Dr. Reyes Coll-Tellechea is an academic committed to public service who maintains an active profile in the community. She served on Mayor Walsh’s Transition Team as a member of the Human Services Task Force and the City of Boston’s Diversity Task Force; frequently volunteers as a Spanish translator and interpreter for immigrants and refugees and has served on the Board of Directors for nonprofit organizations.

During her three-decade tenure at the University of Massachusetts Boston, Dr. Coll-Tellechea has frequently been elected by her peers or appointed by administrators to serve on committees addressing the working conditions of women and faculty of color, strategic planning, new hires, and reviews. She chaired the Department of Latin American and Iberian Studies several times and is a research and program evaluator in the United States and abroad.

The author and editor of several books and essays, her scholarly work seeks to understand the experiences of marginalization and discrimination as represented in literature and culture, as well as the political and cultural strategies used by powerful groups to exclude certain individuals and groups from society.

Born in Spain, she has lived most of her life in Boston and considers herself an American by choice. She lives in Dorchester with her wife, Shauna.