I am a person who finds inspiration in other people’s journeys, and last week, I had the chance to connect with Professor Camesha F. Little to hear more about her story. I met Professor Little early this summer, and she’s been motivating me ever since. So, when I was thinking about who to feature in this week’s blog post, I almost immediately thought of her.
While talking to Professor Little, there was a noticeable theme in her life. It’s more like a thread that has pulled her purpose together. That thread is education: who gets access to it, how it is delivered, and how systems can change so more students can thrive.
With her permission, I’m sharing some of the gems she shared with me during our talk. I hope this piece leaves you feeling encouraged but also challenged (like it challenged me) to keep growing personally and professionally to discover the thread in your own life.
Her Background
Professor Little is from Arlington, Texas. She earned a Bachelor of Social Work from Baylor University and a J.D. from Texas A&M University School of Law. She is an Associate Professor of Law at the University of Detroit Mercy School of Law. She previously served as Assistant Dean of Student Affairs and Director of Academic Support and Bar Programming at Gonzaga University School of Law, National Director of Helix Bar Review, and Assistant Director of Academic Support at Texas A&M.
Why did you decide to attend law school after earning a BSW?
I studied social work because I had a heart for changing the education system. My formative years left a strong impression on me about the inequities in education.
My grandparents taught for many years in a small Texas town. They taught through desegregation and were revered by Black people and white people alike, across generations. When I was eight or nine, political decisions in Texas threatened education workers’ access to their pensions and retirement funds. I watched my grandparents, in their 60s or 70s, go down to Austin and march for those rights. I could not make sense of the disconnect between how their community regarded them and how they were being treated by the system they served.
In elementary school, a cousin who lived in a different part of town and I compared notes about school. I was floored to learn she did not have access to textbooks, and it sounded like she had gone without them for a while. My own experience was middle class and privileged by comparison, and the two experiences produced different outcomes. I was outraged about those disparities at an early age. I once thought I wanted to become a primary education specialist. But as a very defiant child, I vowed never to go into a system that did not value my worth and where I could not make real systemic change.
Social work studies social systems. It let me take a macro lens to educational systems and structures and to places where advocacy could make them better. I worked for a while at Communities In Schools, on funding support for educators and students. That work was empowering, but it was not enough. Law school let me keep studying our systems from the legal side and find where advocacy and change could happen from that lens.
Was working in academia always the goal?
Yes and no. I always wanted to teach, and to do it at a higher level. The way it evolved felt natural and organic. There were times when, because of the traditional hierarchies and structures, I did not believe I would be able to do it. Ultimately, at every turn I kept studying the craft of education.
I think highly of academic support and bar professionals, and I hope others in this space do too. I once heard Kris Franklin refer to ASP Faculty as the teaching and learning experts in legal education. I firmly believe that, and I leaned into it. I read the early scholarship from the scholars who came before me. I made sure I understood modern learning science, and I built it into my work as an academic support educator. Early on I was also instructing adjuncts and others in my legal community on teaching and learning. That is when I realized I could do traditional doctrinal teaching too, given the opportunity. Each opportunity built out my skill set for the next one.
What led to you stepping away from academia, and what led you to return?
There was a point when I thought I was done with legal education altogether. I get frustrated by models that continue to harm underrepresented students: the curve, and policies and financial structures that work against them.
In my dean of students role, I was often the person who had to deliver that information. That is part of why I stepped away to Helix Bar Review, a nonprofit bar review provider. I wanted distance from academia and room to consider returning to the private sector.
During that time I worked with a professional coach. That experience helped me see that I enjoy teaching and want to use the teaching and learning expertise I built over the years. It also helped me see that I like being a researcher and a scholar. I had to work through some personal writing blocks first. Now that I can set aside time for research, I enjoy it.
Why do you still serve in academic support?
I do not think of academic support as an “other.” I think of it as a required integration. Academic support is the backbone of teaching, pedagogy, and learning theory. That aids me well in my doctrinal work.
I believe more doctrinal faculty should lean into teaching, writing, scholarship, and research of people in academic support. As a profession, we deliver substantive expertise and, for many of us, practical experience. We in the legal profession owe it to our students to deliver it better by relying upon the expertise of the teaching and learning researchers in our profession.
You can see that in my scholarship. My first piece, Think, Reflect, Refine[1], critiques the Socratic method and offers an additional pedagogy. I have been in this space for more than 12 years. I feel legal academia is finally taking a turn toward more intentional delivery of content. Curiosity about teaching, pedagogy, and learning should be part of any faculty member’s role.
What message do you have for people new to academic support?
Find the thing you are really passionate about. Then read up, and foster mentor relationships intentionally.
Scholarship and mentors
Many mentors told me scholarship is the capital in this space. It is one form of capital, and an important one that I could not appreciate for a long time. As I dove into the research, I saw that many people are writing about the very things that matter to us. Teaching and learning scholarship is becoming more valued in the academy, as it should be.
Beyond Everett Chambers, I have been mentored and fed into by DeShun Harris, James McGrath, Paula Manning, Marsha Griggs, Cassie Christopher, Jendayi Saada, Marta Young, and Charlotte Taylor, among many others. They were willing to share their pathways and what they valued in the roles they held. I was never a person who had to learn the hard way. I took in information and applied it intentionally to my life.
Leading as an administrator
Lead with the needs of the institution and the students, and with what best practice would be at your school. That helped me as an Assistant Director at Texas A&M and as a Director and Assistant Dean at Gonzaga.
At Gonzaga I came in as a team of one to build out a program. Dean of Students responsibilities were added to my role, and I had not expected to take them on. I worked to help leadership and faculty buy into the idea that best practice in academic and bar support is a team of multiple professionals. I championed finding the money and rethinking the structure. I was fortunate to have a faculty and an administration committed to serving our students. It was a real divine alignment.
You are a lawyer and an advocate. Use those persuasive skills. Never let anybody in the building let you forget that you have your JD, and often practice experience, to rely on as a change agent in your own space.
Boundaries
Be mindful of your boundaries. About a year ago, Paula Manning and Marsha Griggs gave an impactful presentation on the art of saying no. You cannot do it all. Academic support and bar offices often become a catch-all in the building. That is not in your students’ best interest, and it is not in yours for long-term well-being.
Professor Little’s Upcoming Article:
“Many Shades of Blue: Gender, Grief, and Well-Being in Legal Education,” will be released soon.
In this piece, Professor Little argues that grief is a structural feature of legal education rather than an accident of it, and that grief literacy belongs on the list of competencies we are obligated to teach.
Follow her on LinkedIn for release updates.
(Kiana Wilson)
[1] Camesha Little, Think, Reflect, Refine: Shaping the Modern Lawyer, 28 U.D.C. L. Rev. (2025).
Available at: https://digitalcommons.law.udc.edu/udclr/vol28/iss1/9critiques the Socratic method and offers an additional pedagogy. I have been in this space for more than 12 years. I feel legal academia is finally taking a turn toward more intentional delivery of content. Curiosity about teaching, pedagogy, and learning should be part of any faculty member’s role.
