Hometown: Brown City, Michigan 

When did you join UMRA? In 2021.

What was your very first job? I was a waitress in a restaurant in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan. 

What was your occupation when you retired from FT work? I’m a professor emeritus in pharmacology and neuroscience in the Department of Veterinary and Biomedical Sciences in the College of Veterinary Medicine.

Who or what inspired your interest in (studying and teaching) creativity? After many years working with graduate students, I realized that we expect them to be innovative and think “outside the box,” but we offer no formal training in approaches to becoming more creative. In fact, faculty as well as students, regardless of their area of interest, could use more of the techniques that have been found to be successful in expanding creative thinking.

What happens to "creative muscle" as we age? The initial aging process that influences creativity is from the age of about 7 or 8 years old to adulthood. Creativity declines as our formal education promotes critical thinking and memorizing (the “right” answer) while minimizing creative thought (many possible answers). 

In older adults, our creative muscle is not necessarily diminished by age, but the importance of it in evaluating the world increases. This is because we become more easily influenced by, and less likely to be skeptical of, ideas that appear to be consistent with our lifelong learned schemas. This is the basis of older adults being easily scammed. Luckily, techniques to enhance the intentional use of creative thinking can be learned just as easily in healthy older individuals as in children.   

If you were competing in the 2024 Olympics in Paris, what would you like your sport to be? Karate. 

Do you have a favorite place on the U of M campus? My midmorning breaks followed the sidewalk encircling the St. Paul Campus. It’s the perfect distance to unwind.

What is a fun fact about you we might not know? I used to be fluent—and I still read—Dutch, but I speak it poorly now. Call me if you can help me brush up on it.

What is something you currently enjoy doing with your time? I have an apartment in the New York City area, where I’m taking art classes at the Hoboken Public Library, in person when I’m there and online when I’m back in Minnesota.