Summer 2015 - The Emerald

SUMMER 2015

F ROM T H E E X E C U T IV E D IRECTO R

When we first moved to our beautiful new Executive Office in Lebanon, TN back in 2013, I knew that it would be important for us to establish relationships in town with all the important local politicians, successful attorneys, and major business owners. That’s when I was introduced to the local Rotary Club, and I found out they were established on December 4, 1921.

Volume XCIX, Number 2 - Summer 2015 (ISSN 1074-5289, USPS 011-013)

This was no ordinary Rotary Club. I was warned ahead of time that this particular Rotary Club had some strange traditions at the start of each meeting, but they did have the top 75 leaders in Wilson County attending. My curiosity got the best of me.

The Emerald has been published since 1911, and is published two times a year by Sigma Pi Fraternity, 106 North Castle Heights Ave, Lebanon, Tennessee, 37087 and additional mailing offices.

TRADITIONS. KEEP THEM OR THROW THEM OUT?

It was my very first meeting. They started by introducing all the visiting guests to the rest of the Rotary Club with a brief biography of what they do for a living.

That’s when it happened. The entire group starting singing together. “You’re a Grand Old Flag” and “Take Me Out To The Ballgame” were the songs chosen for that particular day, along with piano accompaniment. I thought to myself that my voice was horrible. I might not be asked to come back. Against my better judgement, I joined in with the singing, and it felt great. I remember feeling instantly part of their team, I remember thinking this was different than every other meeting I’ve ever attended, and I instantly forgot (for the moment) all the other things that were consuming my life at the time. I was inspired. “Way to go,” said the President of the Club. “Y’all sounded great today!”

This story repeats itself every Tuesday afternoon. I’m now the President Elect of the Rotary Club and I’m left wondering if we should continue this tradition that they’ve had in place since the 1920’s, or should we change our ways?

One other interesting note about Rotary International that helped me answer that question. They have 1.2 million members across the globe who come together to create positive, lasting change in their communities. They all subscribe to the “Four-Way Test”.

Of the things we think, say, or do: 1. Is it the truth?

2. Is it fair to all concerned?

3. Will it build goodwill and better friendships?

4. Will it be beneficial to all concerned?

Fraternities have lots of tradition in our identity. We have our letters. Our creed.

Our history. Our values. These things will never change. We believe that the next generation of Sigma Pi members should keep those things sacred and pass it on.

We’ve also heard in the media recently that fraternities need to change their traditions. No matter which tradition we are talking about, I would challenge you and your brothers to apply those traditions to the “Four-Way Test” in order to determine if it is a tradition we should keep in our chapters.

If it’s a Halloween theme party that could insult people based on race, ethnicity, or sexual orientation, then the answer is clearly no. If it’s a hazing practice that we have no idea why we do it other than tradition - “it happened to me so I’ll do it to the next guy” - then the answer is clearly no. How about the chants that we sing? How about the awards we hand out at every chapter meeting? Are we really promoting the values of Sigma Pi in everything that we do, or do we let those values go for certain chants or certain awards in the chapter?

Traditions can be very good when we ask the right questions and really think about what we are doing, and then consciously ask ourselves if it matches the values of Sigma Pi. That tradition will show the best of who we are.

Fraternally,

Michael Ayalon (Buffalo ’97) Executive Director

A B OUT T HE EMERA L D

Submission Deadlines Spring - February 10 (Digital Platform) Summer - May 10 (Print - Opt-In Only) Fall - September 10 (Print - All Addresses)

A BOUT SI G MA PI Sigma Pi Fraternity, International was founded at Vincennes University, Vincennes, Ind. on February 26, 1897. The Executive Office is located in Lebanon, Tenn. Sigma Pi has chartered more than 230 chapters in North America and has initiated over 100,000 members since 1897.

The founding fathers of Sigma Pi Fraternity are: Rolin Rosco James (1879 - 1953) William Raper Kennedy (1877 - 1944) James Thompson Kingsbury (1877 - 1950) George Martin Patterson (1877 - 1960)

ED I TORI A L STA F F EDITOR/CREATIVE DIRECTOR

Chris Carter (Middle Tennessee ’11) ASSISTANT EDITOR

Philip Aiello (Wisconsin-Oshkosh ’15) BUSINESS MANAGER

Jason Walker (Georgia ’96) CONTRIBUTORS

Kevin Pons (Johnson & Wales ’06) Ryan Armstrong (Iowa ’12) GS E. Andrew Morris (Murray State ’70) Jimmy Berents (Wake Forest ’17) Joseph Crafton (Kentucky ’18) Ryan Khuri (Louisville ’12) Donald Abels (Middle Tennessee ’12) Ryan Miller (Oklahoma State ’16) Thea Zunick Brett Stewart

SHA RE YOUR STORY Send pictures & stories to: emerald@sigmapi.org or Sigma Pi Fraternity 106 N. Castle Heights Ave. Lebanon, TN 37087

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Member, North-American Interfraternity Conference

FRATERNITY COMMUNICATIONS ASSOCIATION

CON T EN TS

FEATUR ES

by Donald Abels (Middle Tennessee ’12)

12

I N EVERY ISSU E

by Ryan Khuri (Louisville ’12)

18

by Chris Carter (Middle Tennessee ’11)

20

FRESH CO NTENT

02 Inter national Digest

03 Museum Spotlight

05 From The Grand Sage

06 Lifestyle & Education

08 Educational Foundation

04 In Your Own Words

22 Chapter & Colony Reports

16 The Emerald Online

42 Undergraduate Spotlight

44 Frater nal Experience

51 Alumni News

46 Sigma Pi Partners

55 Adytum On High

48 Volunteer Spotlight

60 Expansion

50 Veterans Memorial

58 Chartering Announcement

54 Archives

65 Photo Finish

60 2020 Plan

Copyright © 2015 Sigma Pi Fraternity; Sigma Pi, ACE Project and the crest are trademarks of Sigma Pi, all rights reserved.

62 Undergraduate Experience T H EEMERAL D.ORG + 1

F ROM T H E E X E C U T IV E O FFIC E

EDITOR’S NOTE

IN T E RN AT IO N A L DI G EST

The Emerald has seen many changes over the years. From the first issue, which was a small booklet, to the mid-1970’s tabloid layout, the magazine has seen many different styles and designs since its inception in 1911.

In 2014, we partnered with Phired Up Productions to better understand our members and what they want out of the organization.

One of the key elements of that research was The Emerald, where we found that members want more educational and lifestyle content.

Members have said they look at their chapter’s report and then close the magazine. A revitalization of the magazine can change that.

Fast forward to 2015, where we are introducing a brand new redesign of The Emerald. The Summer 2015 issue encapsulates the essence of fraternal life. Beginning on the cover, you’ll notice a brand new logo for the magazine which utlizes a modernized version of the emerald as seen on the Sigma Pi badge.

Inside, we’ve incorporated some great new elements that will please our membership.

With more historical content such as the “From the Museum Archives” (pg. 3) to the “The Emerald ReCovered” (pg. 55), we are revisiting the foundation of what brought the Fraternity to where it’s at today. Other new elements of the magazine include the “In Your Own Words” (pg. 4), “Tech Talk” (pg. 6) and a completely redesigned “Chapter & Colony Reports” (pg. 24).

You may also notice that we have shortened the Chapter affiliation with names (another element that has changed many times over the years.) Now, instead of John Doe (AlphaAlpha, University ‘15), you’ll instead see John Doe (University ’15). This simple change will allow more room for important content, but also still provide the necessary connection to a member’s chapter that we all desire.

Chris Carter (Middle Tennesse ’11) Director of Communications Editor, The Emerald 2 + SUMMER 2015

The Executive Office is proud to announce that GS E. Andrew Morris (Murray State ’70) was recognized by the Fraternity Executives Association at the 2015 Annual Meeting in Scottsdale, Arizona for his contributions to the FEA community. This award is presented to members who have positively impacted the FEA organization through their leadership and advancement of the mission of FEA. “There have only ever been two members of Sigma Pi to receive awards from FEA. One was Harold Jacobsen (Kenyon ’24) in 1987, who got the Award of Distinction,” said GS Morris. “For me to be the only other Sigma Pi to receive that award is quite an honor for me, but also for the Fraternity. If you look at the list of people who have received awards over the years, a lot of fraternities don’t have anybody represented, and we’ve had two.”

The Executive Office of Sigma Pi Fraternity, International would like to congratulate PGS Dr. Robert L. Burns (Wisconsin-La Crosse ’71) on being recognized with the Alumni Award of Distinction by the North-American Interfraternity Conference (NIC). The Alumni Award of Distinction recognizes the fraternity man who has given of his time, talents, and service to the betterment of the Fraternity. The service can be given at the local, regional, or national level.

PGS Burns is a charter member of Delta-Phi Chapter, and was first elected to the Grand Council as Grand Herald in 1976. He served as Grand Sage from 1979 through 1982, has served as Faculty Adviser, Chapter Director, Province Archon, and on numerous Fraternity boards and committees. He was presented with The Founders’ Award in 2006.

Though Dr. Burns is retired from a career in higher education that included roles as student, tenured faculty, deans, vice presidents, provost, and much more, he continues serving as a consultant in higher education administration, venture capital programs, economic development, organizational management, inter-agency cooperation/development, and in local, state, and federal lobbying. Burns has wide experience with numerous non-profit organizations at the state, regional and national levels, including board memberships and chairmanships. He has served two terms on the Board of Directors of the NIC.

FR OM T HE EX ECUT I V E OF F I CE

CHAPTER CLOSINGS

FROM THE MUSEUM ARCHIVES

Beta-Eta Chapter San Jose State University Beta-Eta Chapter had their charter revoked after San Jose State University suspended the Chapter for two years as a result of the Chapter not adhering to University policies and sanctions.

The Chapter was also unable to meet minimum chapter GPA requirements of Sigma Pi. Beta-Eta Chapter will be eligible to return to campus in the Fall of 2017.

CHARTERINGS Iota-Sigma Chapter University of South Florida Iota-Sigma Chapter officially chartered on March 14, 2015, where 57 Founding Fathers were officially initiated as members of Sigma Pi. For more information, read the chartering article on page 62.

