11/3/97

CONTACT: Diane Manuel, News Service (650) 725-1945
e-mail dmanuel@leland.stanford.edu

Faculty panel to discuss "Race in America"

Five faculty members will speak about "Race in America: What Is the Agenda?" from 4 to 6 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 6, in Lane History Corner (Building 200), room 2.

The panel discussion, sponsored by the Center for Comparative Studies in Race and Ethnicity (CCSRE), is a response to President Clinton's call for Americans to engage in conversations about race and ethnicity. Faculty, staff and students are encouraged to attend and be part of an interactive audience discussion led by moderator Al Camarillo, the Mellon Professor of Interdisciplinary Studies, professor of history and director of the CCSRE.

Panelists include the following:

• Luis Fraga, associate professor and director of graduate studies in political science. Fraga's research interests focus on American urban politics, politics of race and ethnicity, voting rights and educational policy. He was elected president of the Western Political Science Association this year, and received a faculty award "in recognition of distinguished service" to the Chicano/Latino graduating classes of 1993, 1996 and 1997.
• Kenji Hakuta, professor of education. An experimental psychologist by training, Hakuta's major areas of research are bilingual education and second-language acquisition. He currently co-directs a project at the CCSRE to review social science evidence that documents racial and ethnic diversity at American colleges and universities.
• Debra Satz, associate professor of philosophy and director of the Ethics in Society Program. Satz's major areas of interest are social and political philosophy, philosophy of social science, philosophy of economics and feminist theory. She currently serves on the advisory board for Stanford Hillel.
• Claude Steele, the Lucie Stern Professor in the Social Sciences. Steele's research examines processes of self-evaluation, group stereotypes of African Americans and women that can influence intellectual performance and academic identities, and addictive behaviors. He currently serves as chair of the psychology department and has served on the editorial boards of numerous journals and study sections at the National Institute of Mental Health.

Each panelist will speak for about 15 minutes and the discussion will then be opened to include comments and questions from the audience.

"The panel discussion hopefully will set the stage for plans to continue discussing issues of race and ethnicity through Residential Education and the Office for Multicultural Development," Camarillo said. "It also will be a prelude to the California regional session on January 30."

The day-long "Summit on Race in America," scheduled for Jan. 30, will bring together academics, public policy analysts, elected and appointed officials, and leaders of government agency and non-profit organizations to discuss issues of particular importance to California public policy, including the status of affirmative action policies in the aftermath of Proposition 209.

The summit discussion is part of a year-long series of events sponsored by CCSRE in cooperation with various other programs and offices at Stanford.

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By Diane Manuel