UC San Diego, where she earned her PhD in communication. She holds an MFA in creative writing from UC Riverside and a BA in American literature and culture from UC Los Angeles. Her work examines public remembrances of the American West through archival methods, ethnographic study, media production, and public history exhibition. Her public scholarship includes exhibits and media produced in collaboration with the California Institute for Rural Studies, the California Historical Society, the California African American Museum, Exhibit Envoy, and the First Nations Development Institute. Her research has been supported by the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Bylo Chacon Foundation, the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation/U.S. Latino Digital Humanities Center, California Humanities, UCSD Frontiers of Innovation Scholars Program, the UC Consortium for Black Studies in California Project, the Herbert I. Schiller Communication Dissertation Fellowship, and the UC Office of the President. In addition to her Black Pacific project, Dr. Collins is currently working on her first book manuscript, “Erecting Eden: The Public Remaking of Race and Place in the California Origin Story.”