EXECUTIVE OFFICE CHANGES AND HIRINGS As of January 1, 2015, the Executive Office of Sigma Pi has made several changes to the staff. New hirings and position changes are listed below: Philip Aiello (Wisconsin-Oshkosh ’15) Alumni Services & Communications Consultant Rhett LaRose (Texas-San Antonio ’12) Regional Director Joseph Manglardi (UCF ’15) Expansion Consultant Lanse Macke (Oregon State ’15) Expansion Consultant Dalton Reeves (Missouri State ’15) Expansion Consultant Jason “Gilligan” Walker (Georgia ’96) Associate Executive Director

by Mike Grant (Oakland ‘97) & Christian Miele (Towson ’04), contributing writers

Editor’s Note: The “From The Museum Archives” spotlight will be an ongoing series in each issue of The Emerald that introduces an important historical item from the museum at the Executive Office.

In June of 1909, the Fraternity decided to abandon The English Chivalric Ritual in favor of one to be prepared along the lines of the Sigma Delta ritual. The following month, Grand Sage Winford L. Mattoon (Ohio State 1908) appointed a committee to do this work. The committee consisted of Grand Fourth Counselor M. Atlee Ermold (Temple 1909), Byron R. Lewis (Vincennes 1907), and Grand Herald Arthur H. Miller. The committee’s remarkable adaptation - known from that point forward as The Golden Quest - was completed in April 1910. This typewriter was used by Lewis to revise The Golden Quest. It was donated to the Fraternity in 1972 and can now be seen in the Fraternity’s museum at The Mitchell House.

Kevin Pons M.Ed. (Johnson & Wales ’96) Assistant Executive Director Michael Davis (UCF ’13) Regional Director Joseph Drain (FSU ’10) Regional Director

T H EEMERAL D.ORG + 3

s d r o W n w In Your O T

PI F SIGMA O D L R O E W FROM TH S T H G U O H

To see your own words here, be sure to use #sigmapi, tag @sigmapi or email us at emerald@sigmapi.org to share your thoughts!

Matt Ramsden So proud of my fraternity for being able to diffuse culture like our creed tells us. Love that my brothers accept me for who I am.

Thank you for your amazing support. Sigma Pi: Fitchburg State Sigma Pi Fraternity #NOH8 @zachmayfield95 #SigmaPi #ArizonaIsCool #asu

B_LakeHarris “After ending my first year in Minnesota, my brother in the chapter and I were both going on road trips to different parts of the country, so we decided to have a PR competition. Among the contesting pictures, there were waterfalls, mountains, the Grand Canyon and Walter White’s house from Breaking Bad. I ended the competition with me skiing above the clouds at Timberline ski resort in Mt. Hood, Oregon with a massive ski jump! Without the great family I’ve been surrounded by in Sigma Pi, I wouldn’t have been pushed to excel so greatly, and this picture may not have happened. ~Mahalo Volcano”

@SigmaPiKYP Wrapped up 2 1/2 days @SigmaPi HQ. The amount of documents, photos history of 118 years is amazing & humbling.

Shawn Humphrey @SmileRy

Great to visit with some of the brothers from the new Sigma Pi Fraternity colony at Sigma Pi Fraternity at Arizona State University today! Keep up the great work boys! #sigmapi #ibelieve

Thank you to @SigmaPiExec for outfitting my nephew Beau! @SigmaPi @SigmaPiGVSU #sigmapi #legacy

@TJWidger @kevinmcarey

@TwoFatCookies

I need to hold myself accountable to learn it, live it, teach it, and expect it. This “it” is my ritual! @SigmaPi #UIFIPurdue

His Favorite Things Groom’s Cake #twofatcookies #groomscake #auburn #sigmapi #goldendoodles #nautical #golf

S E P TE M BE R

OCTOB ER

I haven’t really tweeted about the conference because I literally cannot put how incredible the experience was into words #SigmaPiUIFI #IBelieve

N OV EMB ER

07 EXECUTIVE OFFICE CLOSED (LABOR DAY)

02 FALL SEMI-ANNUAL DUES BILLED

02 CONVOCATION ASSESSMENT DUES BILLED

24 URSINUS (THETA-SIGMA) TEN-YEAR ANNIVERSARY

08 WILLIAM PATERSON (THETA-TAU)

09 MID-YEAR LEADERSHIP CONFERENCE

TEN-YEAR ANNIVERSARY

10 PROVINCE ARCHON CONFERENCE LEBANON, TENNESSEE

4 + SUMMER 2015

REGISTRATION OPENS

26-27 EXECUTIVE OFFICE CLOSED (THANKSGIVING)

FROM T HE GRA N D SAGE

Q&A With The Grand Sage WE TOOK TO SOCIAL MEDIA TO FIND OUT WHAT YOU WANTED TO KNOW FROM GRAND SAGE E. ANDREW MORRIS

John H.

Kevin D.

What’s been the best experience you’ve had being the Grand Sage of Sigma Pi?

Do you remember way back in 1974 when the brothers of Delta-Rho (Morehead State University) had my pledge class drive to University Of Kentucky at 4 AM, and get the “housemothers” signature on a potholder?

You happened to answer the door because YOU were the housemother!

During the first year of my term as Grand Sage, I had several events that are memorable.

The rechartering of Beta-Delta Chapter at the University of Kansas after being dormant for 50 years and the chartering of the University of South Florida, our newest chapter, are important in our history. The Veterans Gala sponsored by Gov. Mike Bebee (Arkansas State ’68) held at the Arkansas Governor’s Mansion made me proud to be a Sigma Pi. Gov. Bebee stated, “It is not a stretch to say, I would not be where I am today if not for Sigma Pi”. If you believe in the fraternity, just say it.

Camren W. What exactly does it entail to “believe in Sigma Pi?” We make this claim at the beginning of our creed, but how specifically do you, sir, define believing in Sigma Pi? Every member learns the Creed, says the Creed, but they don’t live the Creed. I have read most of the manuals of the other fraternities and our words sum up what we should all live by. It is a model for being a good man during our lives to others and especially to our families. “United in Brotherhood” and “Develop Character “ are the part of the Creed I don’t see by some of our members in our own daily lives to better Sigma Pi.

Ryan M. With so many other fraternities having undergraduates on their Board of Directors, why does Sigma Pi not?

This biennium we have representation at our Grand Council meetings from undergraduate members who are members of the four Grand Sage Cup winners. This was the idea of Grand Herald Les Wright (Murray State ’70) to have the input of the undergraduates on the climate on the campuses. Although the members do not have a vote, their ideas are important in decisions that we are making for the Grand Chapter. Due to liability reasons, only the elected Grand Council members vote on policies.

I started the chapter at the University of Kentucky after graduation and when a chapter house was purchased I became the House Father at 25-years-old. Since I was not that much older than the members, the parents and other students were surprised that I ran the house. I do remember the pledges from Morehead State coming to my apartment one night on a scavenger hunt. One year, we had the Orchid Ball with Epsilon-Alpha Chapter from Southern Tech in Georgia and they even brought me a date for the dance. It could not have been any better.

GS E. Andrew Morris Murray State ’70 grandsage@sigmapi.org

Scott A. Do you think fraternity life will be significantly different in 10 years?

Fraternities will always be around, because they serve a social purpose in leadership on campus. The way all groups are perceived is by their actions presented by the media and the good things done by chapters don’t make interesting news. The students belong to the universities first and then to a fraternity. The result is always to remove an entire fraternity for the actions of the student, so we have to be responsible in fraternity activities. There is a disconnect from the old traditions I had when I was an undergraduate and today. I wore my badge over my heart every day when I went on campus and my letters to Greek events with pride. I don’t see that as much and there is no reason to be ashamed of being a Sigma Pi. If we do the right things and leave the fraternity better than we found it, we will survive and thrive.

T H EEMERAL D.ORG + 5

L I F E STY L E & E D U C AT IO N

reviewing today’s hottest trends in technology & communications

NEED A LYFT? You may have heard of Lyft, the American transportation network company that uses mobile devices for peer-to-peer ridesharing. What you may not have heard is that the co-founder and President of Lyft is a brother of Sigma Pi, John Zimmer (Cornell ’06). John originally founded Zimride in 2007 alongside Logan Green as a way to coordinate carpools on college campuses. The two went on to establish Lyft in the summer of 2012.

The premise of Lyft is simple: Periscope, which is owned by Twitter, is taking the social media world by storm. In the first few months of its inception, Periscope has gained two million users and will soon be competing for time alongside your Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Snapchat accounts. The aforementioned social media applications all provide a window into our daily lives. While these apps can show blasts from the recent past, none of them give quite an up-to-the-second view like Periscope can.

Periscope is a “live video streaming platform”, which basically means you can transmit a live broadcast from your device on the platform. Similar to Facetime or Skype, Periscope uses live video, but instead of just talking to one person, your Periscope and Twitter followers can easily see exactly what you are broadcasting, as well as comment and “like” your broadcast.

Follow Sigma Pi Fraternity on Periscope @sigmapi1897

by Paul Wydra (UMSL ’01), contributing writer

56.8 million people.

That is how many will play fantasy football this year in the United States & Canada. If you are reading this, most likely you are one of those 56.8 million. So how do we take advantage of that when it comes to fundraising for Sigma Pi? Sigma Pi fantasy football leagues are an easy and fun way to keep your actives & alumni involved AND give back to their chapter or colony.

Photo courtesy of James D. Smith

6 + SUMMER 2015

I started one at Theta-Omega Chapter (Middle Tennessee) a few years ago to fund a scholarship in honor of one of our Founding Fathers who passed away unexpectedly. We wanted to honor his legacy through a scholarship in his name to be awarded to a new member who has the highest GPA in his pledge class. The only problem was that we have a young alumni base still finding their way financially in their post-college lives.

1. Request a ride - With just one tap, get matched with a friendly, background-checked driver.

2. Get picked up - Track your driver’s arrival time in the app. You’ll see their photo so you know who you’re riding with.

