EDUCATION

Texas Tech University, Department of History - Lubbock, TX

  • M.A., British Imperial History - August 2009
  • Minor, Philosophy
  • Thesis: “For Thine is the Kingdom: British Missionaries in East Africa, 1870-1925”

The University of Texas at Arlington, Department of History - Arlington, TX

  • B.A., History - May 2006
  • Minor, Philosophy
  • Honors Thesis: “‘I Pledge Allegiance to A Country Without Borders’: The Lynch Treason Trial, 1903”

TEACHING EXPERIENCE

Texas Tech University, Department of History - Lubbock, TX

Teaching Assistant - 2006-2009

  • Planned and taught 4 discussion sections with 80-100 first-and second-year students per semester.
  • Facilitated lively discussions around the main lecture each week by incorporating novels, journal articles, and other outside texts.
  • Adjusted my lecturing style as needed to ensure class engagement.
  • Provided substantive feedback on tests, papers, essays, and other student-produced academic work.
  • Met with students one-on-one to provide additional guidance in how to successfully accomplish an assignment.
  • Frequently mentored students beyond classes when they needed guidance on life and career goals.

Westminster Presbyterian Church - Amarillo, TX

Interim College Minister - 2011-2013

  • Instructed adult continuing education classes on a variety of topics including Church History.
  • Mentored college students to develop spiritual maturity and awareness.
  • Organized, facilitated, and developed community through coordinating informal meetups, Bible studies, sermons, and administrative planning for trips and missions.
  • Served as Head of the Deacon Board, leading monthly Deacon meetings with the goal to support the needs of our community and the organizations that would best benefit from our financial resources and volunteers.

SKILLS

  • Reads French at an intermediate level
  • Several semesters of teaching how the past affects the present and how students can gain a perspective outside of their own myopic life experience, time, and society
  • Significant teaching/facilitating/management experience
  • 12+ years of writing and editing online film criticism and essays on various topics
  • Highly self-motivated and detail-oriented
  • Avid reader who constantly finds connections between seemingly incongruous ideas
  • Proficient with Microsoft Word, Excel, Outlook, and PowerPoint as well as remote work technologies like Zoom and Teams
  • Well-acquainted with various technologies and able to quickly learn those with which I am unfamiliar

LEADERSHIP EXPERIENCE

Texas Tech University, Upward Bound Program - Lubbock, TX

Residential Advisor - Summer 2008

  • Provided supervision and advisement for high school student enrolled in the program and living on campus in dooms through the duration of the program.
  • Provided assistance to teachers in order to provide the best and most stimulating educational environment possible.
  • Provided mentorship and tutoring to high school students during the duration of the program.
  • Assisted with chaperoning students on any local education trips.

Amarillo College, Amarillo Bible Chair Board - Amarillo, TX

Board Member - 2012-2013

  • Assisted in guiding the direction of the programs offered at the Bible Chair at Amarillo College including courses in Greek, Church History, and mentorship opportunities for students who were aiming to go to seminary.
  • Assisted with allocating the program’s budget each semester and finding creative solutions to budgetary constraints.

Casas Por Christo - El Paso, TX/Juarez, Mexico

Group Leader/Volunteer - 2010-2013

  • Volunteered for three trips to Juarez to help build low-cost homes for those who were in extreme poverty.
  • Led two church groups to Juarez to do the same work during my time as Interim College Minister.

SGA Design Group - Tulsa, OK

CAD Tech/Project Manager - 2022-Present

  • Mentored new hires at the company in the expectations and processes of the job.
  • Helped better develop the CAD and Revit skills of co-workers and new hires.
  • Problem-solved alongside co-workers to better achieve the goals for each project
  • Improved self-motivation, independent project management, and communication skills in a remote work environment. Utilized many remote work technologies such as Zoom, Microsoft Teams, and VPNs.
  • Quickly and effectively learned new software and technology on the job to meet the demands of ongoing projects.
  • Managed projects from development stages through to construction and opening. Found effective means to communicate and collaborate with our clients, consultants, contractors, and developers to achieve the same goal.

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS

Collier, Blake. “A Vision for the Storms.” The Mockingbird, 2014.

Collier, Blake. “The Shape of Revelation and Evil: Halloween.” In Mockingbird at the Movies, edited by C. J. Green. Mockingbird Ministries, 2015.

Collier, Blake. “A Final Fling Before the Big Sleep: It Follows and the Death of God.” In Christ and Pop Culture Goes to the Movies: 2015, edited by Wade Bearden and Kevin McLenithan. Christ & Pop Culture, 2016.

Collier, Blake. “Oh! The Horror… - of Broken Bodies & Dreadful Revelations.” Film Criticism. Reel World Theology, October 6, 2016. https://www.reelworldtheology.com/oh-the-horror-of-broken-bodies-dreadful-revelations/.

