creative thinking to the challenges of an ever-changing world.

Visit Buffalo State’s E. H. Butler Library to explore this history, brought to life through a welcoming mural and curated archival display created by graduates Saira Siddiqui and Mikhaila Ackerbauer.

Thank you to our alumni, library colleagues, and everyone who helped make this space possible. Stay tuned as we share more about the people and contributions behind it.

Your divine spark. Let it ignite the world around you.

Explore the Parnes Collection:
https://creativity.buffalostate.edu/creative-collection

09/24/2026

A space we dreamed up, for you.

Whiteboard tables ready for your ideas. Technology that moves with you. Room to imagine what’s possible, together.

The Alex F. Osborn Brainstorming Room in Buffalo State’s E. H. Butler Library brings students, faculty, staff, and community partners together to explore questions, build on one another’s thinking, and develop solutions.

Whether you’re planning a creative problem-solving workshop or helping your team approach a challenge from a new perspective, this space is designed to support your work.

What could your team imagine here?

In keeping with donor wishes, the room is reserved exclusively for meetings and activities aligned with its mission and vision.

For availability and scheduling guidelines, contact Events Management:
716-878-6114 | [email protected]

[Explore the Brainstorming Room](https://creativity.buffalostate.edu/innovation-suite-butler-library)

09/21/2026

Our creative community grows stronger when we make time to learn from one another.

At our June gathering, Sarah Thurber’s keynote and a panel facilitated by Dr. Gerard Puccio brought together perspectives on artificial intelligence, student engagement, and the ways we cultivate creativity in our own lives.

Drs. Camille McKayle, Margaret Mangion, and Michael Lehman helped us explore questions that remain relevant as we begin another academic year: How is AI changing applied creativity? How can we engage students in creative thinking? What does our own creative practice look like?

These photographs remind us of the value of gathering around shared questions while bringing different experiences to the conversation.

Thank you to everyone who contributed their ideas and curiosity. What question or insight from the evening has stayed with you?

09/18/2026

We’re pleased to celebrate the next chapter of our partnership with Universidad Autónoma de Bucaramanga (UNAB).

Buffalo State and UNAB have renewed their Memorandum of Understanding, building on nearly a decade of collaboration in creativity education.

The Center for Applied Imagination welcomed UNAB Rector Juan Camilo Montoya and Buffalo State alumnus César Guerrero, ’16, in July to discuss opportunities for joint research, faculty and student engagement, microcredentials, and international initiatives.

We value the relationships behind this partnership and the opportunity to learn from one another as we advance creativity education together.

Thank you to our colleagues at UNAB and Buffalo State for their continued commitment to this work.

[Read the full story](https://suny.buffalostate.edu/news/buffalo-state-and-unab-renew-mou-highlight-importance-creativity-education)

09/16/2026

Over a decade in the making, and now our first doctoral class is here.

On Friday, September 4, the Center for Applied Imagination welcomed its inaugural doctoral cohort to their first class in the Doctor of Professional Studies in Creativity and Change Leadership, Buffalo State University’s first-ever doctoral program. 🎉

This milestone builds on decades of work advancing creativity education, from early research demonstrating that creativity can be taught to the world’s first master’s degree in creativity. Our doctoral students now become part of that continuing history.

To our inaugural cohort: welcome. You bring experiences, questions, and aspirations that will help shape this program and our community. We’re thrilled to learn alongside you as you deepen your practice, develop your research, and apply creative thinking to meaningful challenges in your organizations and communities.

Thank you to the faculty, staff, university colleagues, and supporters whose sustained commitment made this beginning possible.

We look forward to seeing our students soar and the contributions they will make.

Learn more about this milestone for Buffalo State:https://suny.buffalostate.edu/news/dps-creativity-and-change-leadership-approved-buffalo-state-universitys-first-doctoral-program

09/11/2026

The Center for Applied Imagination at Buffalo State congratulates our colleague and partner César Darío Guerrero on his appointment as Colombia’s Vice Minister of Talent and Social Appropriation of Knowledge in the Ministry of Science, Technology, and Innovation.

In this role, César will lead national strategies supporting scientific talent, research, and creative mindsets across Colombia. We are delighted to see him bring his commitment to creativity and education to this work.

Congratulations, César, from your friends and colleagues at the Center for Applied Imagination!

Read more about César’s appointment here:
https://comunicaciones.uis.edu.co/uis-graduate-cesar-dario-guerrero-santander-appointed-vice-minister-of-talent-and-social-appropriation-of-knowledge/