Editor in chief of The Journal of Positive Psychology, author of three books on gratitude and UC Davis psychology professor Robert Emmons received a $5.6 million grant from the John Templeton Foundation for a three-year research project on gratitude.

According to its website, the John Templeton Foundation identifies itself as a philanthropic catalyst for discoveries that relate to human purpose and ultimate reality. It supports research on subjects such as free will, creativity and evolution.

“Gratitude is actually considered to be a Christian virtue, but instead of having a theological explanation for why we should feel grateful, [we] also have a scientific one just like when they supported research on meditation and how meditation can have positive psychological consequences,” said professor of psychology Dean Keith Simonton.

Emmons, who has been working with the foundation on developing a research initiative on gratitude, said that the core spiritual theme of gratitude was a central life principle to its founder, Sir John Templeton.

The study of gratitude falls under the area of positive psychology that focuses on human thriving, unlike disorders and traditional psychology.

“[Researchers] try to see what happens if you put more emphasis on those human virtues. And one of the things that Bob Emmons found was that gratitude is not only something you should do; you should be grateful for things. It has a positive impact not just on other people that you’re grateful [toward], but on you when you feel gratitude. In the early stages of this classic study, he showed that if you ask people to think of things that they should be thankful for, they feel happier,” Simonton said.

Researchers from UC Berkeley, California State University, Dominguez Hills and Hofstra University will be working with Emmons on this project. Research on the development of gratitude in adolescents and children is being conducted by Emmons and his colleagues as part of the research project.

In his research, Emmons is interested in the interaction between gratitude and spirituality, the influence of gratitude on feelings of success and pro-social behavior, according to psychologist and dean of the UC Davis Division of Social Sciences George R. Mangun.

“The idea of the grant is they’re going to try to create a practice of gratitude. These researchers from all these different institutions are going to be trying to develop methods to improve gratitude and to gather data to show how methods in the positive psychology might best be organized to help people,” Mangun said.

The grant will allow Emmons to look into the scientific database of gratitude.

“The goals of the initiative are to expand the scientific database of gratitude, particularly in the key areas of health, well-being and developmental science and by supporting leading-edge and visionary scientific research and to promote evidence-based practices of gratitude in medical, educational and organizational settings and in schools, workplaces, homes and communities,” Emmons said.

Aside from receiving a grant, the project will award grants ranging from $100,000 to $500,000 in support of innovative research.

Three hundred letters of inquiry have been received; however, only 12 to 15 will be funded, according to Emmons.

“Roughly $1,000,000 of the total funds will be driving research studies directed toward answering the following questions: What is the developmental trajectory of gratitude in children? What school-based interventions can promote sustainable increases in grateful character traits? Is there a critical period when the capacity for gratitude is best transmitted from an older to a younger generation? To what degree is gratitude predictive of positive outcomes such as school success, overall well-being, community service, resiliency, health behaviors and less risk taking?”  Emmons said.

The psychology department at UC Davis is ranked in the top 10 percent of psychology departments nationally due to the quality of research done by the faculty, according to Mangun.

“It’ll help continue to accelerate the reputation of the psychology department in the state and nationally, especially in the area of positive psychology,” said Mangun. “The grant was received because the work here is so well-recognized and respected, but on the other hand, once you receive it, you have to do even more research right and develop new knowledge.”

LILIANA NAVA OCHOA can be reached at campus@theaggie.org.

The revision proposes that Cal Grants, which has provided over $1.6 billion in aid to students, be connected to Pell Grants. This would make the amount that a student qualifies for in Cal Grants about the same in Pell Grants.

Many oppose this, as Pell Grants eligibility considers familial factors such as income and family size, while Cal Grants considers a student’s grade point average. This year, the maximum award that can be received in Pell Grants is $5,500, a $690 dollar increase from last year. The maximum Cal Grant that can be received for UC students is $12,192 and $5,472 for students at a CSU.