Collier, Blake. “Oh! The Horror… - of Deconstructing the Heart of the Slasher Genre.” Film Criticism. Reel World Theology, February 23, 2017. https://www.reelworldtheology.com/oh-the-horror-of-deconstructing-the-heart-of-the-slasher-genre/.

Collier, Blake. “Stay Woke and Don’t Scream: Get Out‘s Subversion of White Horror Narratives.” Film Criticism. Reel World Theology, March 2, 2017. https://www.reelworldtheology.com/stay-woke-and-dont-scream-get-outs-subversion-of-white-horror-narratives/.

Collier, Blake. “A Review of Mother!, Or How I Learned to Stop Being Dubious and Write Something about This Film.” Film Criticism. Reel World Theology, September 22, 2017. https://www.reelworldtheology.com/a-review-of-mother-or-how-i-learned-to-stop-being-dubious-and-write-something-about-this-film/.

Collier, Blake I. “Lovecraft, Jim Crow & the Creation of a New Mythology: A Review of Lovecraft Country.” Culture. Rise Up Daily, August 17, 2018. https://www.riseupdaily.com/lovecraft-country-matt-ruff/.

Collier, Blake. “The Unearthing of Class in a ‘Class-Less’ Society: The Red Scare of Jordan Peele’s Us.” Film Criticism. Reel World Theology, April 1, 2019. https://www.reelworldtheology.com/the-unearthing-of-class-in-a-class-less-society-the-red-scare-of-jordan-peeles-us/.

Collier, Blake I. “Seculosity, or How I Gained Control Only to Lose It.” Rise Up Daily, August 2, 2019. https://www.riseupdaily.com/seculosity-or-how-i-gained-control-only-to-lose-it/.

Collier, Blake I. “A Violent System: How Marxism Is Making A Cinematic Comeback.” Film Criticism. Film Inquiry, April 6, 2020. https://www.filminquiry.com/marxism-cinematic-comeback/webp-net-resizeimage-2-14/.

Collier, Blake I. “The Consumption of the Children of Scarcity: How Gretel & Hansel Is a Fable for Our Times.” Rise Up Daily, April 15, 2020. https://www.riseupdaily.com/the-consumption-of-the-children-of-scarcity-how-gretel-hansel-is-a-fable-for-our-times/.

Collier, Blake I. “Between God & Man Lies A Smoking Gun: Reflections On Meaning, Violence & Redemption In GROSSE POINTE BLANK - Film Inquiry.” Film Criticism. Film Inquiry, May 18, 2020. https://www.filminquiry.com/redemption-grosse-pointe-blank/.

Collier, Blake I. “JADDOLAND: The Liminal Echoes Of The Displaced Soul - Film Inquiry.” Film Criticism. Film Inquiry, May 28, 2020. https://www.filminquiry.com/jaddoland-2018-review/.

Collier, Blake I. “A Theory of Conspiracies: What Paranoid Cinema Tells Us About Ourselves.” Film Criticism. Film Inquiry, July 14, 2020. https://www.filminquiry.com/theory-of-conspiracies/.

Collier, Blake I. “Remembering Something That Never Was: Dementia & the Horror Genre - Film Inquiry.” Film Criticism. Film Inquiry, July 31, 2020. https://www.filminquiry.com/dementia-horror/.

Collier, Blake I. “Estus W. Pirkle: The Cinematic Evangelist.” Film Criticism. Film Inquiry, September 10, 2020. https://www.filminquiry.com/the-cinematic-evangelist/.

Collier, Blake, and Ian Olson. “Strange Fascinations.” The Mockingbird, 2021.

Collier, Blake. “Martyrs, Pascal Laugier (2008).” In Toxic Cultures: A Companion, edited by Simon Bacon, Vol. 8. Genre Fiction and Film Companions. Peter Lang, 2021.

Collier, Blake I. “Death Becomes Us: A Global Ghost Story.” Technology. The Observer Magazine, September 3, 2024. https://theobservermagazine.substack.com/p/death-becomes-us-a-global-ghost-story

Collier, Blake I. “The World is Weirder than You Think It Is.” Psychogeography. Mockingbird, October 8, 2024. https://mbird.com/psychology/the-world-is-weirder-than-you-think-it-is/

Collier, Blake I. “The Medium is the Message…of the End.” Technology. Mockingbird, October 21, 2024. https://mbird.com/everyday/the-medium-is-the-message-of-the-end/

Collier, Blake I. “The Home Haunts Us: An Architectural Body Horror.” Place Theory. The Observer Magazine, May 9, 2025. https://theobservermagazine.substack.com/p/the-home-haunts-us

INVITED TALKS AND PRESENTATIONS

“Lovecraft & Race” – Texas Tech Library’s Science Fiction & Fantasy Book Club – Online Presentation - 2019

“The Thing More Terrifying than Fear, Its Antidote” – 2025 NYC Mockingbird Conference – May 1-3.