Faculty

Patricia (Tish) Jennings
Ph.D., University of California Davis, 2004

Research Associate, Prevention Research Center for the Promotion of Human Development

Director, Initiative on Contemplation and Education, Garrison Institute

Contact Information

S126 Henderson Building

 

Paj16@psu.edu

 

http://www.prevention.psu.edu/

 

Research Interests

 

As a prevention scientist, to apply my knowledge of the social and emotional dynamics of educational settings to create interventions that enhance teachers’ capacity to provide a supportive and engaging social and emotional context for academic learning. This involves conducting evaluative, efficacy, effectiveness, and dissemination research to determine whether these intervention efforts are effective and sustainable in educational settings. My basic research centers on the development of wisdom, social and emotional competence, mindful awareness, and resilience across the lifespan and its relationship to healthy adaptation.

 

Examples of Current Prevention Projects

 

Cultivating Emotional Balance in the Classroom (CEBC)

Fetzer Institute

Garrison Institute

Start Date: 2007

The aim of this project, currently being conducted at San Francisco State University, is to replicate the findings of the Cultivating Emotional Balance (CEB) project that demonstrated positive effects of the CEB intervention on numerous measures of well-being in a sample of teachers and to determine whether these improvements translate into improvements in teacher classroom behavior.

Recent Publications

 

Levenson, M. R., Jennings, P. A., D’Mello, M., Le, T., & Aldwin, C. M. (2004). Happiness in the midst of change: A human development approach to studying Gross National Happiness (GNH) in the context of economic development. In K. Ura & K. Galay (Eds.), Gross National happiness and development. Thimphu, Bhutan: Centre for Bhutan Studies.

 

Levenson, M. R., Jennings, P. A., Aldwin, C. M., & Shiraishi, R. W. (2005). Self-transcendence: conceptualization and measurement. The International Journal of Aging and Human Development, 60, 127-143.

 

Jennings, P. A., Levenson, M. R., Aldwin, C. M., Spiro, A., & Mroczek, D. K. (2006). Combat exposure, perceptions of military service, and wisdom: Findings from the Normative Aging Study. Research on Aging: A Bimonthly on Aging and the Life Course, Special Issue: Wartime Military Service, Aging, and the Life Course, 28, 115-134.

 

Jennings, P. A. & Greenberg, M. T. (in press). The prosocial classroom: Teacher social and emotional competence in relation to child and classroom outcomes. Review of Educational Research.

 

Jennings, P. A. (2008). Contemplative education and youth development. New Directions in Youth Development, Special Issue: Spiritual Development, 118, 101-105.