3. Get there fast - When the ride ends, just pay with your phone. Done!

Lyft currently operates in more than 60 cities in the U.S. with more than 10 million shared rides taken to date, and is valued at more than $2.5 billion.

For more information, visit lyft.com If you’re using Lyft for the first time, use promo code “sigmapi” in the payments tab

I started a 16-team league and charged $50 per person, with everyone in agreement that $25 of that goes to the scholarship fund. After the season, we had $400 for the fund, while the other $400 went to division winners and the overall winner of the league. We awarded a very deserving new member who got a 4.0 GPA with the scholarship and paid for his initiation into Sigma Pi. With money left over, we purchased a plaque for the house to honor the brothers who are awarded the scholarship.

Of course you can do financially whatever you see fit, maybe two leagues? Maybe $100 per person? The options are endless, and the best part is that this keeps alumni engaged with each other through the league. ESPN and Yahoo offer free fantasy football sites, as do many other online outlets.

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me – paulwydra@yahoo.com. Raising money is hard but this is an opportunity that everyone can buy into - literally!

LI F EST Y L E & EDUCAT I ON

WHAT TO (AND WHAT NOT TO) WEAR TO AN

INTERVIEW

by Ryan Miller (Oklahoma State ’16), contributing writer

You only get one chance at a first impression... why not do it right? Most guys don’t have the time or desire to go shopping for that perfect look they want, so that’s where Trunk Club steps in. Why not take it completely out of your hands? Trunk Club was created to do just that.

Guys are able to discover awesome brands, receive a personalized one-on-one service, and never have to shop for themselves! Have a trunk sent right to your doorstep - try everything on, keep what you love and send back what doesn’t work out. It’s as easy as that!

We even cover shipping both ways. If you are in Chicago, Los Angeles, New York City, Washington DC, and Dallas, you have the option to come into one of our clubhouses to kick back, have a complimentary drink (or two), and walk out with the clothes that you and your Stylist picked out that day. The Styling service is completely free.

Your Stylist, Mollie, can answer any questions that you have! Just sign up at the link below.

trunkclub.com/mengler

You submitted the application and resume, gave references and landed that coveted interview.

Congratulations! Getting that interview is half the battle and now you have to prepare to crush the interview. Below are tips to help you prepare for and, hopefully, land the job of your dreams.

1

3

5

SUIT CHOICE IS #1

PAY ATTENTION TO YOUR SHOES

DON’T WEAR COLOGNE

Black suits are usually considered too formal or harsh to wear to an interview and earth tones too casual.

A solid navy or medium to dark grey suit will do the trick. When it comes to shirts, a general rule is that light shirts, like a crisp, white cotton one, have a more powerful impact than darker colors.

While a well-fitting, tailored suit is preferred, don’t rush out and buy new clothing right before an interview. A suit should invoke confidence. While you might like a suit in store, things change. If you need new clothing before an interview, be sure to give yourself time and be confident in the outfit. Additionally, never wear something to an interview you have never worn before.

2 WEAR A CONSERVATIVE TIE Choose a bold-colored tie to compliment your subdued suit and shirt colors. Reds and yellows are good choices, especially in wide stripes or a conservative pattern such as checkered or a small crest. Avoid narrow, knit, woven, and bowties.

It is often said that you can tell a lot about someone by their shoes. Your selection can make or break your outfit. A quality suit with cheap or unkempt shoes can ruin your look and make it seem as if you do not care. Shoes are an investment, one that many men do not feel the need to make. Also, be sure to polish and shine your shoes often.

SAVE 15% ON DRESS ATTIRE WITH SIGMA PI PARTNERS

membership.brooksbrothers.com ID#: 04901 Pin Code #: 44088

4 ERR ON THE SIDE OF OVERDRESSED If you are unsure of what to wear for your interview, it is better to be overdressed than underdressed. If you have never been underdressed in a situation, it is much more uncomfortable than being the the sharpest dressed in the room.

Research the organization’s culture or contact the HR department if you are unsure of what to (or not to) wear.

No matter how subtle you think it might be, you never know who could be allergic or simply think it smells bad. You don’t want to be remembered as the applicant with the terrible cologne or aftershave.

6 STICK TO SIMPLE ACCESSORIES, BUT DON’T BE AFRAID TO HAVE SOME FUN A conservative watch with a nice leather or link strip and one or two rings will do.

An interesting pair of socks are a good choice and can be memorable as well if they are appropriate.

Cufflinks can convey your personality.

If you are wearing a French cuff dress shirt (and only a French cuff shirt), you will need a pair of cuff links. Find a pair that represents you and gives more insight to your personality.

Lapel pins are also an option, but you have to be careful with your pin choice. It shouldn’t be too large and you should only wear one. The pin can represent your culture, heritage or a cause that you care about.

You can leave an interview feeling positive knowing they will offer you the position or you can leave realizing that you did not put your best foot forward. Preparation is the key to most things in life and interviews are no exception. Test out your chosen outfit, research the organization, get a good night’s rest, and remember to be courteous to everyone you encounter at the organization.

T HEEMERAL D.ORG + 7

S I G MA P I E D U C AT IO N A L FO U NDATIO N

BECOME A MONTHLY DONOR If you are like most individuals, you receive many solicitations in the mail asking for money, and most go in the trash. However, some organizations you have a passion for their cause and choose to make a gift. For those organizations in which you strongly believe in, you might consider being a monthly supporter to take away the hassle of mail and phone solicitations. We all have to make some charitable donations each year to benefit from the tax deduction. When making a monthly gift to a non-profit of your choosing, it does not have to be a large amount of money. Small amounts addup and definitely help the organization. If you were to become a monthly donor in the amount of $18.97, that equals an annual donation of $227.64.

Monthly gifts assist in the budgeting process, as an organization can depend on this money coming in on a regular basis.

When the money is automatically deducted from your checking or savings account or even payroll, most times you do not miss it because it is gone before you even receive it. If you would like to become a monthly supporter of the Sigma Pi Educational Foundation, contact Foundation Administrative Assistant Jen Wyatt at 615-921-2300 or jwyatt@sigmapi.org. Jen will be able to process your monthly gift through a recurring automatic deduction from your checking or savings account or a credit card. The Educational Foundation accepts MC, Visa, Discover or AMEX.

“Joining a fraternity was the farthest thing from my mind when I went off to college. My main goal was to focus on my studies, and the only thing I knew of fraternities was what I saw in movies one big party. Through my classes, I met some Sigma Pi members and quickly realized I was wrong. There was a strong sense of leadership and brotherhood, which was something I wanted to be involved with. Sigma Pi played a large role in who I am today, not only as a leader but a friend and member of my community. Being a part of this organization gave me so much, and I donate as a way to give back. Hopefully my donations will help others along their journey as well.”

Covey Detmer Vincennes ’10 Brotherhood of the Golden Cross Member ($1,000+ annually)

All gifts - large or small - are graciously accepted by the Educational Foundation, and they are tax deductible to the fullest extent allowed by law. The Educational Foundation is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization as recognized by the Internal Revenue Service.

The Educational Foundation truly hopes that you will consider being a monthly supporter (if you are not already) of the educational pursuits of the Sigma Pi Fraternity and its members through grants to the Fraternity’s leadership programs – Mid Year Leadership Conference and Sigma Pi University and/or through scholarships to undergraduate or graduate students of Sigma Pi.

Should you have any questions about making a gift of support to the Educational Foundation, please contact Lisa Pearson, Foundation Director at 615-921-2313 or lpearson@sigmapi.org.

To donate online, visit sigmapiedfund.org/donate 8 + SUMMER 2015

SIGMA PI EDUC AT I ON A L FOUN DAT I ON

Anthony LaRosa (Grand Valley State ‘17) Shaun Lawson (SIU-Carbondale ‘16) Matthew Leitch (Oregon ‘17) Nicholas Lesley (Arkansas State ‘16) Jacob Lewallen (Missouri State ‘16) Eric Lewis (Detroit-Mercy ‘14) Alec Lhotka (SIU-Carbondale ‘17) Domenico Libreri (Valparaiso ‘15) Paul Licht, Jr. (Penn College ‘17) Tyler Litchfield (Missouri ‘17) Jordan Little (Washington State ‘16) Daniel Lowry (SIU-Carbondale ‘16) Lanse Macke (Oregon State ‘14) Derek Martin (Oakland ‘15) Abraham Maze (Southern Indiana ‘16) Ian McGregor (Penn State-Altoona ‘14) Tyler McWhorter (SIU-Edwardsville ‘18) Julio Mendez (Texas ‘16) Patrick Minnick (Iowa ‘16) Robert Mollusky (Oregon ‘16) Troy Moose (Missouri Southern ‘16) Nicholas Moquete (Seton Hall ‘17) Marvin Nicoleau (Franklin & Marshall ‘16) Patrick Nittler (UMSL ‘16) Edward O’Connell, IV (SIU-Carbondale ‘15) Jonathan O’Connor (Fairleigh Dickinson ‘15) Nicholas Ogden (Missouri State ‘17) Thomas Osmers (Virginia ‘16) Wade Owens (Radford ‘15) Dominic Patrus (Oakland ‘16) Zachary Pecze (Penn College ‘17) Nicklas Polizzi (Missouri Southern ‘15) Jon Rensberger (Valparaiso ‘16) Sean Reynolds (Penn College ‘14) Jack Ritterbush (Missouri ‘18) John Rodriguez (Salisbury ‘14) Randy Romann (SIU-Edwardsville ‘16) Michael Rose (Missouri Southern ‘16) Dylan Sager (West Alabama ‘15) Saman Salari (California-Santa Barbara ‘16) Jack Sargent (Missouri ‘18) Drew Scheier (West Chester ‘16) Benjamin Schroeder (Carleton ‘14) Paul Schutte (UMSL ‘17) Saad Shamshair (Rutgers ‘15) Giovan Shepard (Franklin & Marshall ‘16) David Sherier (Oklahoma State ‘15) Drew Shryock (Missouri ‘17) James Sklar (Oakland ‘15) Michael Slevin (Cal Poly ‘15) Donovan Souza (UC Berkeley ‘16) Patrick Specha (Missouri ‘18) Ryan Sullivan (St John’s ‘17) Zacary Thomas (Washington State ‘16) Mihail Tsvetanov (Missouri ‘18) John Wallace (Grand Valley State ‘16) Mark Watt (Washington State ‘15) Jordan West (Missouri ‘18) Gareth Williams (Carleton ‘15) Bradley Wilson (Oregon ‘16) Marcus Wright (Southern Tech ‘14) Hunter Young (Arkansas ’16)

