Media Advisory: Social psychologist, MacArthur ‘Genius Grant’ winner to speak at Wake Forest
Social psychologist and 2014 MacArthur Fellow Jennifer Eberhardt will deliver the 2015 Anna Julia Cooper lecture at Wake Forest University on Tuesday, March 24 at 5:30 p.m. in Benson University Center’s Pugh Auditorium. Eberhardt, a Stanford University psychology professor, will discuss her research on the consequences of the psychological association between race and crime.
Ebehardt’s lecture is hosted by the Anna Julia Cooper Center, an interdisciplinary center at Wake Forest that supports research, courses, and programs at the intersections of gender, race and politics in the South. The center is part of the Pro Humanitate Institute and led by founding director and Presidential Endowed Professor Melissa Harris-Perry. Each year the center hosts a distinguished scholar, activist or artist to address the University and broader community.
“The Anna Julia Cooper lecture has welcomed some of the nation’s preeminent researchers in recent years,” said Harris-Perry. “Jennifer Eberhardt continues that tradition of first-class scholarship while also offering our community uniquely relevant insights addressing some of the most critical issues of our moment. We know that all members of the Wake Forest and Winston-Salem community will benefit from engaging with this brilliant scholar.”
Through interdisciplinary collaborations and a wide-ranging array of methods—from laboratory studies to novel field experiments—Eberhardt has revealed the startling, and often dispiriting, extent to which racial imagery and judgments suffuse American culture and society, and shape actions and outcomes within the domain of criminal justice. She works with law enforcement agencies to design interventions to improve policing and to help them build and maintain trust with the communities they serve.
The event is free and open to the public. Doors will open at 5 p.m. with seating on a first-come, first-served basis.
About Wake Forest University
Wake Forest University combines the best traditions of a small liberal arts college with the resources of a large research university. Founded in 1834, the school is located in Winston-Salem, N.C. The University’s graduate school of arts and sciences, divinity school, and nationally ranked schools of law, medicine and business enrich our intellectual environment. Learn more about Wake Forest University at www.wfu.edu.
