News Releases

April 20, 2011
For Immediate Release
For additional information: 
Barbara Kerr, APR
Executive Director of Communications and Marketing
Telephone: 360-992-2921
Email: bkerr@clark.edu

  

This is your brain on bias

 

On Tuesday, May 3, Dr. Kathy Bobula,
professor of early childhood education and psychology
at Clark College, will explore how people develop
biased attitudes about others as the college concludes
its 2010-2011 Faculty Speaker Series


VANCOUVER, Wash. – How do we develop biased attitudes about others who are different from us?  That question is at the heart of the spring 2011 Faculty Speaker Series presentation at Clark College.  Dr. Kathy Bobula, professor of early childhood education and psychology, will address how bias is acquired, both consciously and unconsciously, by looking at both the neuroscience of bias and learning theory. 

The presentation will be held on Tuesday, May 3, from 4-5:30 p.m. in rooms 258 B&C in the Penguin Union Building on Clark’s main campus.

Clark College is located at 1933 Fort Vancouver Way, Vancouver. Driving directions and parking maps are available at www.clark.edu/maps.

Dr. Bobula said, “After taking a look at the brain and how it works, we’ll examine how bias is processed and how bias can be reversed or removed.  What the brain can learn, the brain can relearn in a different way.  New imaging techniques have allowed researchers to discover what is happening in the brain when we acquire biased attitudes and stereotypes.  With this understanding comes hope for change – the brain is dynamic, so let’s work with it and ‘take a bite out of bias.’”

About Dr. Kathy Bobula

Dr. Kathy BobulaDr. Kathy Bobula is a professor of early childhood education and psychology at Clark College. 

After joining the college in 1982, she coordinated Clark’s Department of Early Childhood Education until 2006. In addition to teaching at Clark, Bobula is a faculty member in the Graduate Certificate Program in Infant/Toddler Mental Health at Portland State University.  She has been teaching about child development and working with young children and parents for more than 40 years.

Bobula began studying about brain development in the mid-1980s and has been teaching and conducting workshops about brain development ever since. Some of her recent keynote addresses and workshops include: “Shall We Dance? The Social Brain” (2007); “Relationships: It's the Human Way” (2008);“Brain Science Meets Early Childhood Development–A Timely Convergence” (2009); and “Self-Regulation and the Developing Brain” (2009).

Bobula received Bachelor of Science and Master of Science degrees in Family and Child Development from Ohio State University in 1967 and 1969, respectively. She earned a Ph.D. in Urban Studies from Portland State University in 1996 with two field concentrations: Human Development and Policy Analysis. The title of her dissertation is: “Characteristics of Administrators’ Leadership Style in Quality Child Care Centers.”

Her professional experience also includes being a teacher-caregiver in both full and part-day early childhood programs with children from birth through six years of age. She has been a teacher of young children in Head Start, Early Head Start, two campus-based programs, two parent cooperatives, and a Native American tribal preschool.

Bobula has a website entitled: “Developing Brains: Ideas for Parenting and Education from the New Brain Science.”  The web address is www.developingbrains.org.

About the Clark College Faculty Speaker Series

The Faculty Speaker Series, established by Clark College with support from the Clark College Foundation, honors individual faculty members and celebrates academic excellence.  

The Faculty Speaker Series showcases experiences that have enriched both the life and teaching of a Clark faculty member.  Throughout the series, faculty members share their developmental experiences with the college community – and members of the community at large – while addressing some of today’s most intriguing issues.  

Past Faculty Speaker Series discussions have focused on rich and diverse topics including the Fulbright international teaching experience and sustainable food choices as well as timely discussions of issues relating to health, science, writing and art.                                                           

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