UCI professor to receive honorary doctorate from Finland’s Jyvaskyla University
Jacquelynne Eccles will be recognized for pioneering work in developmental psychology
Irvine, Calif., Aug. 12, 2016 – Jacquelynne Eccles, Distinguished Professor of education at the University of California, Irvine, is accepting an honorary Ph.D. from the University of Jyvaskyla Friday, Aug. 12 for her pioneering developmental psychology research on motivation and learning. It’s the first time the Finnish university has bestowed an honorary doctorate on a psychologist.
“I’m quite honored,” Eccles said. “I’m particularly proud to receive this award because it reflects on the great contributions my students and colleagues have made over the past 40 years in the field of motivation.”
A principal investigator for the international Pathways to Adulthood postdoctoral fellowship program, she has supervised and mentored many Finnish scholars through research projects on productive youth development.
“The basic motivational research I do translates well across countries, which is the key to successful collaboration,” Eccles said. “We conduct long-term, sustained research that involves social tracking of young people and how they make decisions while in high school that have major consequences in adulthood. Themes of gender, socialization, teacher expectations, classroom influences and social development in the family and at school are applicable around the world and make for interesting international comparisons.”
While in Finland, she also will deliver two colloquium addresses: “Expectancy-Value Theory & Gendered Educational & Occupational Choices” at the University of Jyvaskyla and “Social Group Membership as a Context for Development During Adolescence” at the University of Helsinki.
About the University of California, Irvine: Founded in 1965, UCI is the youngest member of the prestigious Association of American Universities. The campus has produced three Nobel laureates and is known for its academic achievement, premier research, innovation and anteater mascot. Led by Chancellor Howard Gillman, UCI has more than 30,000 students and offers 192 degree programs. It’s located in one of the world’s safest and most economically vibrant communities and is Orange County’s second-largest employer, contributing $5 billion annually to the local economy. For more on UCI, visit www.uci.edu.
Media access: Radio programs/stations may, for a fee, use an on-campus ISDN line to interview UCI faculty and experts, subject to availability and university approval. For more UCI news, visit wp.communications.uci.edu. Additional resources for journalists may be found at communications.uci.edu/for-journalists.