From Ferguson, Mo., to Baltimore, Cleveland and beyond, issues of understanding, diversity and racism are gripping the nation.
Like many university campuses, Case Western Reserve is exploring these questions as well. Some of the efforts—such as the Power of Diversity lecture series—are longstanding, while others, like the campus education program Diversity 360, launch this academic year.
With those developments as context, Case Western Reserve presents renowned social psychologist Claude M. Steele, PhD, as the Elaine G. Hadden Distinguished Visiting Author Lecture speaker for 2015 fall convocation Wednesday, Aug. 26, at 4:30 p.m. in Severance Hall. Steele is author of this year’s Common Reading, Whistling Vivaldi: How Stereotypes Affect Us and What We Can Do (Norton 2010).
The fall convocation is a formal celebration that opens each academic year at Case Western Reserve. It includes a procession of university leaders and faculty in academic regalia, a keynote speaker and recognition of 2015 Distinguished University Professorships—the institution’s highest faculty honor.
A reception and book signing at Tinkham Veale University Center immediately follows the convocation.
The event is free and open to the public, but ticket reservations are required. Reserve a free ticket by contacting the Severance Hall box office at 216.231.1111, or print one online through the hall’s website.
“In light of recent tragedies and injustices in our city and nation, we hope Whistling Vivaldi will help foster both reflection and activism as we strive to become a more inclusive and just community, in and out of the classroom,” said Timothy Beal, the Florence Harkness Professor of Religion and chair of the common reading program.
Each year since 2002, the university’s common reading serves as a basis for programs and discussions for first-year students from orientation through fall semester.
In Whistling Vivaldi, Steele, who recalls his first experiences with racism as a child growing up in Chicago, shares research and insights about the power of stereotypes, often illustrating them with compelling stories involving young adults and college students. The book addresses not only race and racism, but also stereotypes of gender, sexuality and ethnicity.
The book’s title refers to a story Steele’s friend Brent Staples, now an editorial writer for The New York Times, shared about his experiences as a young African-American graduate student in Chicago. Staples noticed that some white people appeared fearful as he approached while walking down the street. He decided to whistle Vivaldi and other classical music, hoping to defuse negative stereotypes they might have had about young black men and a predisposition to violence. When the passerby heard the music, their expressions became less wary and more welcoming.
Through his research, Steele, executive vice chancellor and provost at University of California, Berkeley, addresses some of the most pressing contemporary problems in American society, such as “stereotype threat,” a phenomenon in which a person may underperform scholastically or in other ways because of a negative stereotype to which he or she socially identifies. Steele also discusses specific steps to limit the effects of stereotyping, such as being reminded of positive role models and encouraging self-affirmation.
As the chief academic officer of the Berkeley campus, Steele has the responsibility to plan, develop, implement, assess and improve of all academic programs, policies and supporting infrastructure. Steele also is a professor in the Department of Psychology and the Graduate School of Education.
Steele, who previously served as provost of Columbia University and as the I. James Quillen Dean for the School of Education at Stanford University, has been widely published.
He was educated at Hiram College and Ohio State University, where he earned a PhD in psychology in 1971, and has been elected to the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Education, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the American Philosophical Society. He is a member of the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation Board of Directors, and the Board of the Russell Sage Foundation.