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(Delaware and Chester Counties, PA)—Joy Dickerson, Ed.D., former assistant dean and now liaison for Delaware County Community College’s award-winning Culinary Arts and Hospitality Studies program, has received the 2025 Howard B. Meek Award, bestowed by the International Council on Hotel, Restaurant and Institutional Education (ICHRIE). She was honored on June 20 at ICHRIE’s international conference in Indianapolis, Ind. It is the highest individual recognition a member of ICHRIE can receive, recognizing a member’s lifetime contributions and outstanding service both to hospitality education and to ICHRIE.
Dr. Dickerson has spent the last 35 years in hospitality education following a career in the food and beverage industry. She has served in both faculty and administration roles for DCCC, Widener University and the Culinary Institute of America. After four years as an assistant dean at DCCC, she is now working on the development and opening of the College’s new home for Culinary Arts and Hospitality Studies at DCCC’s upcoming new Southeast Center in Drexel Hill. The multimillion-dollar education and workforce training facility will feature two state-of-the-art commercial kitchens and a large demonstration classroom. The College also offers Culinary Arts and Hospitality Studies classes in Phoenixville and at DCCC’s Main Campus in Marple Township.
Dr. Dickerson says her greatest joy has been serving students. She has developed programs, curriculum and coursework at the undergraduate and graduate levels, but has most notably focused on the integration of undergraduate leadership development with experiential learning. She launched the first Bachelor of Science degree program in Hospitality Management at the Culinary Institute of America in 2018.
Additionally, she served as president of ICHRIE throughout the pandemic and was instrumental in reshaping the organization during that challenging time.
“I am so humbled, honored and grateful to be the recipient of this award,” she says. “I love this inspiring global community of hospitality and tourism educators, researchers, and industry leaders. I am excited that DCCC’s Culinary and Hospitality program expanded to Phoenixville this year, and that a beautiful new facility is set to open in January 2026 in Drexel Hill—bringing our exceptional instructors and courses to new locations accessible to more students in Delaware and Chester Counties.”