Spring Cubberley Lecture with Claude Steele, Geoff Cohen and Greg Walton

The Cubberley Lecture Series was
endowed by the first Dean of the School of Education, Elwood Cubberley,
to encourage discussion of current issues in education.

Stereotype threat is the experience of anxiety in a situation
where a person has the potential to confirm a negative stereotype about his or
her social group. In school, stereotype
threat can cause underrepresented students to perform below their
potential. It can cause them to focus
less on learning and more on the worrisome prospect of performing poorly. The
sting of stereotype threat can be felt by anyone – male or female, black or white,
Asian or Latino, young or old. But when
the threat is chronic, it can contribute to enduring patterns of inequality in
school and beyond. What can be done to reverse the effects of stereotype
threat? Through a multimedia presentation, social psychologists, Steele, Cohen,
and Walton will illuminate the experience of stereotype threat and highlight
the powerful ways we can diminish it and close the achievement gap between
groups.

Claude M. Steele is the I. James Quillen Dean of the School of
Education at Stanford University. Previously, he served as the twenty-first
provost of Columbia University, as well as professor of psychology. He is
recognized as a leader in the field of social psychology and for his commitment
to the systematic application of social science to problems of major societal
significance. His book, Whistling
Vivaldi and Other Clues to How Stereotypes Affect Us, examines his theory of
stereotype threat, which has been the focus of much of his research throughout
his academic career. Steele was educated
at Hiram College and at Ohio State University, where he received his PhD in
psychology.

Geoffrey Cohen is the James G. March Professor of Organizational
Studies in Education and Business at the School of Education, and Professor in
the Department of Psychology at Stanford University. The primary aim of Cohen’s research is the
development of theory-driven, rigorously tested intervention strategies that
further our understanding of the processes underpinning social problems and
that offer solutions to alleviate them. Cohen earned a BA in psychology at
Cornell University and a PhD in psychology from Stanford University.

Greg Walton is an assistant professor in the Department of
Psychology at Stanford University.
Walton’s research examines the nature of self and identity, often in the
context of academic motivation and achievement.
He is especially interested in social factors relevant to motivation, in
stereotypes and group differences in school achievement, and in
social-psychological interventions to raise achievement and narrow group
differences. Walton received his BA in
philosophy from Stanford University and his PhD in psychology from Yale
University.

Reception from 5:00 to 6:00 p.m.

The School of Education will open at 4:30 for the 2012 Policy, Organization, and Leadership Studies (POLS) Project Showcase. POLS MA students will present their year-long independent study projects.