Robert Kelly Ph.D. Associate Professor
University of Calgary
Educator and artist Robert Kelly is an associate professor in the Faculty of Arts and an adjunct associate professor in the Faculty of Education at the University of Calgary in Alberta, Canada.
His research is focused on developing a comprehensive approach to developing an educational culture of creativity that ranges from examining educational practice from around the globe to transforming curriculum design and teacher education and practice. His recent book Creative Expression, Creative Education: Creativity as a Primary Rationale for Education and his new volumes Educating for Creativity (in press) and Creative Journey: Developing Personal and Professional Creativity (June, 2013) span the breadth of his research focused on transforming educational culture. He is also associate editor for two research volumes from the International Journal of Creative Arts in Interdisciplinary Practice entitled Creative Arts in Interdisciplinary Practice Inquiries for Hope and Change (2010) and Creative Arts in Research for Community and Cultural Change (2011).
Robert has pioneered new programs and courses in teacher education focused on creativity in educational practice. These programs debut across western Canada in the summer of 2012 in the new Interdisciplinary Masters of Education program at the University of Calgary, the Summer Institute of Creativity in Educational Practice at the University of Manitoba and the Summer Institute in Education: Creativity at the University of British Columbia – Okanagan. These programs engage educators in first hand creative development. These exciting, new initiatives establish a clear vocabulary and understanding of creative development strands that lead to creative maturity through writing creatively, creating across the discipline spectrum, design thinking and designing educational spaces for creativity in educational practice.
As artist, his conceptual Minutia installation, currently working its way across Canada, consists of eleven books of concrete poetry on lecterns, based on the sentence fragment “the first time I heard the sound of a page turning.” His other bodies of work include his intensely painted Concept of Raven series and his latest outdoor installation, The White Noise Project.
Robert has received several awards for teaching excellence and is featured on the University of Calgary’s Great Teachers website. He has done numerous keynote presentations, lectures and workshops on the various dimensions of the concept of creativity across Canada and internationally.
Website: Contact:
www.robertkelly.ca rkelly@ucalgary.ca
