Sidney J. Parnes (January 5, 1922 – August 19, 2013) was an American academic who was professor at
Buffalo State University
The State University of New York Buffalo State University (colloquially referred to as Buffalo State University, SUNY Buffalo State, Buffalo State, or simply Buff State) is a public college, public university in Buffalo, New York. It is part of ...
(located in
Buffalo, New York
Buffalo is a Administrative divisions of New York (state), city in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York and county seat of Erie County, New York, Erie County. It lies in Western New York at the eastern end of Lake Erie, at the head of ...
) and the co-founder of the International Center for Studies in Creativity. The center is housed within Buffalo State University, one of the few places in the world that offers a Master's of Science degree in
creativity
Creativity is the ability to form novel and valuable Idea, ideas or works using one's imagination. Products of creativity may be intangible (e.g. an idea, scientific theory, Literature, literary work, musical composition, or joke), or a physica ...
. The department also now offers a distance learning version of the degree to students around the world as well as an undergraduate minor in creative studies.
Parnes was a lifetime trustee of the
Creative Education Foundation (CEF). He joined the CEF in 1955 to help develop a comprehensive educational program for the
Creative Problem Solving Institute, which is the world's longest-running international creativity conference. In 1966, CEF's founder,
Alex Osborn died, leaving Parnes to head the foundation.
Parnes and
Alex Osborn developed the
Creative Problem Solving Process (CPS), a structured method for generating solutions to problems. This method is taught annually at the International Center for Studies in Creativity, the Creative Problem Solving Institute
and the
CREA Conference in Europe.
Selected works
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Parnes, Sid
Creativity researchers
Popular psychology writers
20th-century American psychologists
1922 births
2013 deaths
Buffalo State College faculty