Claude M. Steele is best known for his work on stereotype threat and its application to minority student academic performance. His earlier work dealt with research on the self (e.g., self-image, self- affirmation) as well as the role of self-regulation in addictive behaviors. In 2010, he authored Whistling Vivaldi and Other Clues to How Stereotypes Affect Us, a book that summarized years of research on stereotype threat and the underperformance of minority students in higher education. A hallmark of his work is that it rigorously applies social science research to problems of major societal significance.

Professor Steele holds B.A. in Psychology from Hiram College, an M.A. in Social Psychology from Ohio State University, and a Ph.D. in Social Psychology and Statistical Psychology from Ohio State University. He also holds honorary doctorates from Yale University, Northwestern University, University of Chicago, University of Michigan, DePaul University, and Claremont Graduate University.

Throughout his career, Professor Steele has served in a number of major academic leadership positions, including Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost at UC Berkeley, the I. James Quillen Dean for the School of Education at Stanford University, and the 21st Provost of Columbia University. Past roles also include serving as the President of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology, President of the Western Psychological Association, member of the American Psychological Society Board of Directors, trustee of the Russell Sage Foundation, and trustee of the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation.

Among his many honors, Professor Steele has been elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the National Academy of Sciences, the National Science Board, the National Academy of Education, and the American Philosophical Society, and he is a Fellow of the American Institutes for Research and the American Academy of Political and Social Science.

In addition, he is the recipient of the Stanford University Dean's Teaching Award, American Psychological Association Senior Award for Distinguished Contributions to Psychology in the Public Interest, APA Distinguished Scientific Contribution Award, the American Psychological Society William James Fellow Award for Distinguished Scientific Career Contribution (2000), the Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues Gordon Allport Prize, the SPSSI Kurt Lewin Memorial Award, and the Donald Campbell Award from the Society for Personality and Social Psychology.