Lupe Collins

Guadalupe smiles at the camera

Teaching

Lupe Collins received her PhD in English, Composition and Rhetoric from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Her research focuses on indigenous (Mixtec) literacies and knowledge, community literacies, oral histories, and border and migrant rhetorics. Her research has been published in the Community Literacy Journal. Lupe has eight years of experience teaching at the college-level. She has taught basic writing at Reedley College, first-year writing at CSU Fresno, and first-year writing, intermediate writing, and technical communication for STEM majors at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Her teaching pedagogy focuses on creating a student-centered classroom that acknowledges the diverse backgrounds and learning styles of all students. On her free time, Lupe enjoys spending time with her husband and two daughters.  

Research/Scholarship

My philosophy of teaching is guided by three values: a) building a classroom community grounded on respect for one another; b) creating a student-centered classroom; and c) acknowledging that active learning looks different from student-to-student and day-to-day. My values in teaching are the result of my own past experiences as a student and my efforts to understand the experiences and expectations of current students. Building a community grounded on respect is fundamental to ensuring students feel valued and understand how and why their presence is critical to classroom learning. I strive to create a community where we know each other and are comfortable talking with and amongst one other. Secondly, in my classroom, learning occurs via conversations, between my students and myself and amongst one another. I value the diversity in their social, linguistic, cultural backgrounds and I create opportunities for them to share and learn from each other via small-group activities, peer-review workshops, and personal, reflective writing. Finally, in thinking about diversity and inclusion, it is important to acknowledge the diverse learning styles as well as student personalities and backgrounds in our classroom.  

  

My research is situated in literacy studies, and tracks how transnational literacies and migration impact one another. My research interests stem from my own experience as part of the community of El Pueblo, a Mixtec people originating from the state of Oaxaca, Mexico and currently residing in large numbers in the US. Even after decades of being present in the US, El Pueblo continues to embrace non-literacy and rather than seeing this as a negative thing, we understand that part of being human means we consciously make the decision to value different things. Whereas traditional literacy, including reading and writing, has benefitted me as a college-educated person, my parents and elders of their community place a higher value on non-literate modes of communication, orality, and spirituality which are the fundamentals of how their community has thrived through centuries. This indigenous knowledge and non-literacy is what I choose to highlight throughout my research. 

Selected Publications