NASHVILLE, TN — The Rev. Dr. Karen Y. Collier, retired associate professor and chairperson of the Department of Religious and Philosophical Studies at Fisk University, died May 5, 2023, at her Nashville home.
A United Methodist clergywoman was a board member of the African American Methodist Heritage of the United Methodist Church, co-director of the Fisk University honors program, co-advisor of The Herald (Fisk University’s literary magazine) and the Fisk’ Race Relations Institute.
Dr. Collier was reared in Nashville, where she and her family attended Clark Memorial United Methodist Church, and where she accepted the call to United Methodist ordained ministry. She graduated from the former Pearl High School. After finishing an undergraduate degree from Fisk University, she attended seminary at the Interdenominational Theological Center/Gammon Theological Seminary in Atlanta, where she earned a master of divinity degree. She became the first woman and African American to be ordained an elder in the Tennessee Annual Conference and, later, the first United Methodist woman elder of color to receive a Ph.D. (1984, in church history, from Duke University).
Dr. Collier was a lecturer at Vanderbilt Divinity School and an adjunct faculty member of Methodist Theological School of Ohio. She served as senior pastor of both Seay-Hubbard United Methodist Church and Patterson Memorial United Methodist Church, in Nashville, and worked for the denomination’s General Board of Discipleship (now Discipleship Ministries). .
Dr. Collier served as coordinator for the UNCF/Mellon Program; executive board member of the World Methodist Council; chairperson of the Wesley Foundation at Tennessee State University; the Nashville Association of Rabbis, Priests, and Ministers, and advisory board member of the Kelly Miller Smith Institute; consultant, mentor and coordinator for Women of Color Program, founded in 1988 to support Black, Indigenous, and other Women of Color pursuing doctoral degrees in religious education. In the 34 years since the program began, 55 scholars have completed it and are teaching in seminaries and theological schools in the United States, Africa, Korea, and Vietnam. One of the early WOC graduates, the Rev. Dr. Yar Bratcher, is the first president of the United Methodist University of Liberia.
She is survived by loving siblings, Debbie (Renard) Hirsch; William (Florence) Collier of Nashville, TN, and Rev. Dr. Theodore Cody (Sharon) Collier of Kansas City, MO; three devoted nephews, Jerry “DJ”, IV (Bridget) McCord of Lithia Springs, GA; Renard Hirsch, Jr. of Nashville, Ryan Hirsch (Lauren) of Ponte Vedra, FL; and six beloved nieces, Ashley (Bryan) Roby of Nashville, Crystal Collier of Riverview, FL, Amber (Marcus) Patton of Ft. Worth, TX, Nicole (George) White of Kansas City, MO, Kimberly (Darrell) Frye of Nashville, Kristy Strickland of Roswell, GA, Kinsey Collier of Nashville, and numerous other loving great nieces and nephews and dear family, friends, colleagues, former students and mentees, and church members. She was preceded in death by her parents, William and Grace Collier; sister, Kathleen McCord; niece, Kelly Malone; and nephew, William “Tony” McCord.
Visitation was held on Saturday, May 13 followed by a Resolution by Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. and a Memorial Service at Patterson Memorial United Methodist Church, 316 Whitsett Road in Nashville.
In lieu of condolences, please donate to the United Negro College Fund, 1805 7th St., N.W., Washington, DC 20001 Tel: (202) 810-0240 http://www.uncf.org OR the Women of Color Program, BHEM of the United Methodist Church
