Suzanna Ramos
Director
Education
Suzanna is the first Singaporean to hold a Master of Science degree in Creative Studies and Change Leadership from the University of New York, USA. She also holds a Bachelor of Arts degree (Hons) in Geography from the National University of Singapore.
Professional Experience
Suzanna has been involved in education for 23 years. She served as a Head of Department in Humanities in 3 secondary schools before heading a primary school as a Vice-Principal. She then joined the Ministry of Education (Staff Training Branch) as a Professional Development Officer facilitating teachers in action research in the classroom. Suzanna then returned to a secondary school and was appointed a School Staff Developer where she introduced educators to creative problem solving techniques in the Areas of pedagogy, mentoring and professional development.
Suzanna is also a consultant, facilitator and trainer of creative thinking in Singapore. In addition to creative tools, approaches and frameworks, her area of expertise is facilitation during idea generation sessions, leveraging on the principles of dialogue and reflection to enable collaborative creative thinking.
During her stint at Buffalo, New York, she has facilitated Groups for the Erie County Commission for Women, West Valley Central High School, Board of Cooperative Educational Services (Gifted and Talented Education) at Spencerport, leaders from various ministries of Bethesda World Harvest International Church and Buffalo State College web services.
In Singapore, she has facilitated and trained numerous Teachers Network Learning CirclesTM (teacher Groups that work collaboratively to improve their teaching practices), Aljunied Town Council, SingTel and youth Groups of Tabernacle of Holiness.
Suzanna has facilitated and conducted several conference and public workshops. Some of them are listed below:
• Asia Business Forum (2008, Singapore)
“Identifying and Measuring Creative Potential in Employees”
• ACA – SMU Conference on ‘Creativity Across Cultures’ (2008, Singapore)
“The Geography of the Mind – Is there a Universal Understanding of Creativity?”
• Workshops for Teachers (2006, Teachers Network, Singapore)
“Teaching Geography Creatively Using the Torrance Incubation Model”
• MOE Excel Fest (2006, Singapore)
“Stretching Imagination through Idea Generation”
• Annual Student Research and Creativity Celebration, State University of New York (2005, Buffalo, USA)
“Cross-Cultural Studies of Implicit Theories of Creativity: A Comparative Analysis between the United States and the Main Ethnic
Groups in Singapore”
• 12th International Conference on Creativity in Colleges and Universities (2003, Midland, Michigan, USA) (Co-Plenary Speaker)
“The Genius Idea: Igniting a Global Change with Infinite Potential”
Suzanna was presented with the 2005 President’s Medal for Outstanding Graduate Student and 2006 Outstanding Master’s Thesis Award. She is listed in Who’s Who Among Students in American Universities and Colleges. In 2006, she received a teaching fellowship from the International Academy of Genius, USA, to continue her research on creativity in education. She is a co-founder of the Singapore International Affiliate of the American Creativity Association (SIAACA), the first international affiliate of this organization. In February 2008, she was the secretary of the American Creativity Association-Singapore Conference on Creativity held for the first time outside of the United States. This event in Singapore attracted over 200 creativity professionals and researchers from 27 countries.