Fast Facts

A quick overview of the facts and figures:

Overall Quality and Reputation of Faculty

Research, Scholarship, and Creative Activity

  • Creative Studies faculty have published 76 refereed articles, 59 books, 70 chapters and 225 various other publications since 1967.
  • Between 1998 and 2003 Creative Studies faculty published 34 scholarly works: 6 refereed journal articles, 5 books, 12 chapters, and 11 various other scholarly works.
  • Faculty publications, including Alex Osborn the original developer of Creative Problem Solving, have generated 1,613 citations in the social and behavior science literature.
  • Since 1998, the Creative Studies faculty has delivered 81 conference presentations: 42 international conferences, 23 national conferences, and 16 state/local conferences.
  • Through its Alex F. Osborn Visiting Professorships program, the department has established formal relationships with 20 creativity scholars from eight different countries.
  • Since 1999, the Creative Studies has been visited by more than 20 visiting scholars and professionals from 16 different countries.

Teaching

  • The average rating for all graduate courses in seven of eight semesters since 1998-99 exceeded 4.40 on a 5-point scale (5 being excellent).
  • Aggregate instructor evaluations for the same period exceeded 4.5 in seven of eight semesters for a 5-point scale.
  • Average evaluation scores for undergraduate course by semester since 1998-99 exceeded 4.00 on a 5-point scale (5 being excellent).
  • Aggregate instructor evaluations for the same period exceeded 4.40 for a 5-point scale.
  • A revised graduate curriculum was approved in spring 2003. Six courses were revised at that time.

Service

  • Since 1998, Creative Studies faculty have been involved in more than 50 campus service activities (e.g., committees, delivering guest lectures, acting as advisors for student groups, etc).
  • Creative Studies faculty facilitated more than 40 campus meetings since 1998.
  • Creative Studies faculty delivered a variety of services to more than 205 different organizations between 1998 and 2003.

Student Scholarship, Research, and Creative Activity

  • A total of 11 scholarly publications germinated from master's projects and theses: three books, four journal refereed articles, and four chapters.
  • Alumni published more than 90 works since 1998.
  • Eight Creative Studies graduate students received scholarships to present their work at an international creativity conference, the Creative Problem Solving Institute.
  • Eight alumni have gone on to earn a doctoral degree, and 11 more are in progress.

Positive Extramural Impact

  • As part of their course work, graduate students in the home Creative Studies program delivered services to more than 20 local organizations over the last several years.
  • Students in the Creative Studies graduate program for distance students provided service to more than 20 organizations worldwide over the last two years.
  • Alumni delivered presentations to more than 15,000 people in 200 organizations between 1998 and 2003.
  • Alumni facilitated meetings for more than 250 organizations and groups worldwide between 1998 and 2003. These facilitated sessions involved more than 6,000 people.

Program Demand

  • In 1996 the Creative Studies graduate program enrolled less than 20 majors, in the fall of 2003 there were more than 80 active majors and premajors in the program.
  • In the summer of 2001 the CRS Department initiated a graduate program for distance students. Since that time, the department has enrolled three cohorts of students that totaled more than 40 individuals.
  • In the fall of 2003, Creative Studies had active majors from 11 different states and 14 different countries.

Uniqueness

  • Buffalo State is the only institution of higher education in the world that offers a master of science degree in creativity studies.
  • Buffalo State has one of the largest collections of books on creativity and related topics in the world. The Creative Studies Collection in E. H. Butler Library contains more than 3,000 volumes.
  • The creativity literature database, which is available online, holds more than 13,000 annotated records on creativity and creativity-related literature, as well as other resources (e.g., creativity measures, videos).

Diversity

  • Three of the five-full time faculty are women.
  • All graduate courses for home-program students are scheduled in the evening and on weekends.
  • Twenty percent of Creative Studies alumni originated from other states and countries.