2 01 4-1 5 DELTA SOCIETY MEMBERS

Mustafa Abdullah, Jr. (SIU-Carbondale ‘16) Adam Alloy (Texas ‘15) Johnny Anderson (SIU-Edwardsville ‘16) Kevin Arriola (California-Santa Cruz ‘15) Ryan Babb (Kentucky ‘17) Steven Babcock (Missouri Southern ‘17) Ben Baker (Missouri ‘17) Michael Balce (California-Santa Cruz ‘15) Dustin Baughman (Penn College ‘17) Kayne Beeson (Central Missouri ‘17) Rafael Benitez (Franklin & Marshall ‘17) Matthew Bieber (Iowa ‘16) Liam Biesiada (SIU-Edwardsville ‘18) Brandon Blue (Houston ‘16) Tristan Blus (Franklin & Marshall ‘17) Samuel Brown (Oakland ‘15) Steven Bukauskas (SIU-Carbondale ‘15) Christopher Butcher (Grand Valley State ‘17) Jordan Canela (St John’s ‘16) Brian Cardenas (William Paterson ‘15) Chance Carter (West Chester ‘15) Daniel Cassaro (UCF ‘15) Jake Charles (Grand Valley State ‘16) Christopher Cobham (Texas ‘16) Alix Connor (Alabama ‘15) Christopher Cook (Drury ‘17) Chase Cooper (Texas ‘16) Jake Daly (California-Santa Barbara ‘16) Brett Donovan (Rutgers ‘16) Tiago Dovale (Bridgewater State ‘16) Aaron Drake (California-Santa Barbara ‘16) Zachary Elmer (Indiana of Pennsylvania ‘15) Lane Embry (Central Missouri ‘17) Jaycob Enzler (Washington State ‘14) James Farah (Florida State ‘16) Bennett Felton (UMSL ‘14) Jordan Fite (California-Santa Barbara ‘16) Michael Fitzgerald (Ohio State ‘17) Ali Ghazanfar-Pour (Texas ‘16) Cody Gonyea (Worcester Tech ‘15) Matthew Gorton (Oklahoma State ‘16) Colton Gray (Iowa State ‘15) David Halkyard (Franklin & Marshall ‘17) Erik Hansen (Miami ‘15) Daren Hooper (Missouri ‘17) Travis Hornback (Louisville ‘16) Skylar James (Kansas State ‘14) Brett Michael Johnson (Radford ‘17) Justin Jolley (Texas-San Antonio ‘17) Charles Jones (Arkansas State ‘15) Elijah Jones (Washington State ‘17) Alexander Jones (Louisville ‘14) Nicholas Kepka Calvetti (Worcester Tech ‘15) Charles Kim (California-Santa Cruz ‘17) Nikita Koshcheyev (Michigan Tech ‘16) Connor Kramer (Missouri ‘18) Brett Kraus (Missouri S&T ‘15) Jonathan Kroll (California-Santa Barbara ‘17) Thomas Kubiak (Ferris State ‘) Mike Kuemmel (Missouri ‘18) Joshua La Bar (Indiana of Pennsylvania ‘15) Leo LaBond (Detroit-Mercy ‘15) Luke Laggner (Louisiana Tech ‘15)

DELTA SOCIETY The Delta Society is an honorary membership society recognizing undergraduate members who have begun a tradition of financial support for the Sigma Pi Educational Foundation.

Your generosity helps provide grants for educational and leadership programs like Mid-Year Leadership Conference and Sigma Pi University, as well as helps to fund individual scholarships.

As an undergraduate member of Sigma Pi, you have the opportunity to help build the future of our Fraternity.

The commitment of Sigma Pi to its undergraduates is steeped in rich tradition. The Fraternity has dedicated itself to guiding principles that have significantly enriched the lives of each member. By recognizing and honoring that past, Sigma Pi is, in a sense, endowing its future.

The selfless “giving back” by a Delta Society member further serves as an invaluable example for his chapter brothers. “The Brother who becomes fully involved with Sigma Pi will continue to enjoy and benefit from it throughout his lifetime.” (pg. 13 Sigma Pi Manual) If you look at the giving history of our most successful donors, you will see that they started their charitable giving to the Sigma Pi Educational Foundation with a modest gift of $20. And that is all we are asking of you.

We believe in the future of our great Fraternity, and we hope you will, too!

You can also join the Delta Society online at sigmapiedfund.org/donate, select “Make A One-Time Donation To The Educational Foundation,” then choose “Undergraduate Delta Society” and make a $20 donation.

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S I G MA P I E D U C AT IO N A L FO U NDATIO N

PLANNED GIVING Not long ago I made a personal decision, one that will impact both my family and my fraternity for years to come. I decided to include the Educational Foundation in my estate plans, and it was one of the smartest choices I have ever made.

While many younger alumni are preparing their estate plans, they do so with little thought beyond “preparing for the worst,” when in reality we should be taking this opportunity to prepare for the future of the things that mean the most to us. Today, we are capable of making an impact for years to come by solidifying the future of our friends as well as the future of our strongest beliefs - by remembering the Sigma Pi Educational Foundation. Remembering Sigma Pi not only allows me to show the greatest support for the organization that has meant so much to me, it also offers benefits that will allow my family to receive even more of my estate in the future.

When I arrived at Bridgewater State in 1989, I was a different person then I am now and the reason is simple: I became a brother of Sigma Pi. Within four years of arriving at college I was able to transform into the man I am today by living the creed of Sigma Pi. That is why I have made the commitment to remember those values when I prepared my estate plans. Knowing that I was not only preparing for the future of my family, but also reminding them of the importance the values of Sigma Pi hold for me. And when I am gone, I hope to leave my family with more than money, but the memory of my pursuit of promoting fellowship, developing character and leadership, advancing heightened moral awareness, enabling academic achievement and inspiring service.

PGS Ed Levesque (Bridgewater ‘89), Sigma Pi Educational Foundation Board Trustee

“I have been involved in a number of organizations over the years and have always enjoyed giving back. One of the programs I was involved with dealt with burying the indigent in my hometown. After seeing people pass away with nothing and no money to pay for their funeral, I decided it was time to plan for the future. So, I took advantage of purchasing Life Insurance from the Knights of Columbus where I am a member. Because I am at a young age, I can take out a very large policy for a very low premium. I decided to take out a good amount for myself so I could cover the cost of my burial, but also because I wanted to find a way to give back to organizations that have given so much to me. Life insurance has been a great way because I can plan what I want to see done with my money, like endowments for nonprofits and scholarships for my schools. It doesn’t cost me an arm and a leg now. It has provided me the ability to leave a lasting legacy even after I am gone and the peace of mind that my funeral will be taken care of so my family doesn’t have to worry about it. I decided to leave part of my policy to the Educational Foundation because I believe the educational programs and leadership conferences are great tools that allow our members to personally grow so they can be more effective in their everyday lives and within the fraternity. I want my money to go to a worthy cause that can go to help someone else and I think the Educational Foundation will use my money wisely to strengthen our members.”

The Sigma Pi Educational Foundation recently received a second and final distribution of the Dr. James F. Elrod Trust.

This $129,000 was restricted to Beta Chapter at Indiana University for scholarships. Back in October of 2005 when Dr. Elrod, Beta, Indiana University ’47 passed, his initial bequest total over $236,700 with approx. $55,000 earmarked for Beta Chapter and the remaining funds distributed to the Educational Foundation’s general fund. As Dr. Elrod’s brother, Joseph was still living at the time, the Trust remained active until his recent passing. Neither brother had any heirs and their entire estate was left to various charities. With 18% of the estate bequeathed to Sigma Pi, what a testament to Dr. Elrod’s belief in Sigma Pi.

Gary S. Grubacich (California-Santa Barbara ’68) passed away suddenly in January of this year. Gary was a long time member of the Educational Foundation Board of Trustees, but just as important, Gary was the Chapter Director of the CaliforniaSanta Barbara Chapter. If you ever met Gary, you knew Sigma Pi meant the world to him, especially the guys of AlphaOmicron. They were like the sons he never had. Gary’s devotion to Sigma Pi over the years through volunteering showed even in death. He bequeathed to the Sigma Pi Educational Foundation approximately $140,000 with 60% earmarked to Alpha– Omicron Chapter Educational Fund with the remaining 40% going to the Educational Foundation’s general fund.

What a great brother and friend.

Matthew Whisman Kentucky ’17

1 0 + SUMMER 2015

SIGMA PI EDUC AT I ON A L FOUN DAT I ON

SCHOLARSHIPS & CONTRIBUTIONS 41.7% INCREASE

In the 2014-2015 fiscal year, the Sigma Pi Educational Foundation awarded

$95,614 through 99 scholarships and four grants

“Winning the Red Clover Scholarship meant a lot to me because of what the award portrays.

The scholarship is awarded to a brother who as a pledge did remarkable work and held his pledge class accountable to ensure they were on top of their game at all times. It also portrays that I am a hard worker and I did not lose that characteristic once I became a brother. It shows I am involved within the fraternity. It meant so much to me because of the brothers that applied, some of which were well deserving and involved brothers, I won. It made me feel very important and appreciative that my brothers took notice of the time I put into our chapter and the fraternity. I know hard work pays off in the long run, so winning this award is just another accomplishment because of my work ethic. ”

William Kavanagh Monmouth ’17

“As a young alumni, fraternity and sorority life professional, and graduate and facilitator of the Undergraduate Interfraternity Institute (UIFI), I believe in providing funds and opportunities for men of Sigma Pi to attend UIFI. The UIFI experience is rooted in 26 years of well-developed curriculum and leadership development to assist men and women who are Greek to better themselves, their chapters, and communities. Just think how impactful our men who attend UIFI are when they return to campus in the fall! I know by donating not only my time to the organization, but money, the impact of the undergraduate experience in Sigma Pi can influence men to make positive change in their chapter. I wouldn’t have the opportunity to professionally work with fraternities and sororities if it was not for Sigma Pi and experiences like UIFI, so I urge those of you that believe in the development of future leaders to think about donating today!”

