Stanford University School of Education Dean Claude Steele will deliver this years Commencement speech on May 19, according to Director of Public Relations Kim Thurler.
We are honored that he will give this years commencement address, Thurler told the Daily in an email. We are sure that he will deliver remarks that will be relevant and meaningful for the Class of 2013, their families and the greater Tufts community.
Steele, a Stanford psychology professor, researches how stereotypes affect academic, professional and personal spheres. He discovered that the rhetoric of test instructions for female students or those of a racial minority caused a gap in academic performance between these individuals and their male peers, according to an April 25 Tufts University press release.
His book, Whistling Vivaldi: And Other Clues to How Stereotypes Affect Us was published in 2010. Steele previously served as provost and professor of psychology at Columbia University.
He will also receive an honorary doctorate of letters with historian Philip Lampi and psychiatrist Raymond R. Sackler, an international philanthropist and entrepreneur. Environmental activist Lois Gibbs, along with business leader and philanthropist Aso Tavitian, will receive honorary doctorates of public service and nutritionist Ram Shrestha will receive an honorary doctorate of science.
