Stanford psychologist Claude Steele named 21st University Provost

Columbia Spectator
by Joy Resmovits

WEB EXCLUSIVE 2:20p.m. Claude Steele, a professor of psychology at Stanford University, will become Columbia's next provost, according to a University announcement and an e-mail University President Lee Bollinger sent to students on Wednesday afternoon. Steele will become the first African American to hold the post.
He will begin his tenure on Sept. 1, 2009, succeeding current Provost Academic Brinkley to the role of the University's chief academic officer and the president's right-hand man. Coming from an external institution, Steele will have to learn about Columbia's idiosyncrasies and bureaucratic structure fairly quickly.
Steele is currently Lucie Stern Professor in the Social Sciences and director of Stanford’s Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences. He has been teaching psychology in Stanford since 1991, and worked as the department's chair from 1997 to 2000. Steele has also directed Stanford's Center for Comparative Studies in Race and Ethnicity since 2002.
In a phone interview on Wednesday afternoon, Bollinger said that his contact with Steele, though not intimate, stretches back over a decade. From 1987-1991 he taught at the University of Michigan, Steele overlapped with Bollinger. "He's very well known, one of the leading figures in the field of psychology, in stereotyping work," Bollinger said.

Full Post: http://www.columbiaspectator.com/2009/05/13/stanford-psychologist-claude-steele-named-21st-university-provost

Are College Athletes Psyching Themselves Out?

Inside Higher Ed
February 11, 2009

More than a year ago, a major study of 71 Division III member institutions of the National Collegiate Athletic Association documented a significant academic achievement gap separating male athletes and non-athletes at selective liberal arts colleges. Although admissions practices — potentially biased in favor of enrolling athletes — might be to blame for this gap, a new study suggests that the perceived threat among athletes of confirming the negative stereotype of the “dumb jock” might also help perpetuate the gap.

A new “working paper,” released this week by the National Bureau of Economic Research, explores a phenomenon known as “stereotype threat” among athletes at Swarthmore College. Thomas S. Dee, the paper’s author and Swarthmore economics professor, writes that this trend “refers to the perceived risk of confirming, through one’s behavior or outcomes, negative stereotypes that are held about one’s social identity.” Dee argues that the “stigma” attached to athletic participation at some selective institutions might trigger the “stereotype threat” response among athletes, accounting for some portion of their weaker academic performance.

Full Story: http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2009/02/11/stereotype