Kevin Carey Illinois-Wesleyan ’13

On April 25, 2015, three Charles S. Bicksler (Penn State ’41) Scholarships valued at $1,000 each were presented to three recipients, all of whom are students in the School of Architecture at the main campus of Penn State University: Jared Baughman (’17), Katelyn Troutman, and Quinn Pullen.

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1 2 + SUMMER 2015

by Donald Abels (Middle Tennessee ’12), contributing writer illustrations by Phil Aiello (Wisconsin-Oshkosh ’15)

OUR CURRENT REALITY Fraternal organizations are facing a very harsh, and very true, reality. During the spring of 2015, over 130 chapters were closed, suspended, or otherwise charged with serious sanctions–the majority of which involved hazing. Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you know that this has been a rough year for fraternities. It seems as though we have taken hit after hit, leaving our image and reputation more damaged than ever before.

For the sake of clarity, let’s be honest; this isn’t because the media is out to get fraternities. It’s because of the very real, very serious mistakes taking place. Fraternity men are hazing each other, engaging in prejudice behavior, and promoting violence against women via private Facebook groups. Worst of all, members are dying–literally, fraternities are killing people. These egregious behaviors have sparked conversation across the nation among government officials, university administrators and the media. People are asking, “Are fraternities and sororities worth it?”

Unfortunately, it’s becoming harder each day to answer this question.

You may ask yourself, how can a fraternity advocate think for a single minute that fraternity may not be worth it? It’s because I love fraternity. Not only do I love fraternity, I am passionate about the fraternal movement. I truly believe in the power of fraternity.

I have seen its benefits firsthand and I have seen its negative effects. If we truly care about the fraternal movement and want future generations to be able to experience it, we must own up to the fact that all the good we do does not outweigh the bad. Are you willing to do what it takes to make fraternity worth it?

T H E EMERAL D.ORG + 1 3

We Promised To Be Better

My Experience with Hazing

As fraternity men, we have all taken oaths promising to be much better than we are. As men of Sigma Pi, we specifically promised to live our values in our daily lives by advancing truth and justice and being men of character. If all fraternity men have promised to live by their ritual, why is our future in jeopardy? The answer is one of the most common words associated with fraternities–tradition. Yes, that’s correct. The future of fraternity is in jeopardy because of tradition.

I joined Sigma Pi feeling confident that I would not have to worry about hazing. I was well aware of what other fraternities did to their new members and I did not want to have a similar experience.

Within a few weeks I realized that my instincts were wrong. Incredibly wrong. I was no longer the new member everyone was excited to welcome into the brotherhood–I was a pledge.

Don’t get me wrong–I love tradition. In fact, organizations that value tradition tend to withstand the test of time, as they develop strong roots around their mission and purpose. Fraternity identities are infused with tradition. However, our attraction to tradition has led to the darkest time period of fraternity’s existence.

Men, it’s time to rethink tradition.

On any given day you can google the word ‘fraternity’ and you’ll learn of a new hazing case. What leads a chapter down this path of destruction? Do members simply wake up one morning and decide that they want to be hazers?

No. Hazing cultures stem from group behaviors evolving over time, which we consider mistakenly refer to as “traditions.”

Big brother nights serve as a prime example of the traditions we need to rethink. I use this example because it is the second deadliest night among fraternities, with the deadliest being bid days. These events don’t start with the intention of causing harm or putting lives in danger. These events are justified because it’s “tradition” or because “all other fraternities do it.” We must to be willing to evolve. If we fail to evolve, fraternity will go extinct. Evolution is inevitable, but we can choose to take part in the natural process to change and survive.

1 4 + SUMMER 2015

Because I was the new member class president, I was responsible for the “pledges.” This meant that I would take the heat for anything they did wrong.

This was one of the many “traditions” within the Fraternity. When the new member educator (aka pledge master) wanted his house cleaned, I was responsible for getting one of my fellow new members to volunteer. If no one volunteered, I was responsible for cleaning his house by myself.

If someone didn’t show up to our new member breakfast at 5:00 a.m. or weekly house cleanup on Sunday afternoon, my leadership abilities were called into question.

Until the final week of class, I had convinced myself that hazing was not that bad and that it could be worse. This is when additional chapter “traditions,” such as local initiation, were revealed. The new members were told that because we did not go through any “real” hazing, local initiation was to determine if we had earned our membership or not. The rules were simple. If we made it through the night, pledging was officially over. Without knowing any details of this so called “ritual,” we were told to be prepared for the worst night of our lives. Although that night is blurred in my memory, I remember thinking that they were right. It was literally the worst night of my life.

The morning eventually came and we had completed the new member process. If there was one thing I took away from that night, it was that I would never treat anyone the way I had been

treated. I was an eager leader ready to work hard and take the Chapter to new heights. The next three years were spent helping take Sigma Pi to the top. During this time, I served as recruitment chair and Chapter Sage. We soon took home the most prestigious award given to an IFC chapter, the President’s Cup. The chapter had a great GPA, and we went on to receive the highest honor a Sigma Pi chapter can receive, the Grand Sage Cup. Despite the chapter’s continued success for the next three years, the biggest issue in the chapter, hazing, went unresolved.

What You Permit, You Promote My stance on hazing was clear. I was always the brother new members trusted and could depend on. I held my head up high because I was “leading by example,” or so I thought. There is nothing I regret more than sitting back thinking I was the bigger person, when in reality, I was nothing more than a bystander. If there was someone everyone truly respected, it was me. The brothers knew that Sigma Pi was my life. As much as they may have hated my decisions, they knew I had the Fraternity’s best interest in mind. Ironically, all of the hard work that went into setting the chapter up for success came crashing down. Within two years, the chapter was almost suspended after being found responsible for hazing.

I’ll never know what path the chapter could have taken if I would have stepped up instead of being a bystander. I have come to realize that what held me back from confronting the issues was tradition.

If you are reading this article, you probably aren’t the chapter member who lives to haze. You may be a lot like me and know that it’s wrong, but stand back in disapproval. I challenge you to not make the same mistakes as me. Rethink tradition.

For more information on hazing prevention, please visit hazingprevention.org

Donald Abels currently serves as the Interim Director Of Fraternity And Sorority Life at Middle Tennessee State University’s Center for Student Involvement and Leadership. Donald’s primary responsibilities include providing education, support and guidance to the IFC, NPHC and PHC in the areas of organizational development, recruitment/intake, new member programs, event programming, and risk prevention.

Donald also serves as a national volunteer for Pi Beta Phi sorority, Pi Kappa Phi fraternity and Phi Kappa Psi fraternity by providing chapter education in the area of risk prevention education.

Having graduated from MTSU, where we was named the 2010 IFC Man of the Year and 2011 IFC Chapter President of the Year, Donald earned his M.Ed in Higher Education Administration (‘13) and his B.S. in Organizational Communication (‘12).

Connect with Donald on social media (@DonaldAbels) or by email at Donald.Abels@mtsu.edu.

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TH E E M E R A L D O N L IN E

THE EMERALD ONLINE

A S N A P S H OT O F W H AT YO U C A N F I N D O N T H E E M E R A L D .O R G Don’t wait for The Emerald magazine to find its way to your mailbox. Just visit theemerald.org for the most up-to-date news and information on what is going on in the world of Sigma Pi. With the implementation and development of theemerald.org, nearly every Sigma Pi member in the world now has the ability to get the most current up-to-date information about our brotherhood–on any device! You can expect all of the same content (plus some new features and columns) to be provided on the online platform that you see in the print magazine, plus much more. This addition to The Emerald lineup is about the challenging economics of print publishing and distribution, while remaining more connected to our subscribers.

S H A R E YO U R S TO R Y

E D U C AT I O N A L C O N T E N T

S O C I A L I N T E G R AT I O N

Want to be a contributor to the content of The Emerald Online? Utilize the form at theemerald.org/submit to submit article suggestions, chapter and alumni club news or leave a comment! The Emerald Online Editors will review your suggestion, and respond to you at the earliest convenience.

Executive office staff, dedicated alumni volunteers, undergraduates, and friends of Sigma Pi have already begun producing articles on a variety of topics. Topics include Career Planning, Financial Planning, Leadership Development, Life Planning & Coaching, and Mens Health.

Find a story you like? Want to leave a comment? Share it on social media with ease, or utilize our “Social Graph” to see how many brothers have shared the story.

Additionally, we’ve enabled comments on articles allowing our readers to provide feedback, ideas, and opinions for every story.

M OST P O PU L AR ARTIC LE O N TH EEM ER A L D .O RG On March 16, 2015, an article written by Lori Chana, “A Lasting Legacy: Cameron Chana,” was published on The Emerald Online. The articles centers on the official philanthropy of Sigma Pi, Donate Life, and how her son Cameron Chana’s (Eastern Illinois ’09) organ and tissue donation impacted over 50 lives upon his sudden death.

Within hours of publishing the article, the website saw an immense amount of pageviews totalling over 45,000 hits - thanks to social media sharing by over 18,000 people. This surge in traffic caused theemerald.org to temporary go down, but a quick change of hosting by the Executive Office communications team and tech committee chairman Scott Tucker (Cal Poly ’10) brought the website back online and the traffic flow continued smoothly.

As the tragic loss of Cameron continues to be a prominent part of our operations as an organization, the memory and legacy of Cameron that we carry on still is clearly visible. On March 16, a website didn’t simply crash. A mother was overjoyed by the abundance of exposure to her son’s story, and how it so easily impacted over 45,000 people at the click of a button.

