Valerie Jordan For Valerie Jordan, the chicken and egg question is not which came first, the chicken or the egg, rather, which came first – the joke or the cartoon? “People remember jokes,” she says. “I don’t remember jokes, but I can remember cartoons.” An avid cartoon collector, Jordan owns every book there ever was of her favorite cartoon, Peanuts. She also has every anthology of the New Yorker Magazine cartoons. New Yorker Magazine was where her interest began as a child. That and the Saturday Evening Post, although it no longer exists. She remembers helping her mother edit a book of cartoons on the stock market in the 1950s. She has since expanded her interests to include other comics like the Far Side, and has gotten her children into the hobby as well. “It’s gone on multi-generational,” she says. Jordan often brings cartoons into the classroom to illustrate ideas to her students. “Using cartoons, for me, is an easy way of bringing some relevant humor into the classroom,” she says. The idea that a picture is worth 1,000 words is one of the reasons Jordan enjoys comics. “I’ve realized I’m a visual learner,” she says. “The cartoons really can capture content. Describing or depicting a concept visually just works for me.” Jordan also collects turtles. She says this is not only because she had a pet turtle as a child, but because she identified with the story of the tortoise and the hare. “That story kind of resonated with me,” she says, regarding the idea that slow and steady wins the race. The turtles in her office are not the only thing green. Jordan enjoys gardening and indoor plants. “It’s a challenge to find the right plant for the right spot,” says Jordan, adding that where there is light or a window there should be plants. She also enjoys walking and gentle hiking either locally or on vacation, because traveling is an interest as well. She says she typically enjoys visiting places where she can learn about things that have to do with history and archeology. Archeology has always been of interest to Jordan, who refers to herself as “an amateur archeology buff.” A clinical psychologist, Jordan likes to help people. Learning about others is intellectually stimulating, she says. “Helping people work through very different events in their lives or different issues is very rewarding.” When she came to the University in 1982, Jordan says she did not realize she would have such wonderful opportunities to grow professionally. When she arrived she helped launch the doctoral program and she was asked to help start the counseling center. The counseling center is still up and running today, providing free counseling to ULV students, and an opportunity for masters and doctorate level students to train under the supervision of a licensed clinician. “That’s really unusual to have that sort of climate at an institution where ideas can come into life,” she says. “It’s an example of opportunities here. I’ve had many wonderful professional opportunities here that I don’t think I would have had at other institutions. And I didn’t realize it at the time, but I really enjoy a small campus. It’s just a very special feeling at La Verne. That personal touch is a very good fit for me.” THE PROFESSOR “I would hope that I’m very thorough, that I’m very well prepared. I hope I’m very approachable. I really believe teaching is a collaborative process.” RETURN TO FACULTY LISTmailto:JORDANV@ulv.edu?subject=HELLOHome.htmlshapeimage_2_link_1
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