Date: March 17, 2026
Kankakee Community College to Host Guest Lecture and Faculty Panel on Robinson Crusoe.
Both events will be held on KCC’s Riverfront campus in Kankakee. Community members, students, and educators are encouraged to attend. KCC will welcome guest speaker Dr. Isaac Stephens, Associate Professor of History at the University of Mississippi, for a special public lecture exploring the literary and historical impact of Robinson Crusoe.
Titled “Daniel Defoe and the Legacy of Life Writing,” the lecture will examine the influence of Daniel Defoe’s work and the early development of the novel in eighteenth-century Britain. The event will take place on Tuesday, March 24 at 6:00 p.m. in the auditorium, and is free and open to the public. Earlier in the day on Tuesday, March 24, KCC faculty members will host an interdisciplinary panel discussion at 3:30 p.m. offering multiple perspectives on Robinson Crusoe. Panelists include Professors Scott Kistler (history), Kenneth West (philosophy), Jessica Oladapo (sociology), and Wesley Davenport (economics).
“We’re excited to invite both students and the public to explore Robinson Crusoe with us," said Kistler. “Our panel discussion and Dr. Stephens’ engaging keynote lecture will look at Defoe’s classic from a number of different angles and put different academic disciplines in conversation with each other.”
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Kankakee Community College is an accredited two-year college which awards associate degrees and certificates of completion. KCC prepares students both to transfer to four-year colleges and to enter the workforce. The college also offers continuing education courses and certification training, literacy programs, English as a Second Language and GED preparation. The KCC mission is “Enhancing quality of life through learning.” The college has a Riverfront Campus in Kankakee, South Extension Center in Watseka, North Extension Center in Bradley and Manufacturing and Industrial Technology Center in Kankakee.
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Contact:
Kari Nugent
Vice president for advancement, marketing, and public relations
815-802-8256
knugent@kcc.edu
