Lara Collins

Lara Collins is Professor Emerita of Communication at South Mountain Community College. She started teaching at SMCC in 1982.

Lara Collins made a big impact on students at South Mountain Community College.  Lara spent her career challenging students to get out of their “comfort zone” and communicate better both in and out of the classroom. She remembers the earliest days of South Mountain Community College fondly, having worn many hats on the campus from the beginning.

Professor Collins was born in Sacramento, California to a bookkeeper and an Air Force test pilot. She grew up in Sacramento near the University of California, Davis, where her stepfather was a Professor. Lara struggled in school with an untreated learning disability. When Lara was 20, she dropped out of college because it was hard for her to learn and to choose a career due to her dyslexia. When she was 28, she went back to school at Sacramento Community College. Later, she qualified for a tuition waiver at ASU. She remembers it cost her 5 dollars a semester, and she fell in love with her new career – Communication.

Professor Collins felt a calling to South Mountain Community College when it first opened. She loved how different the college was from others because people of all ethnic groups were together as one, not divided. From the earliest days of SMCC, Professor Collins was a part of building its success.

Narrator	Lara Collins
Birthdate	1947
Place of Origin	Sacramento, California
Place of Residence	Tempe, Arizona
Occupation	Professor Emerita of Communication at South Mountain Community College
Years Active in South Phoenix	1975 –
Recording Duration	40:30
Date	October 2, 2018
Location	South Mountain Community Library
Interviewed By	Student Researchers: Taylor Culberson, Reina Jimeno, Juan Rivera
Story Written By	Student Researchers: Taylor Culberson, Reina Jimeno, Juan Rivera; Faculty Co-Author: Summer Cherland