Deirdre Budzyna

Northern Essex Community College Professor Deirdre Budzyna of Newburyport will discuss the many ways people can display and use their intelligence in a free presentation titled “It’s Not How Smart You Are: It’s How You Are Smart.”  Free and open to the public, the presentation will take place at the Hamilton-Wenham Public Library, 14 Union St, South Hamilton on Friday, Feb. 5 at 10:30 a.m.

This presentation is appropriate for anyone interested in identifying strengths and working from a strengths based perspective, including parents, students, and teachers. Participants will identify their strongest intelligence and find out how it impacts their abilities in all aspects of their lives including school, work, and within the family.

Budzyna will cover the theory of multiple intelligences which was developed in 1983 by Dr. Howard Gardner, professor of education at Harvard University. Gardner’s theory suggests that the traditional notion of intelligence, based on I.Q. testing, is far too limited. Instead, Dr. Gardner proposes eight different intelligences to account for a broader range of human potential in children and adults. These intelligences include word smart, number/reasoning smart, picture smart, body smart, music smart, people smart, self smart, and nature smart.

Deirdre Budzyna is a professor of Early Childhood Education at Northern Essex Community College. She graduated from Mount Holyoke College with a degree in theater and education. She received her Master’s Degree from Lesley University in Creative Arts and Learning. Budzyna owns an acting studio, Acting Out, in Newburyport, Ma where she resides with her husband John and three children.

This presentation is part of the college’s speakers’ bureau which provides speakers to area nonprofits. For more information visit the website https://www.necc.mass.edu/community-engagement/speakers-bureau/ or contact Ernie Greenslade, Marketing Communications, 978 556-3862 or egreenslade@necc.mass.edu.

For more information on the presentation at the Hamilton-Wenham Library, contact Rebecca Shea, 978 468-5577 or rshea@mvlc.org.

With campuses in Haverhill and Lawrence, Northern Essex Community College offers over 70 associate degree and certificate programs as well as hundreds of noncredit courses designed for personal enrichment and career growth.  More than 7,400 students are enrolled in credit associate degree and certificate programs on the Haverhill and Lawrence campuses; and another 6,700 take noncredit workforce development and community education classes on campus, and at businesses and community sites across the Merrimack Valley.  Northern Essex is the only state college located in the lower Merrimack Valley Region of Massachusetts. For more information, visit the website at www.necc.mass.edu.