Indiana University of Pennsylvania's Phi Sigma Pi national co-ed honor fraternity has organized six different events for its first Autism Awareness Week, planned for March 30 through April 4, 2015.
All of the events are designed to raise awareness about autism, and donations also will be welcomed at events throughout the week to benefit the international autism awareness project, “Light It Up Blue.” Autism Awareness Month is celebrated internationally in April.
All of the events are free and open to the community. IUP's Office of Housing, Residential Living, and Dining are cosponsors for the events.
The fraternity will begin the week's events on March 30 with “pin it blue” from 11:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. in Stapleton Library. Members will be distributing autism awareness pins, information, and blue ribbons, and will offer the opportunity for persons to write messages on puzzle pieces related to autism awareness. The color blue and a puzzle piece shape is associated with autism awareness.
March 31 is “Piece by Piece” day with members of the fraternity distributing awareness items and offering puzzle pieces for persons to write messages about autism from 11:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. in Stapleton Library, the Hadley Union Building, and in five residence halls: Stevenson Hall, Wallwork Hall, Suites on Pratt, Northern Suites, and Whitmyre Hall.
On April 1, three members of the IUP faculty will serve on an Autism Awareness Panel at 7:00 p.m. in the Hadley Union Building Delaware Room. Faculty panelists will be Joanne Migyanka, IUP College of Education and Educational Technology, and Diane Shinberg, Sociology Department.
The movie Temple Grandin will be shown April 2 at 6:30 p.m. in G-98 Wallwork Hall.
On April 3, the fraternity hopes to have more than 100 persons be part of a special photography project to create a mosaic of individuals in blue shirts or with face painting to create a mosaic of individuals who want to raise awareness about autism. Any person is welcome to participate by getting a photo taken for this project in the photo area on the ground floor of the Hadley Union Building (next to the Delaware Room) from 11:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
The week's events conclude with an autism awareness walk on April 4 starting and ending in the Stephenson Hall courtyard. Events for the walk begin at 5:00 p.m. with persons invited to make signs and have faces painted. Families involved in the IUP Special Needs Activity Program have been invited to be part of the walk. The Stephenson rotunda will be lighted in blue for this culminating event, and members of the fraternity will make brief remarks to begin the walk.
For more information about the events, contact Robert Matchett at ylzr@iup.edu or at (412) 480-8193 or Aubrey Keperling at zwzs@iup.edu.
The group is encouraging persons to use social media to build awareness at #LIUB and #LIUB2K15.