 She graduated from the University of Michigan with a bachelor's degree in botany and biology and continued her studies in botany, obtaining a Doctorate from the University of Michigan in 1943.Her graduate studies focused on the cytogenetics of the evening primrose.Jotter's mentor at the University of Michigan, Elzada Clover, invited her to join a boating expedition along the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon in the summer of 1938, during her graduate studies.