Yale Psychologist to Deliver Annual Basowitz Memorial Lecture at UA

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Dr. John F. Dovidio, the Carl I. Hovland Professor of Psychology at Yale University, will deliver the 2015 Basowitz Memorial Lecture April 10 at The University of Alabama.

Dovidio, dean of academic affairs of the faculty of Arts and Sciences at Yale, will deliver “Racism among the well-intentioned: Implications for Intergroup Perceptions, Interaction, and Policy” at 6 p.m. in room 1093 of Shelby Hall.

Admission is free to the public.

According to Dovidio’s abstract, he examines “the nature of contemporary racism, focusing on the biases of white Americans toward black Americans, and explores how these biases create and reinforce racial disparities in society.”

Dovidio has more than 30 years’ worth of research experience, particularly in the areas of contemporary racism, stereotyping, social power and prejudice.

He has published more than 300 articles, chapters and books.

He received the Kurt Lewin Award from the Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues and the Donald Campbell Award from the Society for Personality and Social Psychology for his scholarly achievements.

The Harold Basowitz Memorial Lecture is sponsored by UA’s department of psychology in memory of Basowitz, who came to UA in 1940 and remained until called into military service.

Basowitz returned to Tuscaloosa in 1946 and received his undergraduate degree from UA in 1947. He then went on to complete his doctoral degree in clinical psychology at Princeton in 1951.

Basowitz’s distinguished career included administrative roles at the National Institute of Mental Health and professor of psychology for many years at New York University. Basowitz’s lifelong friend, Irving Alexander, professor, is the donor of the Basowitz endowment.

UA psychology department is part of the College of Arts and Sciences, the University’s largest division and the largest liberal arts college in the state. Students from the College have won numerous national awards including Rhodes Scholarships and Goldwater Scholarships.