Pointlife
Professor Profile: A “Little” about John
The Pointer
jspra793@uwsp.edu
“I’ve always been kind of an art guy,” said John Little, assistant professor of media studies at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point.
His office, located in the Communication Arts Center, is full of the necessary tools for a man of his caliber ranging from cameras, lighting systems, tapes and blank DVD’s to stacks of papers containing grades, assignments and film information.
Although filming seems to be the lifelong work of Little, it would be impractical to disregard his past education in physics, as it has greatly impacted the direction of his career.
He acquired a physics degree at the University of California-Davis and his Master of Science at San José State University.
Little’s father, like himself, was also a physicist. His father graduated from West Point in 1957. Little’s grandfather graduated from Georgetown Law with a jurist doctorate and a Master of Business Administration at Stanford. Little is the eldest of four sisters and one brother.
Little’s work in physics focused on advanced electronics production systems with a firm called Alcatel, based out of France. He worked there for 10 years, the last three of which he lived in the French Alps in Haute-Savoie.
“My work in the world of physics was shockingly international,” said Little. “I flew over a million miles from the mid-1990s to the mid-2000s.”
Although he was responsible for multi-million dollar contracts and negotiations as well as producing highly sophisticated electronic equipment, Little felt his work to be unfulfilling.
He had always had an artistic outlet on the side, whether through filmmaking, photography or painting. He even enjoys brewing beer at his home, having just finished four batches “that turned out quite nicely,” said Little.
The narrow physics career he had chosen didn’t quite balance his aesthetic needs.
After leaving Alcatel and moving back to the United States, Little earned his Master of Fine Arts in science and natural history filmmaking at Montana State University. This led to his interest of becoming a professor.
He sent out a dozen applications and had final interviews with three universities, which he found to have interesting programs. UW-SP made the first offer which finalized his decision.
“I was very interested in pursuing an academic life—nine months of school, then three months of other interests—this time allowed for filming,” said Little.
Even though he has been teaching at UW-SP for less than one year, Little has led quite an ambitious life.
His television credits are comprised of short science documentaries for the Discovery and Science channels. In July, Little finished a long-term project with two UW-SP students for the Mesozoic Media Center at the Museum of the Rockies in Bozeman, Montana. In August, he completed “The Bark Beetle’s Bite,” a short documentary film on how global warming is affecting Alaskan territories.
Roughly a week from now, Little will be on his way to Oman as part of a Fulbright Scholarship. He has decided to extend his stay through August of 2009.
“I am extremely fortunate in my opportunity to teach and to be an ‘accidental’ diplomat through my upcoming Fulbright fellowship to Oman,” said Little. “My responsibility is to do my best to help my students distinguish good from bad, to appreciate beauty in the universe and to care about this marvelous but delicate world in which we live.”
He has several projects in the works for the 2010-2011 academic year. He may even do some filming in China.
It would be impossible to deduce exactly what Little’s future will hold. But one thing can be certain: he will be doing great things and changing many people’s lives.
“My goal is to leave this place in a better condition than it was in when I arrived,” said Little.
