KU recruits Yale researcher for scientific leadership

LAWRENCE -- The Schiefelbusch Institute for Life Span Studies and the Department of Psychology at the University of Kansas have recruited Yale University research psychologist Todd D. Little.

Little will serve as the scientific director of the Research, Design and Analysis Core Support Program of the Life Span Institute and as associate professor in the Department of Psychology.

"This is an extraordinary opportunity for the Life Span Institute and the university," said Steven Warren, Life Span director. "Professor Little is advancing the understanding of human development and behavior through his innovations in quantitative methodology."

Little will provide overall scientific leadership in research design and analysis for the more than 70 researchers at the Life Span Institute in Lawrence, Kansas City and Parsons.

Before beginning his tenure at Yale in 1998 as an assistant professor of psychology and director of the Yale Agency Lab, Little was a faculty research scientist at the prestigious Center for Life Span Psychology at the Max Planck Institute for Human Development in Berlin.

He received his doctorate in developmental psychology from the University of California in Riverside in 1988 under the directorship of noted quantitative psychologist Keith F. Widaman.

"Dr. Little is a tremendous addition to the psychology department both as a teacher and researcher," said Gregory Simpson, psychology department chair. "As procedures for analyzing psychological data become more sophisticated, there is increased demand for scholars of Dr. Little's ability."

Creative researcher Patricia Hawley, Little's wife, also will join the KU faculty as an assistant professor of psychology.

"We are thrilled that Dr. Hawley is coming to KU, as she has an outstanding teaching record and her research provides an excellent complement to the existing strengths of the department," said Simpson.

Her research is innovative and unique in its consideration of the evolutionary basis of children's social interaction in groups.

Hawley received her doctorate from the University of California in Riverside in 1994. She held a postdoctoral fellowship at the Max Planck Institute for Human Development from 1994 to 1998 and has served as a research affiliate at Yale University and an assistant professor at Southern Connecticut State University since 1999.

The Schiefelbusch Institute for Life Span Studies finds research-based solutions for the challenges of human and community development, disabilities, and aging.