H AV E S O M E T H I N G TO S H A R E ? V I S I T T H E E M E R A L D .O R G / S U B M I T 1 6 + SUMMER 2015

T HE EMERA L D ON L I N E

F E AT U R E D A R T I C L E S F R O M T H E E M E R A L D O N L I N E SIGMA PI EXPERIENCE

PARTNERS

RECOGNIZING THE MEN OF SIGMA PI Throughout the history of Sigma Pi Fraternity, there have been great men who have represented Sigma Pi and themselves in an outstanding manner in their professional or personal lives.

Often, though not always, we have found ways to recognize their achievements. After just a few minutes spent in the Sigma Pi Museum at the Mitchell House, you will quickly begin to identify a number of our extraordinary alumni. Our history includes men such as judges, astronauts and business elites.

For the first time, we will specifically seek to identify and recognize our younger alumni. The creation of the “Young Professional Achievement Award” and the “Young Alumni Volunteer Award” have provided Sigma Pi with the opportunity to praise the hard work and accomplishments of our newest generation of alumni. There are many men deserving of such praise and we want to consider them for recognition. Therefore, we are now accepting nominations for these new awards at sigmapi.org/alumniawards.

Each Biennium, we take time to recognize another group of outstanding men with the Founders’ Award. This is the highest and most prestigious honor Sigma Pi can bestow upon an individual brother. As such, it is important that we consider every possible qualified candidate. By nominating men of distinction, you will provide the Awards Committee with the best candidates for such an honor. Please help make sure no one is left out of consideration.

Here is where we need your help. By visiting sigmapi.org/alumniawards, you can nominate qualified candidates for each of these awards.

Please feel free to nominate as many candidates as you deem necessary. Keep an eye out for future editions of The Emerald as we recognize our outstanding brothers.

Awards and recognition will be presented at the 53rd Biennial Convocation in Las Vegas, NV. Final decisions will be made by the Grand Council in early 2016. Nominations for the Founders Award will close on October 1st and nominations for the Young Professional Achievement Award and the Young Alumni Volunteer Award will close on December 31st.

LIFE DONATED

BY MARK MILLER BRIDGEWATER STATE ’90

“I am blessed. Just over four years ago I was given the gift of life.

I got very sick, very fast! My wife Linda and my two kids Matthew and Megan (age nine and 12 at the time) had just recently returned from a September trip to Disney World and everything seemed fine. Matthew was in the middle of his soccer season and both were doing well in school. Around Halloween I began to feel ill and developed some serious symptoms.” read more at theemerald.org/life-donated MEMBERSHIP EDUCATION

ESTABLISHING A WORKSHOP TO MAXIMIZE SUCCESS

BY JOE TURCK SIU-EDWARDSVILLE ’98

“I find that our chapters are performing better than ever and are doing great things on their campus in philanthropy, community service, intramurals, brotherhood, and academics. One area that I have noticed to be a struggle for most chapters is ongoing education. As part of the Standards of Excellence (SOE), each chapter should conduct a workshop in several specific areas.” read more at theemerald.org/chapter-workshop VALUES

ORDINARY THINGS CAN LEAD TO EXTRAORDINARY OUTCOMES

BY CHRIS CARTER MIDDLE TENNESSEE ’11

“In most cases, attending a university graduation is a way to show respect and honor to a friend who fought the valiant fight and made it through an enduring collegiate journey. Sometimes, universities bring in a commencement speaker who adds more time to an already lengthy ceremony. However, sometimes those universities bring in a commencement speaker who shakes things up and makes the entire ceremony worthwhile.” read more at theemerald.org/ordinary-extraordinary T H E EMERAL D.ORG + 1 7

by Ryan Khuri (Louisville ’12), contributing writer

W

e, as men of Sigma Pi, often feel frustrated about the way fraternities are depicted in the media. We feel it is time we showed the world what we stand for and that we should fight for our values. That time is over. That fight is lost. We are now the resistance.

Fraternities, and universities in general, represent a magnification of American culture. A distillation, the culture of fraternity and sorority communities are intense extractions of what else is going on culturally. We are a symptom of larger, less obvious trends. One asks why we have so many problems in America right now. Yes, a few control most of the political mechanisms and wealth, but blaming the status quo for our problems is a cop-out. We know more about reality television, celebrities, Buzzfeed, and what movies are coming out next week than we do about things that matter a lot more. We put ourselves in a situation to be called rapists, drunks, misogynists, racists, homophobes. These things are true a lot of the time. They aren’t true some of the time.

That’s not the problem. The problem is that we have put ourselves in a position where any credence of possessing honor has been given away. And we gave it away. Willingly.

“In order to fight against what is happening to our culture, we have to demand more authenticity from ourselves.”

How much time do you spend thinking about going out, about who you’re going to go on a date with, about what show to watch on Netflix? We eat processed food, watch scripted “reality” television, vote for cookiecutter politicians, demand those we love and befriend to fit into absurd stereotypes of what it means to be Greek or attractive or worthwhile. Why? Who told you this is the way it needs to be? Maybe I want to eat a burger

made from the cow down the road, where I know the guy who raised the cattle. Maybe I want to be entertained by something that will move me emotionally. Maybe I want to vote for a politician that will represent what I actually believe.

In order to fight against what is happening to our culture, we have to demand more authenticity from ourselves. We have to demand truth from the things we engage with every day. You are giving yourself away every time you decide to watch mindless television and take the easy way out. You are giving yourself away every time you sleep with someone you know you couldn’t stand to actually hear speak for five minutes.

And every time one of your brothers talks about that girl being easy, or wanting to get blackout, or not wanting that guy to join because he doesn’t “have the right image” and you say nothing, you are giving yourself away then too.

“Why do we allow fraternities to still exist?”

This is the question on the minds of many: university officials, journalists, politicians, students. It is a good question. We talk a big game. Between our philanthropies, scholastic programming, brotherhood, etc.; we give back a lot to the community. The good doesn’t outweigh the bad in most cases. We kill people. It is a rare year that doesn’t see an undergraduate fraternity man killed. Usually it is caused by alcohol. Does your really great ACE Project negate even one death?

I’ll answer it for you. No. Infinitely, no. We have to demand more from ourselves. Every day. We have to be more informed than we are, more equipped to make powerful changes. We must have more integrity so that our values actually are made manifest so that people believe in them... and in us. Let’s shed the trash and start doing what matters. We are the resistance. We have an uphill battle.

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by Chris Carter (Middle Tennessee ’11), Editor

W

hen it comes to marketing successful brands, Barry Westrum (CSU-Fullerton ’86) understands the ins-and-outs about how to convey messages to the masses.

F r o m Ta c o B e l l , K e n t u c k y F r i e d C h i c k e n , a n d , c u r r e n t l y, D a i r y Q u e e n , We s t r u m has planned and evolved his strategies to further advance the brand awareness of the restaurants that are popular worldwide.

Westrum sat down with The Emerald staff to chronicle his experiences from Sigma Pi undergraduate to Chief Marketing Officer of Dairy Queen International.

Growing up, Westrum always aspired to follow in his father’s footsteps by attending law school.

All it took was attending a communications event at California State University-Fullerton to quickly change his mind.

“At the event, industry professionals spoke about careers in advertising, public relations, journalism and more. I was hooked,” Westrum said. “I was mesmerized by the great examples these folks had about how communications solutions could solve real world business problems.”

Once he set his sights on CSU-Fullerton, the rest began to fall into place. Westrum’s father was a member of Sigma Nu from his days at the University of North Dakota, and spoke highly of the connections he made and bonds he shared with his fraternal brothers. At CSU-Fullerton, the members of Sigma Pi were active in campus leadership and athletics, which gave Westrum a vivid image of what the Fraternity stood for.

“Having the chance to fully immerse myself into fraternity and sorority life was amazing. I had the wonderful opportunity to get involved in many aspects of school that I would not have been able to otherwise. Through the guidance and leadership of my brothers, I got involved in New Student Orientation, held positions of leadership in the Fraternity, and became Business Manager of the Daily Titan, the oncampus daily newspaper.” Westrum said.

“These experiences were invaluable as I grew as a leader, and, of course, had a blast at the same time,” he added.

The time that he spent at the Daily Titan, along with the acclaim of the advertising program at CSU-Fullerton, provided him with incentive to explore further opportunities within the field of marketing. As he began his career after college, both experiences came into play.

“I thought I was going to stay on the advertising side of business my entire career, but as I started working in advertising, I realized that there were some really interesting components of the marketing mix (product development, supply chain management, financial analysis) that I was missing in my career,” Westrum said.

“I moved to the client-side and started working directly for these restaurant companies, and I have really enjoyed the breadth of experiences I have found here.”

Though marketing is his passion, Westrum wouldn’t have made it to where he is without a belief in who he was marketing for. Passion for the brands, and a genuine belief in them, is what has made his experience the most rewarding. Westrum says, “nothing can replace the power of a great brand,” - and he means it.

“Consumers don’t buy products, they buy brands. Brands have to stand for something beyond the sheer functionality of the product.

Building the brand is the single most important task for the marketer, and without that, it becomes very difficult for any company to achieve its financial objectives.”

If Westrum could give any advice to Sigma Pi men entering the workforce, he says, “Universities today have ample opportunities for internships early on in your college career. Take advantage of all of them. Further, networking is a skill rarely taught in college. Start talking at a young age to folks in the profession you are considering entering,” Westrum said. “Ask those connections out for a coffee or for an informational interview. The more you know, and the more people you know in your area of study will make that first internship or job out of school that much easier to get,” he added.

“Finally, it is all about passion. Study what you are passionate about. It is difficult to be good at something if you are not passionate about it. Find your passion, and you will never work a day in your life!”

T H EEMERAL D.ORG + 21

C HA PT E R & CO LO N Y RE P O RTS

CHAPTER SPOTLIGHT A L P H A C H A P T E R C E L E B R AT E S I TS 5 0T H A N N I V E R S A RY

Tau Phi Delta was originally founded on February 26, 1897 at Vincennes University and, through a series of expansion in the early 1900’s, was to become Alpha Chapter of Sigma Pi Fraternity (and the first NIC fraternity on campus in 1907).

In 1911, Alpha Chapter was closed due to low enrollment at Vincennes University.

