This fall, Delaware County Community College (DCCC) is offering a full schedule of events focused on the topics of social justice, leadership, social class and inequality, and more. From coaches to filmmakers, from bestselling authors to successful entrepreneurs, the intriguing lineup of speakers is designed to create awareness, promote education and understanding and encourage meaningful dialogue about equity for all.

The events, which are part of the College’s annual signature “Dialogues for Diversity” speaker series and its annual College-Wide Reading Program author series, are supported by DCCC’s Center for Equity and Social Justice. 

All are free and open to the public, and all are available virtually.

Raise Your Bar: Sports/Life/Beyond

Wednesday, Oct. 2, 10:10-11:05 AM; Marple Campus Academic Building, Large Auditorium, (901 S. Media Line Road, Media).

Hear from Erick Woods, Director of Student-Athlete Development at St. Joseph’s University in Philadelphia, who is a former high school and college Basketball Coach and Division 1 Student-Athlete. Drawing upon his work with student-athletes, Woods will deliver a motivational talk on how we can push our own bounds to achieve whatever it is we set our minds to.

Available via Livestream (advance registration required).

Patrice Banks, Founder and CEO of Girls Auto Clinic

Tuesday, Oct. 8, 10-11:00 AM; Marple Campus Academic Building, Large Auditorium.

Meet Patrice Banks, Founder and CEO of the Girls Auto Clinic, an Upper Darby-based growing community of women and girls who are redefining the automotive world on their own terms. Banks — who has been featured in national media — will discuss her success as an entrepreneur, mechanic, engineer, author, speaker and visionary and how she empowers women to have an equal voice and role in all aspects of the auto industry and beyond. A Q&A will follow.

Available via Livestream (advance registration required).

College-Wide Reading Author Series with Jennifer Pashley

Thursday, October 17, 10:00 AM; Marple Campus, Small Auditorium.

Award-winnning Novelist and Short Story Writer Jennifer Pashley is known for her suspense fiction. Raised by an accordion virtuoso and a casket maker, she writes about the people on the fringes of society with clear-eyed compassion and grace. Her latest suspense novel is The Watcher (2020).

Available via Livestream.

William Penn, the Lenni Lenape and the Collapse of the Peaceable Kingdom

Wednesday, Nov. 6, 11:00 AM-12:00 PM; Marple Campus, Academic Building, Large Auditorium.

Hear from DCCC professors Kevin Cahill, Ph.D. and Jeffrey Lamonica, Ph.D., joined by W. Ronald Williams and Barry Lee, Board Director and Director, respectively, of the Circle Legacy Center, an organization to promote and assist the Native Americans in the southeastern Pennsylvania region.

Available via Livestream (advance registration required).

College-Wide Reading Series: Stephanie Land

Thursday, Nov. 14, 11:00 a.m.; Available via Zoom.

Stephanie Land is the Author of two bestselling memoirs, Maid: Hard Work, Low Pay and a Mother’s Will to Survive (2019) and Class: A Memoir of Motherhood, Hunger, and Higher Education (2024). Both narrate her lived experiences coping with homelessness, domestic violence, low-wage labor and single motherhood, as well as her simultaneous pursuit of a college degree and a career as a writer. Maid was adapted into a Netflix series in 2021. 

Documentary Screening: Pardon Me: Social Workers and the Community’s Role in Disrupting the Criminal Justice System

Tuesday, Dec. 10, 6-8:00 PM; Marple Campus, Academic Building, Large Auditorium.

Having a criminal record as a returning citizen can feel like a life sentence. On Human Rights Day, the documentary Pardon Me provides a comprehensive look at how a pardon can serve as a powerful legal mechanism to erase a person’s criminal past. Through personal narratives, Pardon Me highlights the broader societal implications, including the collateral consequences that affect thousands of families and communities across the U.S. The screening will include an introduction by Shuja Moore, Director, with a Q&A afterwards.

Available via Livestream (advance registration required).

Learn more at DCCC. For 57 years, Delaware County Community College has served as the center of educational opportunity for residents of Delaware and Chester Counties.