“Before I used to think, why am I different? I could have been a perfect wife, or a happy wife, but I couldn’t fit in. Since I met Bonnie, I thought, ‘I am different, I should not try to fit in…why should I care why other people like me or accept me?’” —Kyung Hee Kim
Bracken muses, “it is nice to have a young UGA colleague joining the faculty as I am edging ever closer to retirement myself. It is also wonderful having a colleague who was fortunate enough to get to know Dr. Torrance—I had the pleasure to serve as his graduate assistant in the late ‘70s.” Now Kim, a thoroughly modern academic, burns with twin purposes: carrying on her UGA mentors’ work in creativity and honoring the host country that she has adopted as her emotional and creative home. As for creativity, this is the buzzword that keeps the media’s attention focused on the professor. What supports creativity is at the core of her ongoing research and the starting place of everything that has happened to her professionally. “The gifted are of three kinds: one, high intelligence and low creativity; two, high creativity and low intelligence; three, high intelligence and high creativity,” Kim explains. A person can possess the third type, although it’s unusual. “But it’s extremely rare; if you are innovative, you try to collect people who are adaptive. If you are adaptive, you work for innovative people.” Kim’s phone rings often and her email notification continues pinging, but she remains focused on identifying the “markers” of creativity. Kim stresses that relevance is not on the top of the list when it comes to creativity markers. Divergence and convergence are. This is what UGA’s Torrance set out to prove decades ago. Divergences and convergences—that is the sort of language through which Kim’s work is revealed. It has found a new audience as America’s creativity appears to be in a free fall. This has made Kim a reluctant interviewee.
ally arrogant. She came to the States for the freedom she craved, and found it. Now, Kim says she simply loves America. And she doesn’t want to disparage it or assign blame for America’s plunging creativity scores. “No finger pointing,” Kim says firmly. “I want to do research and help creative people who cannot fit in,” Kim says. This is her chosen work. “Bonnie Cramond was Paul Torrance’s favorite student. So she is like this for me (I was one of her favorites). Now I have students, one at Michigan State University, and other at the University of Virginia and several here to mentor.” She pauses and counts. “Actually, nine students—four females and five males.” Kim calls these students and offers support. She invites them to dinners, shares holidays, and remains in close touch, as long as they need. “Because of my connections, emotional attachment, I am continuing Torrance’s work.” Her colleague, Bracken, says admiringly that Kim “is very high-energy, actively involved, and intellectually curious beyond her years in education. I am certain she will make significant contributions to the field throughout her career and will rise to a level of recognition reserved for the few.” G
For further information: www.wm.edu/news/stories/2010/out-of-context-faculty-inform-themedia007.php
RELUCTANT TO GIVE SOUND BITES Setting the record straight when reporters abandon objectivity in favor of a screaming headline, or a false conjecture, is as time consuming as giving interviews, so Kim is beginning to think there is just no winning in the media chase. So she quit trying. When we spoke, she had just given an interview to U.S. News and World Report, but only after some serious prodding from higher ups. Kim really, really dislikes interviews, she says. Here’s the real reason why. Kim is neither petulant nor intellectu-
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