The Chapter, despite having a charter in good standing, was inactive until 1964, when the Corinthian Club was formed at Vincennes University with direct intentions of being chartered as Alpha Chapter. In the fall of 1964, the first pledge class of the Corinthian Club was formally pledged in the blue room of the Green Auditorium, making the first step toward the reactivation of Alpha.

Also in 1964, at the urging of PGS Frank Fryburg (Penn State ’49), contacts had been made with the president and dean of students at Vincennes University to re-establish the Chapter, after a 55-year hiatus. They were most responsive. The Grand Council then asked HGS Judge Curtis G. Shake (Vincennes 1906) to prepare a formal petition to the North American Interfraternity Conference (NIC) requesting special dispensation be granted to Sigma Pi for the Chapter’s reactivation. The NIC House of Delegates granted the request by an overwhelming majority and the Fraternity colonized on the Vincennes campus shortly thereafter.

On February 26, 1965, Alpha Chapter was reopened at a chartering ceremony at the Elks Club in Vincennes.

50 years later, on a cold, wintery weekend, over 150 brothers gathered in the birthplace of Sigma Pi Fraternity to celebrate Alpha Chapter’s 50th Anniversary.

With a year of planning in the books, the weekend festivities kicked off on Friday evening at the Chapter house with a spaghetti dinner. Alumni and undergraduate brothers were able to get together, many who haven’t seen each other in several years or decades, and enjoy the food and fellowship. Following the spaghetti dinner, the brothers continued their social to the Chapter’s favorite watering hole, Cutter’s Way, 22 + SUMMER 2015

just one block north of the VU campus.

Cutter’s Way has long seen many good times with Sigma Pi, both locally with Alpha alumni and internationally when Sigma Pi University was held in Vincennes. If the walls of Cutter’s Way could talk, you would hear them tell stories from the late HGS James L. Hills (Maryland ’54), Judge Shake and many others.

On the next morning, alumni volunteers, past sages, and alumni donors gathered at the Alumni Center on campus for an alumni donor brunch. The brunch, which was hosted by the VU Alumni & Foundation office, was a way to thank those Alpha alumni volunteers and donors who have donated their time, money, and support throughout the years. Several VU officials were in attendance including VU President Dr. Richard Helton, VU Foundation President Bumper Hostetler and VU Alumni Director Jennifer Gilmore. During the brunch, Alumni Treasurer Brian Alley (Vincennes ’03) updated those in attendance on two Alpha Scholarships that have been in existence, the Ryan M. Donnoe (Vincennes ’00) Memorial Scholarship and the James L. Hills Memorial Scholarship, both of which were generously funded by Alpha alumni and friends. In addition, a new giving level available for Alpha Chapter, the 1897 Society of Sigma Pi, was also introduced.

The 1897 Society recognized alumni and friends making donations equaling 1897 which represents the founding date of Alpha Chapter on the VU campus. The 1897 Society was a huge success as three Alpha brothers generously stepped up and gave $1,897. More information and details on the 1897 Society can be found at sigmapivu.org/1897 After a meeting of the house corporation and alumni association of the Chapter, undergraduates, alumni, friends, VU administration, and the family of James L. Hills gathered in the cold, wintry weather around the Centennial Clock Tower of Sigma Pi for a memorial and dedication.

Designed by George Ridgway (Vincennes 69) the Sigma Pi Centennial Clock Tower

was originally constructed in 1999 and dedicated in 2000 to signify the 100th Anniversary of Sigma Pi. Originally the brainchild of Dr. Phillip M. Summers, President of VU, PGS Donald Cox (Temple ’55) and James L. Hills to create a lasting legacy on campus.

CHA PT ER & COLON Y REPORTS

$

22

N/A

11

Following the death of Hills in February 2014, plans were made to place a memorial bronze plaque on the Centennial Clock Tower honoring him. It was through his vision, drive, dedication, and persistence, that the Clock Tower was erected as a permanent structure and gateway to Vincennes, celebrating the founding of Sigma Pi. Dr. Richard Helton and Brian Alley said a few words regarding Hills’ 60-plus years of dedication to the Fraternity and how it was only fitting for a memorial plaque to be placed on the Clock Tower that Hills was so instrument in getting constructed.

Dr. Helton recalled his first encounter with Hills when he became President of VU in 2004 and how dedicated he was to Sigma Pi. He even mentioned that Hills’ tried to get him to purchase a brick in the tower, which Hills’ was well-known for with his “Buy-a-Brick” Campaign and even the “buy-a-brick” shirt he proudly wore around Vincennes and at international Sigma Pi events.

After the previous night and day’s activities, the 50th Anniversary Founders’ Day Banquet took place. The banquet started off with a social hour where over 150 alumni and undergraduates gathered and reminisced amount the last five decades and bid on items from the silent auction benefiting the James L. Hills Memorial Scholarship, which featured autographed items, sports memorabilia and tickets, Sigma Pi and collegiate merchandise, as well as a couple of rare items donated by alumni. At the end of the banquet, $2,500 was raised for the scholarship.

The following events included guest speakers, chapter awards, and a traditional buffet dinner. In addition to the 150 alumni and undergrads that were in attendance, there were also several special guests in attendance including: GS E. Andrew Morris (Murray State ’70), GSC Craig Donnelly (Loyola-Chicago ’01), GH Les Wright (Murray State ’70), and PGS George Hakim (Detroit-Mercy ’78). Also in attendance were the children and grandchildren of James L. Hills who were on hand to present the first James L. Hills Memorial Scholarship.

Following the introductions, Dr. Richard Helton addressed those in attendance.

A speech that spoke highly on alumni engagement, Dr. Helton congratulated Sigma Pi on their rich tradition and history, especially at Vincennes University, where Sigma Pi alumni have been so prevalent in producing some of Sigma Pi and VU’s most prestigious alumni, including four Vincennes University presidents and several Board of Trustees directors. Next, GS E. Andrew Morris addressed the brothers and guests and delivered a congratulatory message on behalf of the Grand Council and the chapters across North America.

Following the guest speakers of the evening, Alpha Chapter Sage Rodney Jones (Vincennes ’16) started the awards portion of the banquet off by presenting several undergraduate and alumni awards, and also a few special awards, such as the Honorary Chapter Sage of Alpha award that that hadn’t been presented since 1991. The first recipient of the award was Denny Uhlik, (Indiana Tech 67), who has been highly involved with Sigma Pi, for over 15 years, serving on the Alpha house corporation board, and in the role Chapter Director and Province Archon for Indiana. The second Honorary Chapter Sage award was presented to Alan Hutchens (Vincennes

67), who has also been a long serving member of the house corporation and has been the go-to-guy when it comes to getting stuff fixed and repaired around the house. Both Uhlik and Hutchens received special engraved plaques and a “Sage” lapel pin, worn by past Sages of Alpha Chapter.

In addition to the previous two awards, two other special awards were presented at the banquet. Several years ago, Alpha Wall of Fame was created to honor and recognize those brothers who have went above and beyond the call of service to the Fraternity. The Wall of Fame is proudly presented in the Chapter’s formal room. Brothers on the wall include those such as Francis L. Lisman (Vincennes 1905), Isaac K. Beckes (Vincennes 65), Byron R. Lewis (Vincennes 1907), Judge Shake, John Gregg (A, Vincennes 72), and James L. Hills.

The last awards that were presented for the evening were to the recipients of the James L. Hills and Ryan M. Donnoe Memorial Scholarships. The James L. Hills Memorial Scholarship was presented to Brad Wilson (Vincennes ’12) for his outstanding leadership and the Ryan M. Donnoe Memorial Scholarship was awarded to Branten Rayl (Vincennes ’14) for his outstanding academics.

T H E EMERAL D.ORG + 23

C HA PT E R & CO LO N Y RE P O RTS

S I G M A P I F R AT E R N I T Y

CHAPTER & COLONY

REPORTING Editor’s Note: Chapter and Colony Reports are submitted by undergraduate members of each Chapterand Colony. Along with updating and correcting basic guidelines, reports have been edited to only provide the most important content.

LEGEND Ø Zero Balance

$ $1-$1,000

$$ $1,001-$5,000

$$$ $5,000+

Number of Undergraduate Members

Chapter GPA Donors to SPEF this fiscal year (undergrad & alumni) Standards Of Excellence Grading Scale

NO REPORT SUBMITTED $$$

47

3.0

16

AUBURN (ALPHA-DELTA) CALIFORNIA-SANTA CRUZ (IOTA-ETA) $

ARKANSAS

CSU-DOMINGUEZ HILLS (ETA-IOTA) $$

ALPHA-SIGMA CHAPTER

DELAWARE (IOTA-BETA) $$ DUKE (IOTA-XI) ELON (EPSILON-THETA) GEORGIA (ALPHA-PHI) INDIANA (BETA) MIAMI (OH) (ETA-PHI) $$$ MICHIGAN (ALPHA-BETA) $$ MICHIGAN STATE (ZETA-MU) $$ MISSOURI STATE (ALPHA-RHO) PURDUE (ETA) $ SOUTH FLORIDA (IOTA-SIGMA) SOUTHERN ARKANSAS (EPSILON-KAPPA)

$

74

N/A

4

TORONTO (ETA-OMICRON) $$ UCLA (UPSILON) $

ARIZONA STATE

WILLIAM AND MARY (ALPHA-ETA) $

BETA-KAPPA COLONY

$

91

2.86

1

ALABAMA THETA-OMICRON CHAPTER

This year we welcomed new members from the Phi pledge class of the fall as well as the Chi pledge class of the spring. Our intramural football team had another successful season, making a deep run in the playoffs. In the fall, we participated in Pi Beta Phi’s Greek Man of Year which benefits Champions Are Readers (CAR) and our contestant won third place among many competitors. In the spring, the fraternity participated in an event benefitting the Cystic Fibrosis Charity. We have a lot to be proud of, and a bright future to look forward to.

24 + SUMMER 2015

On March 1st, 80 gentlemen gathered at ASU to create the largest Founding Father class in Sigma Pi history, and reestablished Beta-Kappa.

