Campus Life

HIV/AIDS educator and award-winning speaker Scott Fried to visit Penn State

Scott Fried is an award-winning international public speaker, HIV/AIDS educator, and author. Credit: Penn StateCreative Commons

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — As the fall semester begins at Penn State, thousands are learning the importance of education in various areas. Something many may not be thinking of, and should be, is the prevalence of HIV and AIDS. That’s where Scott Fried comes in.

Fried, an award-winning international public speaker, HIV/AIDS educator, and author, brings his “AIDS, Love, and the Meaning of Life” program to Penn State at 6:30 p.m., Aug. 28, in 233A HUB-Robeson Center. The event is free and open to all.

Fried’s visit is a collaboration among AIDS Resource and Penn State’s Gender Equity Center, Presidential Leadership Academy, and LGBTQA Student Resource Center. The Gender Equity Center and the LGBTQA Student Resource Center are both units of Penn State Student Affairs.

“Scott is such an amazing and caring individual who always brings warmth and compassion to all of his programs,” said Jennifer Pencek, programming coordinator of Penn State’s Gender Equity Center. “He speaks from his heart and provides spaces where students and others in attendance can share their stories and grow in so many ways. We are proud Scott’s visit is our first event of the fall semester and look forward to seeing the impact he has with people."

For more than 25 years, Fried has lectured to more than 1 million teenagers and adults in nearly every U.S. state, as well as in Israel, England, Canada, Holland and Honduras. He has spoken at more than 1,000 colleges/universities and other spaces. 

His work is based on a core belief that one must understand the value of one’s own life and hold it sacred in order to refrain from dangerous behaviors that could lead to HIV infection and other crises. He speaks on a variety of topics, including sexual responsibility and consent, abstinence, dating, transmission of HIV, eating disorders, body image, self-injury, suicide, alcohol and drug misuse, dealing with divorce, intimacy, and broken-heartedness. Regardless of the topic, Fried shares his own life story of contracting and dealing with HIV.

For more information, please visit studentaffairs.psu.edu/genderequity or contact the Gender Equity Center at 814-863-2027 or genderequity@psu.edu. Learn more about Scott Fried at scottfried.com.

Last Updated August 22, 2018

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