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President's Column Once more, with gratitude!
A news article
recently appeared
in our local paper
about a psychology
professor at the
University of California,
Davis, who has
co-authored a book
on the beneficial
effects of gratitude:Thanks: How the New Science of Gratitude Can
Make You Happier (Houghton Mifflin).
Being a long-time advocate for the importance
of fostering a “culture of gratitude” on
college campuses, I was heartened to have scientific
support for what I have long observed and
believed. I have noticed repeatedly over the years
that the happiest people I have known are quick
to say “thanks” and even quicker to give credit
to others for helping them along the way. The
most successful people I have known have a
habit of calling themselves lucky and identifying
key mentors and guides who have helped them
become a success.
Robert Emmons, the author of Thanks, notes
that grateful people “experience higher levels of
joy and other positive emotions. They also seem
to be less bothered by minor illnesses and actually
take better care of their health.” Emmons also
notes that gratitude is the opposite of an attitude
of personal autonomy. That means acknowledging
you’re dependent on others.” As Emmons
notes, this is not easy for some folks to do.
It is my hope that every student at Albright will
have a spirit of gratitude for all the gifts they have
been given—certainly for their intellectual, physical
and spiritual gifts, which are an inheritance
from their families, but also for the many helping
hands that have brought them to the gates of the
College and the many others that will help them
successfully complete their courses of study.
Some of these benefactors are obvious. They
include loving parents and other family members
who have sacrificed for their children, as well as
caring teachers, coaches, counselors and ministers
who have helped prepare their charges for life.
Not so obvious to many college students,
however, are the thousands of benefactors who
have sacrificed and contributed to the very existence
of the College from its founding to the present
time. I like to share with students one of my
favorite fantasies that at any given moment at
almost any time of day or night, some alumnus or
friend of the College is sitting down and writing a
check for The Fund for Albright.
I ask the students why they suppose these
donors are writing those checks. With a little
prodding it usually dawns on them that these
gifts reflect the donors’ belief in our mission, in
our work with the students, in the promise they
have of using their Albright education to make the
world a better place. They are also expressing
their own gratitude for the varied ways in which
Albright touched their lives.
During the 2007-2008 year, we will have
many opportunities to foster this culture of gratitude
on the campus. As you can read elsewhere in
The Reporter, we have much to celebrate.
It’s probably too early to draw a direct connection,
but our admission statistics have shown
impressive strength. The Class of 2011 is the largest
in the history of the College selected from the
largest pool of applicants. We were also deeply
gratified to see a substantial jump in retention of
current students over the prior year.
One of my colleagues said that the campus
just seemed a happy place to be. I hope that’s
because the spirit of gratitude is spreading. I am
deeply grateful for all of these blessings! (And
feeling pretty happy, too!) If you’ve not been to
campus lately, please come see us. I think you’ll
be impressed—and grateful!
Lex O. McMillan III, Ph.D.
President |
