Professor
Mary Jane Collier, Ph.D., is an internationally recognized
scholar and trainer in intercultural communication. She has conducted research
and facilitated workshops on communicating around cultural difference, alliance
relationships, conflict management, and community engagement in international
contexts such as the Middle East, Southern Africa, and Northern Ireland. She
has worked with international, national, and local nonprofit organizations
advocating for justice and ameliorating poverty for diverse communities, women,
and youth. Her most recent project focuses on the effects of experiential and
applied teaching strategies on learners’ abilities to acknowledge cultural
differences, understand contextual influences, and practice conflict
management, dialogue, and community building.
Professor Collier earned her Ph.D. in interpersonal, group
and intercultural communication from the University of Southern California; she
has held tenured faculty appointments at the University of Denver, Oregon State
University, and California State University, Los Angeles. She served as Director
of the Doctoral Program and was named Professor Emerita in Communication at the
University of New Mexico in 2018. She has been a Visiting Fellow at the
University of Cape Town, South Africa; Birkbeck College, University of London;
and Corrymeela Center for Reconciliation, Northern Ireland. She is a
past-president of the Western States Communication Association. She was editor
of volumes 23-25 of The International and Intercultural Communication
Annual, published by SAGE. She has written and edited five books including
her most recent entitled, Community Engagement as Intercultural Praxis. Her
work appears in the Journal of International and Intercultural
Communication, Negotiation and Conflict Management Research, Departures
in Critical Qualitative Research, Journal of Applied Communication,
International Journal of Intercultural Relations, Women’s Studies in
Communication, Communication Monographs, Communication Quarterly, the Western
Journal of Communication, as well as various edited books.
Professor Collier has received the lifetime Distinguished
Service Award from the Western States Communication Association, the Feminist
Scholarship Award from the Organization of Research on Women and Communication
twice, and the Scholarship Award from the International and Intercultural
Communication Division of the National Communication Association. She was given
an Outstanding Faculty Award by the Center for Multicultural Excellence at the
University of Denver, and graduate students in Communication & Journalism
at the University of New Mexico presented her with an Outstanding Professor
Award.
Professor Collier assists with the teaching and coaching of
the communication curriculum in the Veterinary Communication for Professional
Excellence Program. Her research includes analysis of communication strategies
for effective partnerships between veterinarians and clients, working with
cultural differences to enhance collaboration in clinical and practice
settings, and expanding relationships with diverse communities. She was born
and raised in Colorado. Springer Spaniels have been a longstanding family
tradition and have been her companions for many years.