Lauren Collins

Lauren is a cultural anthropologist whose work explores the relationship between the United States’ global power status and the practice of global education, especially economic and socio-cultural impacts of global education programs on local communities. Her research looks at the nature of the impact of U.S. student presence on host communities in the Global South, specifically Southeast and East Asia. She is particularly interested in how communities are building global education program provision infrastructure in response to the desires of U.S. study abroad programs to place students in “non-traditional” experiences. Her research has been published in the Journal of Teaching in Higher Education, Frontiers: The Interdisciplinary Journal of Study Abroad, the Journal of the National Collegiate Honors Council, and others. She has developed and led nearly 15 study abroad programs throughout Asia. At CU Boulder, she oversees the curricular aspects of the Asian Studies major and minor, teaching both lecture courses that introduce students to this incredibly diverse region and in-depth seminars that explore topics such as urbanization, the UN Millennium Sustainable Development goals, and the politics of memory in Asia.

Lauren also enthusiastically advises students interested in conducting their own research on various aspects of culture, history, and politics in Asia and is happy to help Asian Studies majors/minors and others find relevant study abroad programs or overseas internships.

Education

• Ph.D., Higher Education, University of Denver, 2019
• M.A., China Studies, University of Washington
• B.A., International Affairs, University of Colorado

Research Interests

International Development; Critical Globalization Studies; Community Engagement; Power; Global Asias

Regional and Thematic Interests

Southeast Asia; East Asia; Pedagogy - High Impact Practices

Companies

• Teaching Assistant Professor and Asian Studies Program Director University of Colorado Boulder (2021)
• Teacher Free Verse Writing Project (2020)
• Course Facilitator National Consortium for Teaching about Asia (NCTA) (2019)
• Associate Editor | About Campus | Enriching the Student Learning Experience ACPA–College Student Educators International (2018)
• Postdoctoral Teaching, Research, and Mentoring Fellow Davidson Honors College-University of Montana (2019 — 2021)
• Instructor, China and Thailand Field Programs Where There Be Dragons (2017 — 2019)
• Co-curricular Programs and Food Pantry Coordinator, Center for Sustainability University of Denver (2017 — 2019)
• Instructor, Global Citizenship University of Denver (2017 — 2019)
• Community Engaged Fellow, Center for Community Engagement to Advance Scholarship and Learning University of Denver (2017 — 2019)

Selected Publications

2022 Collins, L. Leveraging foreign higher education institution affiliation to support preservation of local knowledge and fight displacement in Thailand. Frontiers: The Interdisciplinary Journal of Study Abroad, 34(2).

2021 Collins, L. Offering space at the table: the work of hosting U.S. study abroad students in Northern Thailand. Third World Quarterly, 42:8, 1849-1865.

2020 Collins, L. and Niva, M. Infusing critically reflexive service learning into Honors. Journal of the National Collegiate Honors Council, 21(2), 31-37.

2020 Collins, L. Becoming global knowledge workers: How U.S. study abroad programs act in service to a hidden curriculum of consumer capitalism and national security. Journal of Philosophy and Theory in Higher Education, 2(2), 1-20.

2019 Collins, L. Letting the village be the teacher: a look at community-based learning in Northern Thailand. Journal of Teaching in Higher Education, 24(5), 694-708.