Genius Discovery Academy founder featured at WNP

The founder of Genius Discovery Academy and The International Conference of Thinking, professor William Maxwell, will be featured tonight at Wednesday Night Poetry. - Submitted photo
The founder of Genius Discovery Academy and The International Conference of Thinking, professor William Maxwell, will be featured tonight at Wednesday Night Poetry. - Submitted photo

The founder of Genius Discovery Academy and The International Conference of Thinking, professor William Maxwell, will be featured tonight at Wednesday Night Poetry at Kollective Coffee+Tea, 110 Central Ave.

The regular open mic session for all poets will begin at 6:30 p.m. Maxwell will begin his feature set at 7:15 p.m., followed by another round of open mic. Admission is free and open to all ages.

Maxwell was born in Centerpoint in 1929. He grew up in Arizona and studied at Howard, Oregon State, Maryland, California and Oxford Universities. He earned his bachelor's degree from Oregon State University, and was the first African American man to graduate from that university. He earned his master's degree and doctorate at Harvard University and went on to create and pioneer an educational model for the 21st century.

In 1957, at age 28, Maxwell was elected to chair an international educational council for northeast Asia, with headquarters in Tokyo. At the time, he was the education adviser, 7th Infantry Division of the Eighth U.S. Army in Korea, where he studied all U.S. soldiers with a genius-level IQ over 142, and published the surprising results in the Phi Delta Kappan, a news release said.

Maxwell has conducted research or lectured in over 60 nations in Africa, Asia, Europe, the Pacific and North America and published in major journals in Albania, England, Fiji, France, Korea, Nigeria and the U.S. He has served on the governing boards of three universities and has managed the nomination of many distinguished persons for the honorary doctorate. These include Prime Minister Indira Gandhi of India, Gordon Dryden of New Zealand, professors of Physics Michio Kaku and Fritjof Capra, Gov. Rose Moffett of Arizona, and the Rev. Warren Stewart, a Phoenix civil rights leader, the release said.

Maxwell's "most important research" concerned how to improve the thinking skills and IQs of children that involved over 60 of his students at the University of the South Pacific over a four-year period and repeatedly demonstrated IQ gains of 19 or more points by skilled tutoring, the release said. He said his passion is helping people discover their inherent genius and their true calling.

"Everyone is born with at least one outstanding talent, usually more than one, which is one's 'true calling," he said in the release.

"With a fascinating history of innovating the field of intelligence studies and thinking, he has lived and taught his principles of developing genius all over the globe. He has returned to Arkansas to stay, with stories and poems under his belt that are sure to make us all think," the release said.

"I will be emotionally distilling poetry from one of my three books, 'The First Hero,' which was written to help all humans on the planet to fall in love with their brave and ancient African ancestors, the first true heroes," he said.

His late wife, Mary, was a public health nurse and co-authored some of his books. He will have information about his academy and his books at WNP.

"Professor Maxwell came to WNP on the night that another important African American leader, Elmer Beard, was featuring. They had just met recently and became instant friends with a shared bond of humanitarian endeavor. Mr. Beard, along with Howard Lee Kilby (both considered elders and patriarchs of our poetry community) highly recommended that the professor be a feature. He is such a powerful presence and I am intrigued and excited to hear more of his stories and poetry," said WNP host Kai Coggin.

This week marks 1,611 consecutive Wednesdays of open mic poetry in downtown Hot Springs since Feb. 1, 1989. WNP is said to be the longest-running consecutive weekly poetry series in the country, according to the news release. For more information about WNP or to be considered as a featured poet, email [email protected].

Entertainment on 12/11/2019

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