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College Autism Summit Returns to Nashville for Biggest Summit Yet!

Posted by on Monday, October 30, 2023 in CAN News, FCAI News, News.

Exhibitors filled the Student Life Center ballroom with excitement and buzz.

The College Autism Network returned this year to Vanderbilt University’s Student Life Center for the largest summit yet, the 7th College Autism Summit, with the theme ‘Finding a Balance.’ The College Autism Summit gathers nationwide educators, researchers, advocates, and other professionals together to discuss tensions and opportunities in the college autism space over three days in October.  

This year’s Keynote speaker, Russell Lehmann, an award-winning and internationally recognized thought leader, speaker, poet, and advocate, gave a passionate speech about his experiences and stuck around to sign his incredible book On The Outside Looking In: My Life on the Autism Spectrum.

College Autism Network Executive Director Lee Williams introducing speakers in the ballroom.

We filled the Student Life Center ballroom with exhibitors from all over the country, with an incredible amount of neurodiverse-specific swag and the first College Autism Summit poster session showing incredible research and insights from scholars.

A huge congratulations to the CAN Award Winners this year: Laurie Ackles for CAN Contributor of the Year, George Mason University for Outstanding Research on Autism in Higher Education, Marshall University for College Program for Students with Autism Spectrum Disorder, and Wells Fargo for Outstanding Neurodiversity Workplace Initiative.

Keynote speaker Russell Lehmann.

The Frist Center would like to thank all the outstanding individuals at the College Autism Network who organized this fantastic event, all the exhibitors who showcased their resources, all the speakers who came to engage and enlighten us, and all the sponsors who made the summit possible.