Mary Blackwood Collier, a Music Academy alumna (piano ’61), was appointed to the Academy’s Vocal Department faculty by Maître Martial Singher in 1976 and was honored to continue as coach for French diction throughout the directorship of Madame Marilyn Horne. She is delighted to embrace the studio's new direction. Dr. Collier holds a B.A. in French and an M.A. in French literature from U.C.S.B.  She received the doctorate with highest honors in comparative literature from the Université de Paris–Sorbonne, Paris IV.  Dr. Collier has been teaching French language and literature at Westmont College since 1981.  Dr. Collier’s book La Carmen essentielle et sa réalisation au spectacle is a literary and musical analysis of Mérimée’s and Bizet’s Carmens and seven 20^th-century interpretations of the character.  Dr. Collier has also published a number of scholarly articles and presents papers regularly at international academic conferences.  Dr. Collier was knighted by the French government in 2012.