Creativity
Origin
The National Chengchi University Center for Creativity and Innovation Studies (CCIS) was established in August of 2003 as a university-level research center. From an academic base, CCIS drives the study of innovation and creativity through research, promotion, and exchange, with the goal of becoming a platform for innovation across industry, government, and academia. CCIS strives to create comprehensive theoretical models and systemic narratives. On a solid research foundation, CCIS uses innovative thinking to realize goals of interdisciplinary integration and diverse development, while further co-creating valuable resources and cultivating creative talent, breaking new ground in practice, and moving from thought to practical action to solve social problems.
Chair Professor
Dr. Wu Jing-Jyi（吳靜吉）obtained his Ph.D. in educational psychology from the University of Minnesota in 1967 and taught in U.S. universities before returning to Taiwan to eventually chair the NCCU Department of Psychology at National Chengchi University (NCCU). He is currently the Endowed Chair in Creativity at NCCU’s Center for Creativity and Innovation Studies, Emeritus Professor in the NCCU Department of Education, Honorary Chair Professor of National Sun Yat-sen University, and a board member of National Performing Arts Center.
From 1964-1967, as a research assistant to Dr. E. Paul Torrance during the development of his early Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking (TTCT), Dr. Wu’s own Chinese language test, the New Test of Creative Thinking, utilized a Chinese cultural context and the features of Chinese language, and is one of the most widely used creativity tests in research in the Chinese literature. For his contributions to academia, he was awarded the Wooden Bell Award from the Chinese Psychological and Educational Testing Association in 1990. In 2014, he was selected as a University of Minnesota Distinguished Chinese Alumni.
Author/co-author and editor/co-editor of 22 books and handbooks, including four bestsellers, numerous published journal papers, and a wealth of magazine and newspaper articles, much of his work has focused on creativity, innovation, and entrepreneurship. His most recent three co-authored books are concerned with Korean creative industries, Korean popular music, and mentoring and social innovation in Taiwan, while a volume gathering his essays on various facets of creativity, called Alluring Creativity, is hot off the presses. In the public sector, Dr. Wu has served as a national policy adviser to two former Taiwanese presidents and is currently serving in this capacity for a third. Recently elected Chairman of the Consultative Committee of the General Association of Chinese Culture（中華文化總會）, he has been a board chairman of the National Chiang Kai-Shek Cultural Center, president of the Chinese Theater Association, and a member of Council for Cultural Affairs and Mainland Affairs Council.
Dr. Wu was once a theater artist of La MaMa Theatre in New York, and was co-founder and artistic director of Taiwan’s influential Lanling Theatre Workshop. He is one of the initiating members of the Paper Windmill Theatre’s island-wide 319/368 townships “First Mile, Kid’s Smile” cultural movement. In 2009, Dr. Wu received the Wen-Ying Award from the President of Taiwan, R.O.C and the National Cultural Association for his contributions to the arts.
Dr. Wu served as executive director for the Fulbright Foundation for 32 years. In 2009, he received a Certificate of Appreciation from the U.S. State Department for “a distinguished record of achievement that is unsurpassed in promoting the Fulbright ideal of mutual understanding among peoples and nations.” In 2014, Dr. Wu was selected as a University of Minnesota distinguished Chinese alumni.