Campus & Community

Campus Workshop to Explore Attitudes and Effects of Implicit Bias

Thursday, February 23, 2017, By Carol Boll

A workshop titled “Recognizing and Understanding Implicit Bias” will be conducted for interested Syracuse University faculty and staff on Monday, March 6, from 1-3 p.m. in the Gray Ceremonial Courtroom at the College of Law.

Sponsored by the University’s Office of Faculty Affairs, the workshop will be led by Bryant T. Marks, an associate professor of psychology and director of the Program for Research on Black Male Achievement at Morehouse College in Atlanta.

Implicit bias involves limited or distorted perceptions of others based on underlying assumptions crafted through everyday social experience. The interactive workshop is designed to demonstrate how varying degrees of stereotyping, prejudice and/or discrimination, even when they fall below conscious awareness, can and often do benefit oneself or one’s group. Participants will be encouraged to think about the extent to which our bias affects others, including its role in both significant and seemingly insignificant outcomes.

The workshop will include small-group dialogue, engage participants in a measure of implicit bias, and address the following questions:

  • What is implicit bias?
  • What does implicit bias look like in the real world?
  • How is implicit bias measured?
  • How does implicit bias affect the target of bias?
  • How can the potential impact of implicit bias on behavior and outcomes be reduced?

The workshop is especially recommended for faculty and staff who may deal with teaching, staff hiring decisions, admissions and student advising, and/or classroom environments and situations.

In addition to his positions at Morehouse College, Marks served the Obama White House as a member of the President’s Advisory Commission with the Initiative on Educational Excellence for African Americans and as a senior advisor with the Initiative on Historically Black Colleges and Universities. He speaks frequently on the psychology and academic achievement of African American males; societal perceptions and attitudes of African American males; African American males in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM); and innovations in STEM education.

Persons interested in attending the workshop should R.S.V.P. at https://tinyurl.com/MarksImplicit.

American Sign Language (ASL) interpretation and Computer Assisted Real-time Translation (CART) will be provided.