Laura Little

Laura Little is a cultural historian and language educator whose teaching and research span Russia, Eastern Europe, and the Baltic region. Her interests include literature, migration, unofficial artistic communities, and the relationships among language, place, and cultural memory.

Before completing her Ph.D., Little worked for a refugee resettlement program at the U.S. Embassy in Moscow and as a curriculum development specialist at the Defense Language Institute in Monterey, California. At Connecticut College, Little teaches courses in English and Russian on literature, film, protest, migration, and U.S.–Soviet relations. Courses such as Utopia/Dystopia, Cold War Cultures, and Migration and Eastern Europe invite students to explore historical and political questions through fiction, poetry, film, and other forms of cultural expression. Her developing teaching interests include Russian America and the intertwined histories and cultures of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania, the focus of a new course called The Baltic Way.

Little’s work in Baltic Studies connects classroom teaching, study away, and research. In 2025, she and Associate Professor of English Jeff Strabone designed and taught an innovative study-away program in Latvia and Estonia that focused on media literacy, information warfare, and the nationalism of small nations on the borders of Russia. Her recent research on Baltic convents and Leningrad unofficial culture, presented at the Association for Women in Slavic Studies conference in Riga, explores connections between religious communities and artistic life under Soviet rule.

Little’s scholarship examines the literature and culture of the late Soviet underground, with particular attention to poet Elena Shvarts. Her book project explores the creation of sacred space in Shvarts’s life and works. She is currently preparing a contribution to the Oxford Handbook of Soviet Underground Culture; her recent research also considers sound recordings, translation, and cultural memory in Leningrad’s unofficial artistic communities.

Her publications include:

• “Tradition, Transformed: Two Dedication Poems by Elena Shvarts” in Form and Transformation in Soviet Underground Writing (University of Toronto Press, 2026).
• “Elena Shvarts. ‘Myslei svityi shar’: lektsii o metafizicheskoi shkole leningradskoi poezii,” published in the Wiener Slawistischer Almanach series (2024).
• “Starry-Eyed: Elena Shvarts as the ‘Girl with One Hundred Forty-Eight Birthmarks,’” Slavic and East European Journal 66.3.

Little mentors independent studies and honors theses on a wide range of topics, helping students develop projects around their own interests and intellectual goals. She also advises students on language study, including independent learning, intensive summer programs, and opportunities for study away.

As Faculty Director of the Global Learning Lab, Little supports language learning and globally engaged teaching across the College. Her work includes the Structured Independent Language Study program, which enables students to pursue languages beyond the regular curriculum, and programming that brings students into conversation across languages and cultures.