Claude Steele, PhD

Lucie Stern Professor in the Social Science, Emeritus, Stanford University

Claude M. Steele, PhD, is an American social psychologist and a Professor of Psychology at Stanford University. He is best known for his work on stereotype threat and its application to minority student academic performance. In 2010, he released his book, Whistling Vivaldi, summarizing years of research on stereotype threat and the underperformance of minority students in higher education. He holds a BA in Psychology from Hiram College, an MA in Social Psychology from Ohio State University, and a PhD in Social Psychology and Statistical Psychology from Ohio State University. He served as the Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost at UC Berkeley, the I. James Quillen Dean for the School of Education at Stanford University, and the 21st Provost of Columbia University. Past roles also include serving as the President of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology, President of the Western Psychological Association, and member of the Board of Directors of the American Psychological Society. 

Churn: The Psychological and Physical Stress that Divides Us and How We Can Overcome It. 

Friday, August 8, 1:00 - 2:00 p.m.

Colorado Convention Center, Four Seasons Ballroom 2-4

“Churn” is the stress we can all feel over how our identity (racial, sexual, sexual orientation, etc.) will affect our experience in the important, integrated settings of our lives—e.g., schools and workplaces. Its role in making it difficult for us to trust each other in these settings is explored. And, in offering a new route to better intergroup relations, strategies that both individuals and institutions can use to reduce churn and enable trust between identities are described.