Fulbright Scholar to join Department of English faculty
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Literature studies at Lipscomb University will take on a broader scope in spring semester with the addition of Rhonda Collier to the faculty.
Collier brings a "broad and very diverse range of experience to our department," said Dr. Matthew Hearn, professor of English and chair of the department.
That may be an understatement. Collier, a 2001 Fulbright Scholar who studied at the University of Sao Paulo (Brazil), holds bachelor's and master's degrees in industrial engineering from The University of Tennessee-Knoxville and Georgia Tech, respectively; a master of arts in English and a master of arts in comparative literature from The University of Tennessee-Chattanooga, and is scheduled to complete her doctorate in comparative literature at Vanderbilt University in December.
At Lipscomb, she will teach composition, American literature and world literature.
"Most world literature courses focus on English language literature because we as North Americans live in an English-speaking country. The advantage to having someone trained in comparative literature teaching the course is his or her ability to assist students in understanding the untranslatable aspects of certain texts. For example, if I am teaching a Brazilian or Cuban text, I may explain something that sounds odd because of the English-language translation and say to the student, 'this is what the text is really saying,'" Collier said.
Lipscomb's world literature course is based on Norton's Anthology of World Literature and includes texts from England, France, German, and Russia. "I hope to bring some Caribbean and South American texts to the course since these are my research interests," Collier said.
She recently returned from Cuba, where she conducted research for her doctoral dissertation on "Women and Words: Rewriting the Nation with Women's Voices." In Brazil and Cuba, she studied poets and activists to "get a sense of the literature produced by black women in both countries," she said.
Reared in a military family, Collier has lived in England and traveled extensively throughout Africa and Europe, and is fluent in Portuguese and Spanish. She has also lived in at least nine different states in the U.S., but says "I consider myself from Tennessee.
"Growing up as a 'military brat,' being a stranger looking into another culture, I looked for things that would make a place home," she said.
"As Christians, this world is not our spiritual home, but as human beings this world is our physical home. To know other literatures helps us understand our place in the world and how others see themselves so that we might better understand each other. For me, literature is a means of finding home and understanding what home means to others. Best of all, it's portable - you can take it wherever you go," Collier said.
Collier worked as an engineer with General Electric for six years. But as one who had enjoyed reading and writing poetry since childhood, she said she thought she would be happier teaching and made a prayerful decision to change careers.
Collier has been an active member of the church of Christ since age 13 and attends the Schrader Lane congregation in Nashville. While in Brazil, she was active with the 9 de julho congregation in Sao Paulo.
"One of the things that excites me about coming to Lipscomb is the university's mission work and how in the past they have sent teams of students to Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul and other places in Brazil," she said. "I am hoping to become involved in this work."