“This proposal changes the way we determine financial need and the governor is proposing in addition to the proposal he made in January to change GPA requirements as well as changing which institutions are eligible to participate in the Cal Grant program,” Fuentes-Michel said. “The Commission was concerned with other ways the budget problem could be addressed and basically feels that there are other options that should be considered.”

According to Fuentes-Michel, the University Office of the President  (UCOP) explained that the changes would affect less than 500 UC students who are currently in school as well.

CSAC announced that the commission had voted to oppose the proposed revision in a May 18 press release.

“Cal Grant students whose families incomes are $50,000 a year for a family of four would lose their Cal Grant award. This proposal would eliminate access for nearly 25,000 students,” stated commissioner Michele Siqueiros of the Campaign for College Opportunity in the release.“These students are the most financially needy students who, without Cal Grant aid, would not be able to attend college.”

The Commission announced that they are working toward opposing the proposal to align the Cal Grant program with federal methodology, the proposal to raise GPA requirements for students for Cal Grant eligibility and  the proposal to reduce the amounts of Cal Grants for students at private colleges and universities.

“We agree with the Institute for College Access and Success (TICAS), if we are going to make this major change, we should do so looking very carefully at all the issues that are affected in terms of… what their [students’] reward levels are and how it will impact their financial aid package,” Fuentes-Michel said.

TICAS has announced that if the revise is implemented, six percent of students would no longer be eligible and 31 percent would have their eligibility reduced.

According to UC spokesperson Brooke Converse, UCOP is opposed to the change.

“These latest proposals represent a real threat to students and to the university. In the past, UC has adopted a ‘share the pain’ approach, whereby those who suffered cuts in grant money would not be disproportionately burdened. All financial aid recipients, in other words, would have to work a little more, for example,” Converse said in an e-mail interview.

Fuentes-Michel said that CSAC is concerned with affecting the least number of students possible if budget cuts are necessary.

“The proposal is counterproductive and we need to look into ways that will be the best way to invest in education and students.”

The legislature will decide on Brown’s budget by June 15.

MUNA SADEK  can be reached at campus@theaggie.org.

A junior in a science class was referred to Student Judicial Affairs (SJA) after allegedly paying another student to take an exam for him. Another student in the class alerted the professor to the possible misconduct after overhearing the reported student discussing his future plans to cheat. Upon meeting with a Judicial Officer, the reported student said he was “only joking” and that he took the exam without help. The student claimed that he was “never planning to go through with it.” The professor was able to confirm that the student did in fact show up and take the exam himself by examining the student’s handwriting. The reported student was issued an Administrative Notice. An Administrative Notice serves as a formal notice of University policies regarding student conduct. Because the student was not found in violation of the UC Davis Code of Academic Conduct, he will not have a disciplinary record.

Be your own manual!

SJA received a referral for a sophomore physics student who had supposedly submitted a problem set that contained answers that were directly copied from the instructor’s manual. The professor had explicitly stated that students were not permitted to refer to the instructor’s manual for answers. It was evident to the professor that the student had simply copied the answers because his problem set had the same layout, formatting and particular steps taken as the ones in the manual. In addition, one of the answers that was listed in the instructor’s manual was incorrect, and the student had the same incorrect answer. The reported student admitted to copying from the instructor’s manual and agreed to be placed on Disciplinary Probation through Winter Quarter 2013. This means that if he is found in violation for academic misconduct again, he would likely face suspension or dismissal from the University.

Authentic work is better work

An anthropology major was reported to SJA for allegedly submitting a written assignment for a lower division sociology class that was nearly identical to another student’s work. The TA for the class noticed the striking similarities between the two students’ work and referred both students to SJA. The first student explained that he and the other student had worked on the assignment together in the library. He admitted that rather than doing his own work, he had simply copied off of the second student’s paper. The second student insisted that she didn’t know that her friend had simply copied her work. The first student agreed to Disciplinary Probation through Spring Quarter 2013 and 10 hours of community service. The second student was issued an Administrative Notice.