Theme: Signal vs Noise-Origins

Our first of several salon events for 2017 is "Origins" - an exploration of how ideas and behaviours start, how we can boost them through creativity and innovation, and how we can use powerful words to explain them.

Join us at W21C, the Ward of the 21st Century, which exemplifies how we can originate world-class ideas. As with any salon, the focus is on intimate, lively discussion of the talks and connecting with others in our local community of ideas.

Ward of the 21st Century (w21c)
W21C Research and Innovation Centre GD01 TRW Building
3280 Hospital Drive
Calgary, Alberta, T2N 4Z6
Canada

Dr. James Cross

Appointed in October 2016 as the inaugural director of the College of Discovery, Creativity and Innovation (CDCI) at the University of Calgary, Dr. Cross plays a key leadership role in guiding the development of transformative CDCI learning experiences where students from diverse programs collaborate in exploring solutions to pressing and complex world issues. The first inquiry-based, interdisciplinary Global Challenges course in the program was launched in January, 2017 and involves students in investigating the challenge of “Feeding Nine Billion People” under the guidance of faculty mentors. With a distinguished cross-disciplinary career, Dr. Cross has a deep appreciation for how discovery, creativity and innovation form a complex synergy informed by scientific, social, historical, artistic, philosophical, economic and spiritual perspectives. His approaches to teaching and research demonstrate his commitment to cultivating interdisciplinary teams who value different ways of thinking. “There are important challenges both locally and globally that can become opportunities if we inspire and enable our youth, the next generation of innovators, and we empower the diverse perspectives of the university to work with our communities and entrepreneurs to understand the barriers to innovation.”

Juleta Severson Baker

Juleta’s love of the spoken word began with Speech and Drama lessons at the Mount Royal College Conservatory in Calgary when she was a child. She followed her enthusiasm into formal studies and holds an AMRC in Speech Arts and Drama, an Honours Degree in Drama from the U. of A. and a B. Ed. from the U. of C. She has been teaching public speaking, debate, and the art of performing poetry and drama for more than 20 years, and is currently an instructor at the Mount Royal University Conservatory. Her book of poetry, Incarnate (Frontenac House, 2013), was shortlisted for both the W. O. Mitchell City of Calgary Book Prize and the national Gerald Lampert Memorial Award.

Ken Low

Ken Low is dedicated to mapping out the dynamics of adaptive intelligence in human systems and pioneering the development of a new discipline – human learning ecology. The driving motivation behind this research is the need to understand the underlying causes of adaptive and maladaptive development and behavior in individuals, organizations, societies, and cultures. The research draws on successes and failures of human learning and activity across cultures, sectors, disciplines and periods of history. The patterns of emerging adaptive intelligence found in the human story provide a structure for the human venture, a disciplined framework for understanding human progress, folly and resistance, including the systemic adaptive challenges facing humanity at our time and place in history, and what it will take to meet them. Ken is the founder of the Action Studies Institute, which provided the curriculum and support for Leadership Calgary and Leadership Edmonton [now Human Venture Leadership]. Ken is currently working with a team to develop the Human Venture Institute , a web-based global network to support research and initiatives on the leading edge of human and social development.