Huntsville, Alabama – (February 14, 2012) – The University of Alabama in Huntsville’s (UAHuntsville) successful Charged Up For Change! EXPO returns to campus on March 28. EXPO features a community fair, from10 a.m., to 2 p.m., in the University Center. The event brings together local individuals and groups who create positive social change in diverse and unusual ways. Booth registration for EXPO is due by Wednesday, March 7. Admission is free and open to the public. Individuals and groups interested in registering for booths can download the registration form and exhibitor guidelines from the event website at www.uah.edu/expo. EXPO was first held two years ago, and was very successful, drawing in more than 80 exhibitors and an estimated 500 visitors. The planning team hopes to again involve exhibitors featuring the work of both individuals and groups in the local community who engage in creative projects, hobbies, or actions that promote social service and change. Activities will be diverse, such as biking, gardening, engineering, building, and gaming—all of which can better the community. Individual projects as well as community interest groups, grassroots collectives, established volunteer organizations, student clubs, alternative businesses, are also invited to participate in EXPO. “The Charged Up for Change! EXPO in 2010 was such a positive experience for planners, participants, and students. We are eager to channel that enthusiasm and energy towards the 2012 EXPO. We hope, once again, to foreground for our students the varied and creative ways individuals and groups work to effect positive social change. We are also excited to bring back the many exhibitors who joined us in 2010 and also expand to involve new individuals and groups,” said Dr. Molly Johnson, Women’s Studies director, and associate professor of history. “We hope to facilitate both renewed and new cooperative relationships among the diverse organizations in our community.” Johnson said the purpose of the event is to encourage students and others who visit EXPO to see how they might get involved in many of the activities in the community, or how they might use their own imaginations to create social change in unusual ways. Exhibitors and visitors will be able to network and exchange ideas. Local musicians, actors, and performance artists will contribute to the carnival-like atmosphere, as will refreshments, door prizes, and other creative surprises. Exhibits may highlight any form of positive change that makes a local or global impact: recycling programs, sustainable living, and green energy; handcrafted products, textile and fabric work; athletic activism for a cause; everyday, humanitarian uses of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics; local food, cooking, baking, gardening; performance art of all types, visual arts, writing, dance; film, photography, digital and web-based action; health and wellness; animal care and advocacy; construction and building, mechanics, repair, and industry; childcare, tutoring, and mentoring. The Women’s Studies Program, the Office of Student Affairs, the Office of Diversity, the Global Studies Program, and the Women’s Studies student organization sponsor EXPO at UAHuntsville. EXPO is organized by a diverse group of UAHuntsville faculty, staff, and students, as well as community groups including the American Association of University Women (AAUW) Huntsville branch, the Girl Scouts of North Central Alabama and the Flying Monkey Arts Center. For more informationDr. Molly Johnson256.824.2566molly.johnson@uah.edu Joyce Anderson-Maples256.824.2101maplesj@uah.edu