Spring Distinguished Speaker Series

A reception will follow all speaker events.

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Friday, April 4, 2008
2:00- 3:00pm, Jacobs Center Room G40

"The Wisdom of Crowds and the (Im) Possibility of Rankings: Some Implications of a Logic of Diversity"
Download (PDF 242 KB / 34 pages)

Scott E. Page '93 | Homepage
University of Michigan: Distinguished Professor of Complex Systems, Political Science, and Economics and Kellogg Alum

From New York Times January 8, 2008:
“Scott Page uses mathematical modeling and case studies to show how variety in staffing produces organizational strength. Rather than ponder moral questions like, “Why can’t we all get along?” Dr. Page asks practical ones like, “How can we all be more productive together?” The answer, he suggests, is in messy, creative organizations and environments with individuals from vastly different backgrounds and life experiences.

Books by Scott E. Page:

• The Difference: How the Power of Diversity Creates Better Groups, Firms, Schools, and Societies, Princeton University Press, 2007.
• Complex Adaptive Systems: An Introduction to Computational Models of Social Life, Princeton University Press, 2007. (with John Miller)
• Computational Models of Political Economy, (Editor) MIT Press, 2002. (with Ken Kollman and John Miller).

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Monday, April 28, 2008
4:00-5:00pm, Jacobs Center Room G40

"Racism Among the Well-Intentioned: Subtle Bias In Outcomes and Interaction"

John Dovidio | Homepage
Yale University: Distinguished Professor of Psychology

Professor Dovidio's award-winning distinguished body of work — including nearly 100 journal publications — centers around issues of social power and social relations between groups and between individuals. He explores both conscious (explicit) and unconscious (implicit) influences on how people think about, feel about, and behave toward others based on group membership.

His most famous work continues to focus on a concept termed aversive racism, a contemporary subtle form of prejudice, and on techniques for reducing conscious and unconscious biases.

Recent titles:

• (Close) distance makes the heart grow fonder: Improving implicit racial attitudes and interracial interactions through approach behaviors
• The impact of counterstereotypic training and related correction processes on the application of stereotypes
• Black and white: The role of color bias in implicit race bias
• Understanding and addressing contemporary racism: From aversive racism to the common ingroup identity model

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Thursday, May 15, 2008
4:00-5:30pm, Allen Center - Tribune Auditorium

"Diversity Drives Innovation"

Frans Johansson | Homepage

Frans Johansson was a founder and CEO of Inka.net, a Boston-based enterprise software company, and VP of Business Development of Dola Health Systems, a health-care company operating in Baltimore and Sweden. He has written on a diverse range of topics ranging from business management to fishing and fantasy-gaming adventures. Frans earned his M.B.A. at Harvard Business School and his Sc.B. in environmental science at Brown University. He was born and raised in Sweden and currently resides in New York City, where he is a consultant who also writes and speaks about intersections of all types.

The Medici Effect refers to the exponential increase of unique idea combinations created by a diverse team or an individual with a diverse background. It refers to the remarkable burst of creativity enabled by the Medici banking family in Renaissance Italy.

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Monday, June 2, 2008
4:00-5:00pm, Jacobs Center Room 1246

"Do Women Opt Out or Are They Pushed Out? Sociological, Psychological, Legal and Business Perspectives on Women and Work"

Joan C. Williams | Homepage
University of California Hastings College of the Law
Distinguished Professor of Law, 1066 Foundation Chair and Director of the Center for WorkLife Law

Joan is a prize-winning author and expert on work/family issues, and is the author of Unbending Gender: Why Family and Work Conflict and What To Do About It (Oxford University Press, 2000), which won the 2000 Gustavus Myers Outstanding Book Award.

She has authored or co-authored four books and over fifty law review articles; her work is reprinted in casebooks on six different subjects; she has given over two hundred speeches and presentations in North and Latin America. She is founding director of WorkLife Law (WLL), she is also Co-Director of the Project on Attorney Retention. She has played a leading role in documenting workplace bias against mothers. Her "Beyond the Maternal Wall: Relief for Family Caregivers Who Are Discriminated Against on the Job," 26 Harvard Women's Law Review 77 (2003), (co-authored with Nancy Segal), was prominently cited in Back v. Hastings on Hudson Union Free School District, 2004 U.S. App. Lexis 6684 (2d Cir. April 7, 2004). She also has played a central role in organizing social scientists to document maternal wall bias.

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