Rate My Professor Martha Arterberry

Martha Arterberry is the Clara C. Piper Professor of Psychology, Emerita, at Colby College. She earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Pomona College and a doctorate in child psychology from the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis. Arterberry began her academic career at Gettysburg College, where she taught for 13 years and rose to full professorship in the Department of Psychology. She also served there as assistant provost and interim vice-provost for three years. In 2007, she joined Colby College as a full professor with a mandate to refocus the Psychology Department. She chaired the department for three terms, coordinated its Colloquium Series for more than 10 years, advised the national psychology honor society Psi Chi since 2008, and oversaw the department's relocation to the new Davis Science Center in 2013. Her service extended to coordinating the Presidential Scholars Program for four years, the Colby Undergraduate Summer Research Retreat for two years, and serving on the Tenure Committee for six years.

As a developmental psychologist, Arterberry's research centers on infant and child cognition and development. She directed the Cognitive Development Lab at Colby, securing grant support from the Social Science Division, and fostered partnerships with early education programs in Waterville for student volunteering with 3- to 5-year-old children. From 1998 to 2019, she served as a collaborative investigator at the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. Her key publications include co-authoring Infancy: The Basics (Routledge, 2023), Development in Infancy (Routledge, 2024), and Development of Perception in Infancy: The Cradle of Knowledge Revisited (Oxford University Press, 2016) with Philip Kellman, along with numerous book chapters and professional articles. Arterberry is Editor-in-Chief of Infant Behavior and Development and served as editor of the Lifespan Development Section of Acta Psychologica for three years during its transition to open access. She retired from teaching in June 2025 after 18 years at Colby College.