When Hooker was ready to return to work at Whittier, she found that she could not return. The heads at Whittier were afraid of her because she had spent a year living in a totalitarian Europe. She and several other staff were let go because they were suspected of subversive behavior. As a result, she applied for work in the psychology department at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). The chair of the psychology department at UCLA at the time was Knight Dunlap, Hooker's mentor from Johns Hopkins. Dunlap said he would like to give her a job, but they already had three female faculty members and they were “cordially disliked”. She was able to get a position as a research associate, however. Hooker quickly gained a reputation as a brilliant teacher and researcher. She stayed at UCLA for 31 years, where she conducted research and taught experimental and physiological psychology until 1970 when she went into private practice.