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Parents & FamilyCollege-Wide Reading Program
The College-Wide Reading Program is an initiative intended to provide a common reading that encourages thought, discussion, and collaboration at Delaware County Community College. All members of the College community are invited to participate in related activities throughout the academic year.
2024-2025 Book
The College-Wide Reading Committee has selected “Social Class and Inequality in America” as our theme for the 2024-2025 academic year, and the book we’ll be reading to explore this theme is Heartland: A Memoir of Working Hard and Being Broke in the Richest Country on Earth by Sarah Smarsh.
Sarah Smarsh grew up in a working-class family in rural Kansas, and her book, n, is at once a tribute to the earthy resilience and hard-working nature of her family’s life there, and a moving account of her ambition to build a different life for herself and break the cyclical struggles that so often limit the dreams of the working poor. In a narrative addressed to an imaginary daughter she never had, Smarsh reflects on a diverse set of themes with both intimacy and sociological insight, including teenage pregnancy, domestic violence, access to quality health care and education, class-based prejudices, and economic policies that have eroded the American Dream.
Heartland offers a compelling history that is simultaneously personal, familial, and national–one that shows the difficulty in leaving behind the world and people who shaped you in order to become the best version of yourself.
For more information about the book (including how to obtain a copy) or about the College-Wide Reading Program, please contact Professor Matthew Brophy (mbrophy4@dccc.edu), DCCC’s Faculty Fellow for College-Wide Reading.
College-Wide Reading Author Series
Jennifer Pashley, novelist and short-story writer, known for suspense fiction, based in Syracuse, NY, will visit us at the Marple Campus on Thursday, October 17, at 10 a.m. (Room 2246, Small Auditorium). Her talk will also be broadcast via Zoom. Her website is jenniferpashley.com.
Stephanie Land is the author of two memoirs—Maid and Class—which 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 series on Netflix in 2021. Stephanie will visit us via Zoom on Thursday, November 14, at 11 a.m. Her website is stepville.com.
Nicole Lynn Lewis is the author of Pregnant Girl: A Story of Teen Motherhood, College, and Creating a Better Future for Young Families. The book received critical praise from both NPR and the NY Times. Nicole is also the founder and CEO of Generation Hope, a DC-based nonprofit dedicated to ensuring “all student parents have the opportunities to succeed and experience economic mobility.” She will visit us via Zoom on Thursday, February 20, 2025, at 11 a.m. Her website is nicolelynnlewis.com.
Nikhil Goyal is a sociologist, policymaker, and the author of Live to See the Day: Coming of Age in American Poverty, a moving and well-researched account of the lives of three Puerto Rican children, growing up in Philadelphia’s Kensington neighborhood. Nikhil will join us via Zoom from his home in Vermont on Tuesday, March 25, 2025, at 11 a.m. His website is nikhilgoyal.me.
College Wide Reading Book Club
The College-Wide Reading Book Club is open to all DCCC students and employees who enjoy reading! We will meet roughly once a month (via Zoom) to discuss books connected to this year’s theme (Social Class and Inequality in America), including our featured book (Heartland by Sarah Smarsh), as well as books by the authors who will be visiting DCCC as part of our series.
What are the benefits of joining the CWR Book Club? You’ll find yourself motivated to read more, connected with fellow readers, and you’ll even get some FREE BOOKS! And there’s no pressure to read every book or attend every meeting: read only what you have time for, and join us when you can! Interested in joining? Email Professor Matthew Brophy at mbrophy4@dccc.edu!
Follow College-Wide Reading on Facebook and Instagram in order to stay up-to-date about upcoming speakers, film screenings, contests, and other fun, interactive events.
Past Events
- 2024 College-Wide Reading Essay Contest
- Movie Screening and Discussion: Childhood 2.0
- What It Means to Be a Bravey: Balancing Ambition with Self-Care
- Mental Health through Writing
- Suicide Awareness & Prevention
- The Weight of Gold: Movie and Discussion
- Changing Minds: Stories over Stigma
- We Can Fix It: A Climate Conversation with Dr. Kim Nicholas
- Getting Beneath the Antarctic Ice with Dr. Atsuhiro Muto
- Becoming Weatherwise: Virtual Tour of APS Museum in Philadelphia
- Do the Math: The Climate Activism of Bill McKibben
- Climate Equity Talk with Hana Creger
- Screening and Discussion of “I Am Not Your Negro”
- Musical Artist Kendrah Butler-Waters
- Philadelphia Poet Yolanda Wisher
About the Program
The goals of the program include
- Promoting a habit of reading
- Encouraging the exploration of diverse experiences and perspectives
- Providing a common discussion point for all members of the College community
Titles selected meet the minimum standards
- Readable by our entire population, including developmental and ESL students
- Available in paperback
- Cross-disciplinary appeal
- Ability to be incorporated into curricular and extracurricular activities
- Presents diverse or unique perspective
College-Wide Reading Program: Past Selections
2023-2024
Bravey: Chasing Dreams, Befriending Pain, and Other Big Ideas
By Alexi Pappas
2023-2024
2022-2023
Under the Sky We Make
By Kimberly Nicholas, PhD
2022-2023
2021-2022
Under the Sky We Make
By Kimberly Nicholas, PhD
2021-2022
2020-2021
About Us: Essays from the Disability Series of the New York Times
Edited by Peter Catapano and Rosemarie Garland-Thomson
2020-2021
2019-2020
The Secret History of Wonder Woman
Jill Lepore
2019-2020
2018-2019
Stuffed and Starved
By Raj Patel
2018-2019
2017-2018
Just Mercy
By Bryan Stephenson
2017-2018
2016-2017
Butterfly Boy: Memories of a Chicano Mariposa
by Rigoberto González
2016-2017
2015-2016: Garbology by Edward Humes
2013-2014: Water by the Spoonful by Quiara Alegria Hudes
2012-2013: Girl in Translation by Jean Kwok
2011-2012: The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot
2010-2011: The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls
2008-2009: With Courage and Cloth by Ann Bausum and Having Our Say by Sarah L. Delany, A. Elizabeth Delany and Amy Hill Hearth
2007-2008: Flags of Our Fathersby James Bradley (with Ron Powers)
2006-2007: Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe