Inland Empire Native Dr. Daniel E. Walker to Serve as Chaffey College Commencement Keynote Speaker

Storyteller, historian and educator Dr. Daniel E. Walker has been selected as keynote speaker for Chaffey College’s 109^th Commencement ceremony.

A Fontana native with deep roots at Chaffey, Dr. Walker is an award-winning television and film producer, and a global leader in the movement to preserve and celebrate the history of Black gospel music as well as the African American church. He has multiple family members who attended or earned degrees at Chaffey.

“To come back and be the keynote speaker — it’s significant, to say the least,” he said.

The May 21 ceremony at Toyota Arena in Ontario will mark the completion of programs for nearly 3,000 students, who will earn more than 4,000 degrees and certificates.

Walker said his address will center on his mother, the late Linda Lee Coleman, whose journey began at Chaffey.

“This is going to be a story about the legacy of my mother,” he said. “My mother was the same as the people in those seats. They’re going to hear about someone just like them.”

Coleman, a single mother, raised four biological children, two grandchildren and three foster children. She devoted her life to philanthropy and worked for 20 years as a nurse at Arrowhead Regional Medical Center.

Walker is the founding director of the Long Beach Indie International Film and Entertainment Festival, hosted in conjunction with the U.S. Department of Commerce. He is the author of the critically acclaimed book “No More, No More: Slavery and Cultural Resistance in Havana and New Orleans.”

For more than four decades, Dr. Walker has dedicated himself to the classroom, creating learning environments where history, community and purpose come alive. He has taught at institutions including the University of Houston, Indiana University, Occidental College, the University of California at Riverside, San Bernardino Valley College and El Camino College.

He is a highly sought-after speaker and global thought leader, with work featured in publications such as the Wall Street Journal, MSNBC, NPR and the New York Post.

Dr. Walker earned a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from San Diego State University, and a Master of Arts in Latin American History from UCR. He earned doctorates in Latin American and African American history from the University of Houston. In 2018, he was awarded an Honorary Doctorate from Claremont Graduate University for his global contributions to arts, design and innovation.

Dr. Walker hopes the takeaway graduates receive from his speech is that anyone can be successful.

“All things are possible. It doesn’t matter where you come from,” he said.