Reyes Coll-Tellechea is Professor of Latin American and Iberian Studies at the University of Massachusetts Boston.She is an experienced academic committed to public service who maintains an active public profile in the community. She served on Mayor Walsh’s Transition Task Force (Human Services) and the City of Boston’s Diversity Task Force. She frequently volunteers as a translator and interpreter for Massachusetts Non-Profits working with immigrants and refugees.

The author and editor of several books, her research reflects on the experience of marginalization, exclusion and discrimination as represented in literature, as well as on some of the strategies used by the powerful to exclude others from their privileges. 

She is currently serving a 3 year term Commissioner at the Boston Human Rights Commission. She is passionate about the right of all individuals to seek a safe place to live away from fear, violence, discrimination and indignity. She believes fiercely in the right to gain a better understanding of the world and the tools to become a productive member of society through public education; and she unquestionably supports the obligation of all societies to protect their children and senior members from harm.

At the University of Massachusetts Boston, Professor Coll-Tellechea has been frequently elected by her peers or appointed by administrators to serve in demanding university committees dealing with long-range strategic plans, student advising, women and faculty of color working conditions, reaccreditation, administrative hires and reviews. Professor Coll- Tellechea serves as a research and program evaluator in the United States of America and Spain. She chaired her Department on several occasions and is highly skilled in educational leadership, academic advising and public speaking.