In 2005 we held the sixth "Fall Institute on Racism, Heterosexism, Bias and Oppression." Dr. Teresa LaFromboise, Dr. Shawn Utsey, and Dr. William Cross, were our key note speakers. Dr. Shahin Sakhi, offered a pre / post Fall Institute Workshop, entitled "Bias, Authority, Power and Human Rights: Who Should Change? What Should Be Done? When and Where? By Who and How?" In addition to keynote addresses we scheduled an array of workshops, lunch hour lectures and films. A copy of the 2005 Fall Institute is appended to this letter.

We continue the tradition this year and have introduced a special topic for our learning. The theme of the 2009 Fall Institute on Racism, Heterosexism, Bias and Oppression is "Visible and Invisible Stigma: Living in a Culture with Expectations of Perfection". A subject matter of this scope allows us to invite a broad array of scholars to the table and to appeal to diverse communities. Dr. Michelle Williams, from the University of Connecticut, Dr. Thomas Pruzinsky, Professor of Psychology from Quinnipiac University and Dr. Mark Leary, Professor of Psychology from Duke University have been invited as keynote speakers. Dr. Williams' expertise is in the area of racial identity, racism and understanding race-related stress. Dr. Pruzinsky's expertise is in the area of facial distinctions and the psychological effects of reconstructive surgery and Dr. Leary is an internationally recognized scholar in the area of the fundamental human need for acceptance and belonging, and the emotional and interpersonal consequences of feeling inadequately accepted.

Dr. Shahin Sakhi will return to offer pre and post Fall Institute workshops. Dr. Sakhi is an Iranian American scholar and clinician from the University of California, Los Angeles. His workshop is titled, "The Audacity of Self-Reflection: Maintaining Authenticity and Equanimity in a Biased World." This workshop is designed to help participants better understand the complexity of cultural relations in a dynamic and diverse environment that may retain anachronistic expectations of the other regarding appearance, epistemology and kinship. Similar workshops, offered in 2003 and 2005 were quite popular among students, faculty, staff, administration, and community members. In addition to keynote addresses we have scheduled an array of workshops, lunch hour lectures and films.

This year, we are very pleased to announce that we will collaborate with two psychologists from the University of Connecticut who have launched the Minority Achievement Program (MAP). This effort identifies undergraduate scholars from under-represented groups at the University of Connecticut and assists these individuals in career planning and graduate school admissions. Drs. Bede Agocha and Michelle Wiliams, in addition to presenting workshops and keynote addresses at the Fall Institute, will bring 8 undergraduate students from the Minority Achievement Program to the 2009 Fall Institute. Owen Daniel-McCarter, Esq., UVM alumni and Director of the Transformative Justice Law Project of Illinois will offer a workshop "Transgendered and Gender Non-Conforming Detainees: Creating Community and Affirming Resilience in Correctional Facilities. Additional workshops, lunch hour lectures and films are planned.

The Department of Psychology has provided opportunities for UVM scholars from other disciplines to offer lectures and workshops during the Fall Institute. Other departments within the College of Arts and Sciences and College of Education and Social Services (e.g., Sociology, Women's Studies, ALANA Studies, English, History, Education and Counseling Psychology) have urged their students to attend Fall Institute events. Students receive academic credit for attending events and have the opportunity to participate in discussions with the speakers. Every speaker will spend time with the university community (faculty, students and staff) engaging in scholarly discourse. Our graduate students have had the opportunity to network with invited scholars. This has proven quite useful when graduate students apply for lucrative post-doctoral positions. We anticipate that between 900 - 1,500 students, faculty, staff, and community members will attend this year's program.

We also have an extensive community outreach effort to encourage Vermont colleges, community organizations, and spiritual communities to attend Fall Institute events. We have arranged for the Vermont Psychological Association to offer continuing education credit for psychologists attending any of the Fall Institute events. This year we are in the process of arranging continuing education credit for social workers and counseling psychologists as well. It should be remembered that all Fall Institute events are free and open to the public.

Dr. Leary is a Fellow of the American Psychological Association, the Society for Social Psychology, and the Association for Psychological Science as well as a member of the Society of Experimental and Social Psychologists, the International Association for Relationship Research, the International Society for Self and Identity, and the Society for Southeastern Social Psychologists.

His research interests are in social and personality psychology around topics involving the self, interpersonal motivation and emotion, and interfaces of social and clinical psychology. He is particularly interested in how people's behavior and emotion are affected by their concerns about others' impressions, evaluations and acceptance of them. Recently he has become interested in the ways in which people's inner self-talk creates personal and social problems.

Dr Sakhi provides consultation and coaching in organizational management, leadership and development, as well as working individually or in groups with members of organizations who need help in better understanding and adapting to an impermanent work environment.