Advanced studies certificate program in creativity, imagination, and leadership

A certificate program addressing the creative renewal and fulfillment of professionals in every field and sector of organizational life.

The Advanced Studies in Creativity, Imagination, and Leadership offers studies to credentialed professionals who want to more fully realize their personal creative potential and learn how to lead others in more imaginative ways. Two required courses examine the theory and practice of creative imagination and its integration with personal experience and leadership. Program participants will be free to select courses from throughout the university, design individualized programs of study, establish relationships with Lesley's diverse faculty, and gain a deeper personal understanding of creative transformation. The program is based upon the belief that direct personal experience with the creative process enables leaders to more effectively foster the creative expression of individuals and communities.

Program of Study

Summer courses are available during the 2007 Summer session.

Core Faculty/Coordinators

Shaun McNiff, PhD
University Professor
Shaun McNiff is the University Professor at Lesley University where he has established a new program in Advanced Graduate Studies in Creativity, Imagination, and Leadership. An internationally recognized figure in the area of creativity development, Dr. McNiff is the author of many acclaimed books, including Trust the Process: An Artist's Guide to Letting Go; Art as Medicine, Art-Based Research; and the recently released Creating with Others: The Practice of Imagination in Life, Art and the Workplace. The founder of Lesley's arts in therapy and education programs in the early 1970's, he has served in various senior-level leadership positions in which he continues to explore the integration of creativity in all forms of group and community life.

Vivien Marcow Speiser, PhD
Professor, Director of International and Collaborative Programs
Vivien Marcow Speiser has directed and taught in programs across the United States and internationally and has used the arts as a way of communicating across borders and across cultures. She believes in the power of the arts to create the conditions for personal and social change and transformation. Her interests and expertise lie in the area of cross-cultural conflict resolution throught he arts and she has worked extensively with groups in the Middle East and in South Africa. In addition, she is an expert in the creation and performance of rites of passage rituals and in the use of dance and performance in expressive therapy practice.

Creativity and Leadership Course Descriptions

GCREA 6050
Creativity and Leadership
3 credits
This course integrates innovative approaches to creativity and leadership for any practitioners in any organizational or educational setting. The course views these two powerful modes of human activity as exerting intrinsic influence upon one another that, when coordinated, amplify one another's effects. Course activities challenge perceptions and build skills in both arenas, and students will ultimately establish their own theoretical and practical models of creative leadership that they can use in any setting.

GCREA 6051
Creative Conflict Transformation
3 credits
This course will explore creative ways to address issues of personal identity, differences and conflict through the use of the arts. The course will explore intrapersonal, interpersonal, socio-cultural, institutional and spiritual dimensions of conflict through artistic engagement. Students will have an opportunity to creatively explore personal responses to conflict and to learn arts based approaches to working with difference.

GCREA 6052
Spiritual Dimensions of Leadership
3 credits
An examination of how spiritual factors influence effective leadership and foster community life. Contemporary theoretical perspectives on leadership and spirituality are explored, as well as prominent political figures that have used a spiritual approach to leadership. Experiential arts exercises are used to deepen understanding and develop practical leadership and community building skills.

Contact Information

For further information, please contact Laura Gerhard, Coordinator of International and Collaborative Programs, at (617) 349-8434 or lgerhard@lesley.edu.

Application for Admission

Print out an application form [pdf]. Please complete the application and mail or fax it to the Office of Admissions for Graduate and Adult Baccalaureate Programs.

The application form is in PDF format. If you do not have Adobe Acrobat Reader installed, you can download and install it for free from Adobe's web site.