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Prof. Derek Collins

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Chair of the MA in Museum Studies Programme 
Chair Professor of History

Director, Wong How Man Centre for Exploration

Associate Vice-President (Cultural and External Affairs)​

Contact
Room 405, 4/F, Run Run Shaw Tower

Telephone: +852 3917 2730
Email Derek Collins

Website
https://whmce.hku.hk/en/about-us/

Education
Ph.D. in Classics, Harvard University
M.A., University of California, Los Angeles
B.A., University of California, Los Angeles 

Bio

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Derek Collins is Associate Vice President for Cultural and External Affairs at The University of Hong Kong (HKU). He is former Dean of the Faculty of Arts and has been Chair Professor of History since 2015. Collins also serves as . Before joining HKU, Collins was Associate Dean for Humanities and Professor of Greek and Latin at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.  A highly accomplished scholar originally specialised in the ancient Greco-Roman world, he has published work on literature, history, art, and religion. He has been awarded numerous grants and fellowships, including one from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, to expand museum and conservation studies at The University of Hong Kong. He develops cultural projects with leading museums, galleries, private collectors, art professionals, and auction houses in Hong Kong and around the world. In the commercial art world, Collins has also worked as a Senior Consultant to Phillips Auction House, Chairman’s Office, Asia, the leading global auction house for contemporary art.

Research Interests

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  • Hong Kong as a global hub of culture and art

  • Knowledge transfer for the benefit of public and private sectors, students and the academic community in cultural heritage​

  • Cultural heritage, art, and the preservation of historical treasures

Courses

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Selected Publications

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  • Collins, Derek. "Corinna and Mythological Innovation." Classical Quarterly 56, no. 1 (2006): 19-32. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0009838806000036.

  • Collins, Derek. "Theoris of Lemnos and the Criminalization of Magic in Fourth-Century Athens." Classical Quarterly 51, no. 2 (2001): 477-493.

  • Collins, Derek. "Nature, Cause, and Agency in Greek Magic." Transactions of the American Philological Association 133, no. 1 (2003): 17-49.

  • Collins, Derek. "The Magic of Homeric Verses." Classical Philology 103, no. 3 (2008): 211-236.

  • Collins, Derek. "Mapping the Entrails: The Practice of Greek Hepatoscopy." American Journal of Philology 129, no. 3 (2008): 319-345.

  • Collins, Derek. Magic in the Ancient Greek World. 2008. https://doi.org/10.1002/9780470696453.

  • Collins, Derek. "Magic." In The Oxford Handbook of Hellenic Studies, edited by Michael Scott and Timothy Gregory, 47. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2012.

  • Collins, DB. Master of the Game: Competition and Performance in Greek Poetry. Washington, D.C.: Center for Hellenic Studies, Harvard University, 2004.

  • Collins, DB. Immortal Armor: The Concept of AlkÄ“ in Archaic Greek Poetry. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 1998.

  • Collins, DB. "Hesiod and the Divine Voice of the Muses." Arethusa 32, no. 3 (1999): 241-262. https://doi.org/10.1353/are.1999.0015.

  • Collins, DB. "On the Aesthetics of the Deceiving Self in Nietzsche, Pindar, and Theognis." Nietzsche-Studien 26, no. 1 (1997): 276-299. https://doi.org/10.1515/niet.1997.26.1.276.

  • Collins, DB. "Improvisation in Rhapsodic Performance." Helios 28, no. 1 (2001): 1-20.

  • Collins, DB. "Homer and Rhapsodic Competition in Performance." Oral Tradition 16, no. 1 (2001): 129-167.

  • Collins, DB. "Reading the Birds: Oionomanteia in Early Epic." Colby Quarterly 38, no. 1 (2002): 17-41.

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