About Me

Collin Ruud was born on December 11, 1981 in Minnesota. At the age of 2 his family moved to Plymouth, IN, where Collin would spend a considerable part of his life. Collin grew up in a typical neighborhood with a lot of friends, played outside all the time, and even got a paper route once he was old enough.

At the age of 8, Collin began to have pain in his left hip that began to give him a limp. Going to numerous doctors, he eventually received a diagnosis of a malformed femur bone that would require him to wear a plastic brace, which spread his legs as if he were riding a horse and forced him to walk that way. Deciding not to let that keep him from activities, he fully participated in soccer, softball, and even learned to ride his bike with the brace on. After a couple of years, it was determined that the brace was actually making his condition more severe, and was finally given the proper diagnosis of Legg-Calvé Perthes Disease (LCPD). It was too late for 100% recovery; surgeries and physical therapy were only able to restore some of his movement. To this day, he walks with a permanent limp and will most likely need a hip replacement by the time he is 35 due to degenerative arthritis.

At the age of 11, Collin was given the option to pick any instrument he wanted to play in band. Since french horn was unavailable to 6th graders, he chose instead to play trumpet. He immersed himself in the instrument, playing near or at the top of his band all through junior high and high school. What he enjoyed most, though, was jazz band, playing it from 7th grade all the way through graduate school.

In high school, Collin got involved in a lot of activities. Although his LCPD did not keep him from playing football in junior high, he had considerable damage to his right ankle due to favoring his right leg and maintained only partial involvement his freshman year. Instead, he went into several areas of fine arts, namely theatre and music. He was also a member of the Plymouth High School speech team, which won the Indiana State Tournament all 4 years he participated. During his tenure on the speech team, he competed in several events: Lincoln-Douglas and Congress Debate, Impromptu Speaking, Extemporaneous Speaking, Duo Interpretation, Humorous Interpretation, and Dramatic Interpretation. In theatre, Collin served a number of roles in annual productions, finally receiving a lead role in his senior year. In music, Collin performed every year in the Indiana Solo & Ensemble series, receiving 1st-class marks at the state level each year. He also played a shared or sole lead trumpet part in jazz band, and played Principal trumpet his senior year in Plymouth's wind ensemble.

Collin chose to go to Butler University for his undergraduate education, but had yet to settle on a major, deciding between physics, computer science, music performance, or a double major in some combination of those three. Deciding on a double major in music performance and computer science in his freshman year, Collin took a heavy courseload, along with trumpet lessons and a trumpet studio, that constrained his time. At the end of his freshman year, he had decided to go on a different course, choosing instead to go into music composition, with a computer science minor. This is how he completed at Butler. In ensembles, Collin served numerous roles. In the Butler Symphony Orchestra, Collin was at some times co-principal trumpet, but most often 2nd or 3rd trumpet. In the Butler Wind Ensemble, Collin played First and Second trumpet, and First flugelhorn. He also participated in a trumpet choir, composer's ensemble, and other various ensembles. In Jazz, Collin played lead trumpet throughout his tenure, splitting it his Freshman and Sophomore years and playing it solely during his last 2 years.

Outside of music, Collin participated in a number of extracurricular organizations. Finding his place at Butler's Campus Crusade for Christ, Collin was able to occasionally lead worship with guitar and vocals, mentor a number of individuals, and to serve others in a life-changing way. He also participated in different clubs related to computer science and music. Having a desire during his last two years of college to work with college freshmen, Collin applied to become a Resident Assistant (RA), but was rejected for his Junior year. He vowed to improve and become more responsible during that year, and was accepted to be an RA during his Senior year. As an RA, Collin created many different programs, interacted with students at all grade levels, and desired even more to work with students.

As graduation approached, Collin felt the need to continue on to graduate school, in order to continue his training in composition and eventually become a professor of music composition. He was accepted into the University of Missouri - Kansas City's (UMKC) Conservatory of Music, and received a Graduate Assistantship to work in residence halls that offered to pay for tuition, so he decided to move to Kansas City.

Collin's first year at UMKC was somewhat a mixed experience. Toward the end of his last year at Butler, he had proposed to his then-girlfriend, Krista, and they were now living an 8-hour drive apart. His composition work at UMKC was certainly fruitful, but Collin found himself looking forward to his work in the residence halls, and he put more time into those activities than his academic ones. Finally realizing that it was a different call, Collin decided at the end of his first year at UMKC to change his direction, going into a Master's program of Higher Education, with an emphasis on college student development. His ultimate goal was to become a professor, and to study college students, or to work as an administrator in a college. On the side, however, Collin still played lead trumpet in one of UMKC's jazz ensembles and he was still involved with extracurricular music activities.

His supportive faculty within UMKC's ULAPSIE (Urban Leadership and Policy Studies in Education) division recognized his desire to conduct research and to move on in academia. His advisor, Dr. Steven LaNasa, approached him and talked about Collin's goals and his best means of attaining them. It was brought up that a more research-intensive program might be best. In searching for schools, Collin settled on the University of Illinois' program, which had a small faculty but the research-intensive programs he was looking for. His advisor, Dr. Timothy Reese Cain, quickly put him on the right track and Collin had a Master's of Education in the Spring of 2007. Collin was fortunate to receive a generous fellowship (Letitia Walsh Fellowship) which financially supported his studies for a doctoral program. Being accepted into the Ph.D. program at the University of Illinois, Collin immediately set to work, taking a number of research-centered courses. He is currently finished with his coursework and waiting to take his qualifying examinations and preliminary exams, planning to work on his dissertation in Fall 2010-Spring 2011.

Collin lives in Urbana with his beautiful wife, Krista, and their newborn son (September 2009), Colton. They have 2 cats, Kiwi and Peyton. In his free time, if he has it, Collin enjoys building and working on guitars, working with computers, swimming, riding his bike, participating in triathlons, and playing ultimate Frisbee.