Although she hails from Los Angeles, California, new Assistant Professor of Psychology Jeri Little isn’t dreading the impending winter. After three years of living in St. Louis, Missouri, she is used to seeing snow on the ground.
“I’m an optimist,” she said. “We have snow in St. Louis. Last winter was hard on us, just as it was here. I’m definitely ready for a normal Michigan winter. I think that I can become more prepared for a hard Michigan winter.”
This year marked Little’s first year in the Psychology department, and she has already nestled into campus life.
“I like Hillsdale a lot. I really thought I would like it a lot but I like my job more than I thought,” Little said.
While Hillsdale is Little’s first tenure track teaching position, she has taught before. Little taught at her alma mater, University of California Los Angeles, right after graduate school. Little said that she appreciates the smaller classes here. At UCLA her classes were at least 50 students.
“I just really like the change to get to know students better and to have more interactive classes,” Little said.
This semester Little is teaching two introductory classes and one cognitive psychology class, her speciality.
“I’m interested in the education aspects or implications of cognitive psychology. So cognitive psychology is the study of how we perceive, remember, how we think about the world, how we make decisions about the world on the basis, largely, of our prior experiences. The implications of that for education are pretty clear,” Little said.
Even though cognitive psychology is her area of concentration, Little said that she still loves teaching introductory psychology classes.
“The topics that we explore in intro are a little more broad and we get to explore nature vs. nurture and determinism vs.. free will, these kinds of broader things. That’s kind of fun and interesting,” she said.
In addition to teaching, Little is also conducting research. She is working with four different students, exploring her interests in cognitive psychology and its implications for education. The students also had a hand in choosing and developing the projects.
Senior Elisabeth Wolcott is conducting research with Little and has enjoyed the process.
“I’ve had a great experience working with Dr. Little. She’s fun to work with and is passionate about her research. I’m really thankful for the opportunity to gain more experience and to work with someone with a background in both teaching and professional research,” Wolcott said.
Kari McArthur, head of Hillsdale’s psychology department, is also glad that Little is here.
“She’s a great asset to the department,” McArthur said.
Professor McArthur also said that Little’s research is not just relevant to the department but is also applicable to other disciplines.
Little has found things about Hillsdale that she loves.
“I like to run and I found the Baw Beese trail that goes past the lakes and I love it. When I was living in St. Louis, I didn’t have anything, any running place, that I liked as much as that,” Little said.
Even though Little doesn’t mind the snow and has found a running route, there are some things that she misses about big city living. Three of which she can list off immediately:
Target, Trader Joe’s, and Whole Foods.
