THE
ALMICRON
THE ALUMNI NEWSLETTER OF PI KAPPA PHI AT IOWA STATE UNIVERSITY FALL 2022 EDITION
UPDATE FROM THE ALPHA OMICRON BUILDING CORPORATION A great number of things have happened since the last Almicron. The undergraduate chapter is in great shape with strong leadership. And your building corporation has been active in advising them and improving the house. We recently hired Alpha Fraternity Management to organize the maintenance of the house and improve our processes. They have done a terrific job of improving everything. Alpha manages 26 Pi Kappa Phi chapter houses nationwide. Our chapter house is in better shape than it has been in a long while, with preventive maintenance occurring on a monthly basis. In addition, our move-in/move-out processes have been systematized such that we have an accurate picture of the conditions of each room. The Chevron Management group continues to be very successful in helping the undergraduate chapter with daily chapter operations. Their founder, Jake Henderson, became CEO of Pi Kappa Phi, but in his absence, Derek Knotek has continued their great work. We had another successful Rush this fall resulting in almost double the membership living in the house Due to your donations last year, we were able to make much needed upgrades to our kitchen allowing us to hire College Chefs to prepare meals inside our house. The undergraduates are raving about the quality of their food, and we once again have a chef who is engaged and supportive of Pi Kappa Phi. I visited the chapter during their parent's weekend last month and can report that a significant number of parents attended and were treated to a great Friday evening meal! Over the past several years the AOBCII has been watching closely tremendous change taking place across the Iowa State Greek community with fraternity houses being remodeled and a handful of new ones constructed. Our house is putting our undergraduate chapter at a competitive disadvantage. Last spring, we hired a local architectural firm, Accord, to assess our physical plant and provide remodeling options. The best news is that they determined that our facility
is structurally sound and recommended improvements such as central air conditioning and heating, redesigned undergraduate rooms, renovated bathrooms, and a much more welcoming front entrance off Welch Avenue. We are beginning to receive renderings of their work and will share these exciting ideas in a future Almicron. The AOBCII has spent considerable time understanding the model for a modern fraternity house. We conducted a visioning weekend last fall with the undergraduate leaders and have our sights set on having a 100-man chapter with a facility that will sleep about 40 brothers. This new business model is our road map for a successful Alpha Omicron chapter of the future, and we are now fully engaged in understanding the affordability of our vision. Much more will be coming on this. Finally, you will read more about two honors bestowed upon Alpha Omicron, our AOBCII Treasurer, Brett Toresdahl, received the “Volunteer of the Year” award at Supreme Chapter and your building corporation was recognized with the Alumni Engagement Award. The AOBCII and AO undergraduate chapter, have made tremendous progress over this past year, but we still have a long way to go. I’d like to thank all who have been involved so far in our journey, and I’d like to invite others to participate. Yours in Pi Kappa Phi,
Bob Lane, Chairman
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