Stereotype Threat: How It Affects Us and What We Can Do About It with Claude M. Steele

Join us for a seminar for faculty and staff presented by Claude Steele on Stereotype Threat: How it affects us and what we can do about it

Claude Steele, internationally renowned social scientist and Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost, will discuss his theory of stereotype threat, which has been the focus of much of his research and writing throughout his academic career. The theory examines how people from different groups, being threatened by different stereotypes, can have quite different experiences in the same situation. It has also been used to understand group differences in performance ranging from the intellectual to the athletic. Steele's recent book, "Whistling Vivaldi: And Other Clues to How Stereotypes Affect Us and what we Can Do," published in 2010, was based on this research and lays out a plan to mitigate the negative effects of “stereotype threat”.

Presenter: Claude M. Steele

Claude M. Steele is an American social psychologist and the Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost at UC Berkeley. Reporting to and working in close partnership with the Chancellor, the EVCP plays a critical role in developing and implementing UC Berkeley's vision and priorities and is the Chancellor's leading senior executive responsible for their execution and implementation.

As the chief academic officer of the Berkeley campus, the EVCP has leadership responsibility for the planning, development, implementation, assessment and improvement of all academic programs, policies and supporting infrastructure.

Claude M. Steele served as the I. James Quillen Dean for the School of Education at Stanford University from 2011 - 2014. As dean he led the school toward a deeper engagement in public education, including the renewal and expansion of a partnership between the school and the San Francisco Unified School District.

From 2009 - 2011, Steele served as the 21st Provost of Columbia University, where he led and implemented academic policies and plans for the university, including a major initiative to enhance support for the basic sciences. While at Columbia, he was responsible for managing the work of the university’s faculty, departments, research centers and institutes, as well as oversight of the university’s budget and financial planning.

He is best known for his work on stereotype threat and its application to minority student academic performance. His earlier work dealt with research on the self (e.g., self-image, self-affirmation) as well as the role of self-regulation in addictive behaviors. In 2010, he released his book, Whistling Vivaldi and Other Clues to How Stereotypes Affect Us, summarizing years of research on stereotype threat and the underperformance of minority students in higher education.

Light Refresments will be served and seating is limited.

Please respond by January 16, 2015