Ava Preacher

Preacher was born in Washington, D.C.,^[1] and raised in Davenport, Iowa, the daughter of Charles B. Preacher and Ava Moore Preacher. Her father was a pathologist^[2] and her mother was a nurse.^[3] As a teen she wrote for a youth newspaper.^[4][5] In Davenport, she attended St. Katharine's School, where she graduated valedictorian. She later completed a bachelor's degree and a master's degree in comparative literature at the University of Iowa.^[6]

Preacher taught at the University of Iowa and at Wayne State University early in her career.^[7] She taught at Notre Dame, beginning in 1985 as an adjunct professor in the Department of Communication and Theater.^[8] She directed the Gender Studies Program for three years. From 1993 until 2018, she was assistant dean of the College of Arts and Letters. Her focus was in pre-law education, and guiding undergraduates through the process of applying to law schools.^[6] She was also the college's sexual assault resource person,^[9] and faculty advisor of the Campus Alliance for Rape Elimination.^[10][11]

Preacher was twice president of the Midwest Association of Pre-Law Advisors, and program chair of the Pre-Law Advisors’ National Conferences in 2004 and 2008. In 2010, she received the Congressman Neil Smith Award from the American Mock Trial Association, for "her national role in pre-law advising."^[12][13] She was one of the many Notre Dame faculty members who signed a 2016 letter against the Professor Watchlist project.^[14]

• Film Theory Goes to the Movies (1993, with Jim Collins and Hilary Radner)^[15]

Preacher and James M. Collins graduated from high school together in 1971, and married in 1975.^[16][17] They had two daughters, Ava and Nell, and divorced by 1995.^[18] She married Coleen Hoover in 2011, after many years together. She died in 2021, aged 67 years, at home in South Bend.^[19]