UNB scholars reflect on failure, encourage others to examine failures as learning experiences

Two University of New Brunswick scholars have launched explorations of failure and are encouraging others to reflect on how it can lead to creativity and learning opportunities. In a class called the Art of Failure, UNB English professor Elizabeth Effinger explored how failure, which carries a stigma, is a common event that also presents opportunities. UNB PhD candidate Thom Vernon shared his journey to a “PhD in failure” with CBC and explained how his dissertation explores how failure can be used in creative writing. “[My thesis] really wants to reframe failure as a place of possibility, acceptance,” said Vernon, who discusses the failures in his own life. “Those experiences opened me to recognize patterns, dynamics. That a failure, a quote unquote ‘failure’ is not about ending, it’s about acceptance.” CBC Note: Archived stories may contain dead links or be missing source links.