Claude M. Steele, Director of the Center of Advanced Study in Behavioral Sciences at Stanford University, has been named to serve on the Board of Directors of MacArthur.
“We look forward to working with Claude Steele on the MacArthur Board,” said Robert Denham, Chairman of the Board and a partner with the law firm of Munger, Tolles & Olson. “His deep understanding of the behavioral sciences and psychology will help enhance the focus and depth of MacArthur’s grantmaking.”
Dr. Steele’s research interests include how people cope with threats to their self-image and how group stereotypes, especially as they affect minorities, can influence intellectual performance. He has conducted pioneering research on the academic aspirations and achievements of minority students, with a focus on self-evaluation and self-identification. Professor Steele also studies addictive behavior.
Prior to his current appointment, he was the Lucy Stern Professor in the Social Sciences at Stanford, where he has taught since 1991. Dr. Steele serves on the Board of Directors of the Social Science Research Council and has served as president of the Society of Personality and Social Psychology and of the Western Psychological Society. He also was a member of the Board of Directors of the American Psychological Society.
“Claude Steele’s scholarship explores the connections among individual growth, fairness, opportunity, and healthy communities, which are central to MacArthur’s domestic grantmaking” said Foundation President Jonathan Fanton. “He fits well in the long tradition of MacArthur trustees who are deeply engaged in the substance of the Foundation’s work. I am delighted to welcome Claude to the Board.”
Dr. Steele has received numerous awards, including the Gordon Allport Intergroup Relations Prize and the Distinguished Scientific Career Awards from both the American Psychological Association and American Psychological Society. He is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the National Academy of Education, the National Academy of Sciences, and the American Philosophical Society. He holds honorary doctorates from the University of Chicago, Yale University, Princeton University, the University of Michigan, and the University of Maryland, Baltimore County.
He received his B.A. degree from Hiram College (Hiram, Ohio) and his Ph.D. degree in psychology from The Ohio State University in 1971.