UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – Penn State Outreach and State College Borough are partnering to bring town and gown together for PA Dignity Day, a local celebration of Global Dignity Day.

Community members, including Penn State faculty, staff and students and residents and visitors from State College and the Centre Region, are invited to the Oct. 10 event at Martin Luther King, Jr. Plaza in State College from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Registration is required and available here.

The PA Dignity Day event will feature a community-wide dialogue accompanied by music and food trucks. The first 150 people who register will receive a free meal ticket.

Global Dignity Day was first held in 2008 as a celebration of the unity in the belief that everyone deserves to live a life of dignity and is hosted in more than 80 countries every October.

“We want to encourage people to take a pause for a moment and acknowledge that every person deserves to be treated with dignity,” said Katie Marshall, program specialist for the Penn State Outreach and Online Education Office of Inclusion, Equity and Diversity. “This celebration will be centered around conversations with others within the Penn State and State College communities in an uplifting setting and consider how we can best honor the dignity of others in the places we live, work, learn and play.”

This marks the second time Penn State has partnered with State College Borough to celebrate PA Dignity Day.

State College Mayor Ezra Nanes said the event brings together the local and Penn State communities together for an important reason. 

“I love the celebration of Global Dignity Day. The message is one I deeply believe in, that every single person and every person's uniqueness is valuable to our human family. That we are united by our shared humanity and universal human values of kindness, compassion, understanding and love,” Nanes said. “Given that State College and Penn State are two parts of a symbiotic whole, inseparable, and yet distinct and autonomous, it is natural for us to celebrate this holiday together.”

During the event, Spud Marshall, local community builder and co-founder of 3 Dots Downtown, will break participants into small groups and guide them with curated questions.

“This event will be a special opportunity for our community to come together and dream into the future. You'll walk away building some meaningful new connections that will spark new ideas and possibilities for our region,” Marshall said.

Visit the PA Dignity Day website for more information.