Randolph-Macon College will welcome Phi Beta Kappa Visiting Scholar Stacey Sinclair, Professor of Psychology and Public Affairs at Princeton University, on March 5, 2020. Sinclair will present “Why Diversify? Framing Diversity as an Instrumental or Moral Good” at 7:30 p.m. in SunTrust Theater, Brock Commons (304 Henry Street).

This event, which is sponsored by RMC’s Zeta chapter of Phi Beta Kappa, is free and open to the public. Map and Directions 

The Lecture 
Sinclair’s lecture will address the question: Why are people and organizations motivated to embrace diversity?

“Currently, universities tend to embrace diversity for instrumental reasons (i.e., it provides benefits such as increased cognitive skills) more than moral ones (i.e., it manifests institutional values, such as fairness),” says Sinclair. “The research I will present suggests that this instrumental rationale reflects the preferences of white, but not ethnic minority, Americans. In addition, parents and admissions officers expect universities that characterize their commitment to diversity instrumentally to disproportionately benefit white students.”

Sinclair will also discuss how instrumental and moral diversity rationales may translate into student experience.

Stacey Sinclair
Sinclair earned her Ph.D. from University of California. Her lab at Princeton University examines how interpersonal interactions translate culturally held prejudices into individual thoughts and actions.

Her research suggests that people may unknowingly be immersed in social networks characterized by a corresponding degree of implicit and/or explicit bias, and her lab is in the initial stages of several projects considering the ramifications of this possibility for the health and intellectual performance of members of stigmatized groups. These projects include research on how implicit anti-black prejudice shapes social interactions among whites; how implicit and explicit prejudice may shape students’ academic performance; and how the way in which institutions justify efforts to foster diversity shape the experience of ethnic minority and majority students.

Sinclair was recently elected to the governing board of the American Psychological Association. She is also Head of Mathey College, one of the six residential colleges at Princeton University.

The Visiting Scholar Program
The Visiting Scholar program is one of the most successful and important of Phi Beta Kappa’s initiatives. In existence for over 60 years, it brings first-rate scholars to colleges and universities across the country for intensive interactions with undergraduates and faculty through two days of classroom discussions, informal gatherings, and a public lecture.

The Phi Beta Kappa Society
Founded in 1776, The Phi Beta Kappa Society advocates excellence in the liberal arts and sciences. Its campus chapters invite for induction the most outstanding liberal arts and sciences students at America’s leading colleges and universities. Each chapter can elect no more than 10 percent of its graduating class.

Phi Beta Kappa recognition was awarded to Randolph-Macon in 1923, and the college is one of only 10 percent of the colleges in the country so designated. Phi Beta Kappa’s Greek initials are ΦBK, which mean “Love of learning is the guide of life.”