Merle Collins to Give Lecture and be Recognized as a Distinguished Scholar-Teacher

Merle Collins, respected scholar of Caribbean literature and culture, will give a lecture today on Louise Langdon Norton Little, mother of Malcolm X.

Merle Collins is a writer of fiction, poetry, and critical essays. Her publications include novels Angel and The Colour of Forgetting, short story collections Rain Darling and The Ladies are Upstairs, poetry collections Because the Dawn Breaks, Rotten Pomerack and Lady in a Boat, and an Authorized Biography of Dame Hilda Bynoe, one of the first local governors in the Anglophone Caribbean in the late 1960s. Collins has also published several articles on politics and society in Grenada, including “Cultural Expression and the Grenada Revolution,” in Nicole Phillip-Dowe & John Angus Martin, ed., Perspectives on the Grenada Revolution, 1979-1983; foreword to Wendy Grenade, ed., The Grenada Revolution: Reflections and Lessons; “What Happened? Grenada: A Retrospective Journey,” in Patsy Lewis, Gary Williams and Peter Clegg, ed., Grenada: Revolution and Invasion. With support from MITH (Maryland Institute for Technology in the Humanities), she produced a DVD, Saracca and Nation, exploring aspects of culture in Grenada.  

Collins holds a B.A. from the University of the West Indies, an M.A, Latin American Studies and Certificate in Translation (Spanish into English) from Georgetown University, and a Ph.D., Government, from the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE).

Collins founded the Maryland-based Carivision Community Theatre in 2005. For a number of years, she has devised courses aimed at encouraging university students to work with a Washington Metropolitan area-based community organization, the Cultural Academy for Excellence (CAFE).  With students in her Caribbean literature classes, she has also staged programs with another community organization, Carivision Community Theatre.  Also interested in global classrooms initiatives, she has taught a course in coordination with a professor at Birmingham University, UK.  She is also winner of a 2018  Office of International Affairs (UMD) award to teach a Global Initiatives course in coordination with the Mona, Jamaica, campus of the University of the West Indies.

The Distinguished Scholar-Teacher Program, established in 1978, honors a small number of faculty members each year who have demonstrated notable success in both scholarship and teaching. By honoring the Distinguished Scholar-Teacher with this prestigious award, we reaffirm our commitment to excellence in teaching and scholarship. The Distinguished Scholar-Teacher Program is sponsored by the Office of Academic Affairs and administered by the Associate Provost for Faculty Affairs.

The Department of English Language & Literature is proud to add Professor Collins to the list of faculty members who have received recognition as Distinguished Scholar-Teachers: Jonathan Auerbach; Jackson Bryer; Jane Donawerth; Theresa Coletti; Susan Handelman; Linda Kauffman; Susan Lanser; Robert Levine; Samuel Schoenbaum; Martha Nell Smith; and David Wyatt. Those honored as Distinguished University Professors include Robert Levine, Stanley Plumly, Samuel Schoenbaum, Mark Turner, and Mary Helen Washington.