Visual Language Associates

VLA Consultant

Pam Collins

Ph.D. · Department of Interpretation & Translation, Gallaudet University

Interpreter, educator, and ethnographer of the interpreting profession, with a research focus on race, culture, equality, inclusion, and diversity in the field.

Portrait of Dr. Pam Collins

Profile

About Dr. Collins

A native of Washington, D.C., Dr. Collins began her interpreting studies at Georgia Perimeter College in Atlanta. She has been a faculty member in the Department of Interpretation and Translation at Gallaudet University since 2017, after serving as an adjunct instructor there since 2011. She has worked as a staff interpreter for Sign Language Associates since 2000 and for Gallaudet Interpreting Services.

She holds an AS in Interpreting from Catonsville Community College (2003), a BA in American Sign Language (2007), and an MS in Administration and Supervision from Gallaudet University (2009), where she graduated with University Honors.

Scholarly Contributions

Documenting the field

  • "Capturing the Moment" — videotaped biographical interviews of deaf individuals of color over fifty
  • Biographical interviews of interpreters of color
  • Presentations addressing race, culture, equality, inclusion, diversity, and their impacts on the interpreting field
  • Co-authored "The Complexities of Interpreting" in International Sign: Linguistic, Usage, and Status Issues

Key Presentation Titles

From the podium

  • "Getting Out of Your Zip Code"
  • "What's In Your Bag"
  • "Bringing Scheduling Into View: A Look at the Business of Sign Language Interpreting"

Selected Publications

Publications

  1. Collins, P.F. (2019). The social organization of ASL-English interpreters: An institutional ethnography of getting scheduled. (Dissertation)
  2. Sheneman, N., & Collins, P.C. (2016). In R. Rosenstock & J. Napier (Eds.), International Sign: Linguistic, usage, and status issues. Gallaudet University Press.
  3. Collins, P.C. (June 2019). "The ASL-English interpreter-scheduler interface." Rivista di Psicolinguistica Applicata.

Selected Presentations

Presentations

  1. Collins, P.C., & Hill, T. (September 2017). "Intersections of interpreting and race: Traversing the wider social context." Pre-conference workshop, Potomac Chapter of the Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf, Gallaudet University, Washington, DC.
  2. Collins, P.C. (October 2017). "CDI/DI pathways and CDI/DI and hearing teams." Forum at National Black Deaf Advocates Meeting, Miami, Florida.
  3. Collins, P.F. (2014). "Ruling relations: The work of ASL-English interpreters organized within the structure of ASL-English interpreter scheduling systems." Eastern Sociological Society Conference, Baltimore, Maryland.
  4. Collins, P.F. (2014). "Beyond what we share: Unpacking experiences of difference in the everyday." PCRID pre-conference presentation.
← All consultants Work With Our Consultants