Pitetti honored by Quilts of Valor
Pitetti has dedicated his career to enhancing the lives of people with disabilities. He has coauthored nearly 90 research studies. Pitetti was one of four people who were presented with a quilt during an Interpersonal Communication class taught by Becky Nordyke, an instructor in the Elliott School of Communication.
Nordyke had her nonverbal class and interpersonal class involved with Quilts of Valor because she thought it would be good for college students to be aware of some things that are not traditionally taught in communication textbooks.
The author of the nonverbal book writes that one of the functions of nonverbal communication is that it delivers verbal messages. Through history, quilters have been delivering messages to the military by making quilts. Another thing quilters do is attach labels telling their names, the quilt design and date the quilt was furnished.
"I went one step further and asked the nonverbal students to draw pictures of themselves for the back of the quilt, so the recipient would know all the students who were involved in the project," said Nordyke.
In the interpersonal class, the term project is borrowed from Greteman Group's "Do the Deed" campaign. Students are required to do good deeds and write how the deeds have affected their self concepts.
The class good deed is to give a quilt so someone, so each person had to draw a picture of home to welcome home the service person who will receive that quilt.
"The art work isn't fabulous because we are not art majors, but the message is the same: 'Thank you for your service. Welcome home,'" said Nordyke.
Quilts of Valor is national organization that gives quilts to wounded service personnel. Go to http://www.qovkansas.org for information.