Dr. Cyndi Burnett is a creativity and education specialist who is devoted to developing creative and engaging lessons in education. She spent twenty years as an academic, teaching deliberate creative thinking and creative problem-solving at the Center for Creativity and Change Leadership at SUNY Buffalo State. She is currently developing a CreativityandEducation.com platform to help educators navigate how to bring creativity into their classrooms.
Dr. Burnett has a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Theater, a Master of Science degree in Creativity, and a Doctorate of Education in Curriculum, Teaching, and Learning, all of which she uses to help “ignite creativity in education around the world.” Her academic interests include: the use of creative teaching and learning models and techniques, creative thinking in higher education, and current trends in creativity.
Her work includes projects such as: working with educators to bring creative thinking into the classroom, connecting communities of creative thinkers via social media, and designing and running a Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) on Everyday Creativity. She is the recipient of the President's Medal for Excellence in Teaching 2018 by SUNY Buffalo State; was Buffalo Business First, Woman of Influence 2018 for her work in creativity; and was featured in an article in The New York Times titled, “Creativity Becomes an Academic Discipline.” She is the co-editor of the Big Questions in Creativity book series and co-author of the books Weaving Creativity into Every Strand of Your Curriculum, 20 Lessons for Weaving Creativity into Your Curriculum, and My Sandwich Is a Spaceship: Creative Thinking for Parents and Young Children.