Ever since, due to the little time we had to learn and operate, our main focus was on scheduling a strong fall semester. However, we have reached quite a few accomplishments during the halfsemester we had. Our sand volleyball team won the intramural championship. We teamed up with the sisters of Omega Phi Alpha for a Chron’s and Colitis walk. And finally, we had our very own community service event in which a number of the brothers participated. Our biggest accomplishment during the past semester was learning what it means to be brothers and what it means to be a fraternity, and not only has it been our biggest accomplishment, but also the one we perfected the most. We are proud of what we have done during our first semester, and are determined to take it to the next level for the next semester and the other ones down the road.

After getting back on track from being suspended we have made ourselves known again on campus.

Our new members are taking it into their own hands to excel in their respective committee positions. We have started having workshops during meeting to collaborate ideas on how to better educate potential new members on why Sigma Pi is an excellent fraternity to join. This semester definitely shows that Sigma Pi is here to stay and grow. With our different styles of community service, we find it very important to give back to the community before having our fun. We held a Crawfish boil with another, then Shwayze came to perform for us.

Ø

45

2.54

23

ARKANSAS STATE ALPHA-PI CHAPTER

Alpha-Pi has just finished another successful spring semester. The Chapter recently participated in an all-day philanthropy event at our local humane society, where brothers spent time walking and playing with dogs. Our brotherhood chairman organized a barbeque event where everyone enjoyed great food and volleyball. We held our formal banquet in the latter part of May, bringing the semester to a close. At the event, we recognized Brother of the Year and Chapter Sweetheart. We are now gearing up for fall rush and are optimistic about all of our future endeavors.

CHA PT ER & COLON Y REPORTS

Ø

44

3.02

0

BEYER-FRYBURG AWARD

GOLD SOE SCORES Missouri

ARKANSAS TECH

96%

IOTA-LAMBDA CHAPTER

In the spring, Sigma Pi co-hosted the suicide awareness walk on campus for suicide prevention. We also partnered with Delta Zeta to co-host the Auxiliary Ball, raising money for kids in need throughout the community. After a long drawn out battle, our team took first place in Greek Week.

Murray State

95% Missouri

Drury

96%

95%

Score on SOE

Santa Clara

95%

MEMBERSHIP RECRUITMENT Ø

36

3.15

0

BENTLEY IOTA-THETA CHAPTER

In the spring, we welcomed seven new members.

Many members worked with Relay for Life and Donate Life to help raise money and awareness.

We threw an Appreciation BBQ for faculty members on campus, and also hosted our annual Sean Williams Memorial Basketball Tournament, raising over $1,000.

Ø

43

3.11

4

Indiana UCLA Rhode Island Michigan State Kansas Mississippi Auburn California - Santa Barbara Missouri North Carolina State Ohio State

Ø

40

119 Initiates 86 Initiates 64 Initiates 56 Initiates 56 Initiates 51 Initiates 45 Initiates 45 Initiates 44 Initiates 44 Initiates 44 Initiates

3.14

8

SILVER SOE SCORES

BRONZE SOE SCORES

UMSL

Arkansas Tech

92%

Bridgewater State

Southern Tech

Kansas State

91%

Minnesota

Valparaiso

Montclair State

91%

Old Dominion Seton Hall

West Alabama

Southern Indiana

90%

MERINO/TASH 100 MAN CHAPTER

ACE PROJECT RECOGNITION

Indiana California - Santa Barbara Miami (OH) UCF Mississippi Missouri West Chester California-Santa Cruz Michigan State Penn State

Missouri UCF TCNJ UMSL

$

137

EXECUTIVE OFFICE STAFF MEMBER OF THE YEAR Jen Wyatt A/R & Operations Specialist

3.17

30

BRIDGEWATER STATE

CALIFORNIA

CALIFORNIA-SANTA BARBARA

ETA-ETA CHAPTER

IOTA CHAPTER

ALPHA-OMICRON CHAPTER

In the month of April, the members were highly active during Bridgewater State’s annual Greek Week. The members also raised money for Donate Life through their “Pie A Sigma Pi” fundraiser. By the end of the week, the Chapter was named Greek Week Champs for the second consecutive year.

Iota Chapter had an incredibly productive semester, building a new roof and renovating our third floor bathroom, along with a great deal of other house improvements. We had a great pledge class and look forward to fall with a focus on renewed game day spirit and, of course, strong brotherhood!

This spring, Alpha-Omicron was privileged to co-host an event with Walk A Mile in Her Shoes for our ACE project in which we were able to get representatives from over ten different fraternities, one hundred and fifty total attendees, and support from many campus organizations such as the Office of Student Life. The event was a large scale awareness walk for Sexual Violence Awareness Month, and assisted in changing the perception of Fraternity life on campus by outwardly walking and chanting against sexual violence. In addition to this, we were able to host an amazing brotherhood fishing trip to nearby Lake Cachuma where everyone was able to enjoy the beautiful weather and spend the day out on the water. Most importantly, Alpha-Omicron was blessed with the opportunity host past and recent alumni during California-Santa Barbara’s All Gaucho Reunion, and share memories old and new with all those who helped guide the Chapter to its current success.

$

34

N/A

16

$$$

56

2.87

2

BUFFALO

CALIFORNIA-IRVINE

EPSILON-OMICRON CHAPTER

ETA-UPSILON CHAPTER

Our 35th year was a spectacular one! This semester, we participated in many events such as Relay for Life, UB Pride & Service Day, and Buffalo News Kid’s Day. We also won first place in this year’s Greek Week competition! Our summer begins with our heads high knowing we represented Sigma Pi proudly!

During the past few months, the Eta-Upsilon Chapter was involved in several philanthropies.

Our Chapter raised over $1,000 while participating in two philanthropies. The Chapter won best set during UCI’s annual greek songfest philanthropy. We had a very strong winter pledge class full of potential leaders.

T H E EMERAL D.ORG + 25

C HA PT E R & CO LO N Y RE P O RTS

$$

56

2.76

0

CLEMSON ETA-PSI CHAPTER

$

56

N/A

3

CAL POLY

N/A

1

CARLETON ETA-RHO CHAPTER

Eta-Rho Chapter would like to congratulate their six newly initiated members during winter Semester. The Sigma Pi Hockey team won yet another championship for the third time in five years. Eta-Rho has a handful of events planned for the summer which will make an easy transition into the new school year.

26 + SUMMER 2015

3.06

6

DELTA-ALPHA CHAPTER

Spring quarter is in full swing here at Eta-Delta Chapter. We are looking forward to initiating eight new members during our annual Alumni Weekend. Since attending the MYLC in St. Louis, our recruitment chair has produced a promising gameplan for fall quarter. We have also been extremely involved with philanthropy and community service events on campus and in the surrounding community. We are actively planning our ACE Project and have contributed to the Global City Farms Demonstration Garden, a project aimed at educating youth about the importance of the environment and sustainability. Our athletics have been on point as well with our participation in street hockey, flag football and ultimate frisbee. Moving forward, we hope to improve the quality of our brotherhood, contribute to the community and improve ourselves in every way possible by exemplifying the ideals of our creed and organization.

61

73

CENTRAL MICHIGAN

ETA-DELTA CHAPTER

$$

Ø

On February 28th, Delta-Alpha Chapter held its first Alumni weekend in honor of Founders’ Day. The Chapter also held a Sigma Pi vs. Sigma Chi philanthropy hockey game called Sigma Freeze to benefit Huntsman Cancer Institute.

Also during the semester, our brothers attended a Province Workshop with other area chapters, as well as helped distribute food to low income families in the surrounding community through the Mobile Food Pantry. The week of March 30th-April 2nd was Delta Alpha’s ACE week, where different stations were held every day like giving out flowers, bagels, hot chocolate, and opening doors for students on campus.

$$$

50

3.02

10

CENTRAL MISSOURI GAMMA-GAMMA CHAPTER

Spring semester has wrapped up here at Gamma-Gamma Chapter. The Chapter had one first place finish, five second place finishes and three third place finishes in the 2015 Greek Week competitions, allowing Gamma-Gamma to finish 2nd overall. David Rodgers (’16) was elected Student Body President for the 2015-16 academic year. Gamma-Gamma had a new member class of nine members, and finished the year off with the first ever Chapter-funded brotherhood building paintball activity, where 25 members attended. Our annual firefighter appreciation day was held in March with the Warrensburg Fire Department.

Eta-Psi Chapter had yet another successful semester this spring, with consistent strides towards becoming the top Chapter on Clemson’s campus. Though the Chapter was moving towards a community-like housing plan that would be completed by the Fall of 2015, the opportunity of acquiring a traditional Fraternity house arose, which includes a plethora of space, both indoors & out, opening up many opportunities for the Chapter. We held a successful Alumni golf tournament in April, with just as many alumni coming out as undergraduate brothers; a big thanks to First Counselor Brad Nurnberg (’17) for doing an excellent job setting up! Also, the Chapter held a Donate Life event to benefit our national philanthropy and raise awareness on Clemson’s campus. Miss South Carolina came to our event as well and helped promote the event all over the state. We are looking forward to a strong recruiting class in the upcoming semester.

Ø

80

N/A

2

COLORADO ZETA-DELTA CHAPTER

The brothers of Zeta-Delta Chapter are pleased with the progress that we have made on the fourth, and final degree of our Founders’ Program. As a Chapter, we have worked diligently to finish the fourth degree and we are just about there. In the fall semester, our plan is to appeal the suspension that was sanctioned to us by the IFC. We are going to present to them everything we have done during our time out of the IFC and how we have been using that time to bettering not just ourselves, but the Fraternity, in hopes of becoming the respected Chapter that we once were. Our spring pledge class was nothing short of exceptional. They really set the bar for new members to come and we expect to transform potential new members into Zeta-Delta men this fall. This past spring break, although not all are included, we had eleven brothers of Zeta-Delta venture down to Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. We represented Sigma Pi as well as the University of Colorado-Boulder with nothing but class.

CHA PT ER & COLON Y REPORTS

$

22

N/A

1

Ø

27

2.88

2

$$

26

2.86

12

COLORADO STATE

CSU-CHICO

DETROIT-MERCY

ETA-SIGMA COLONY

THETA-MU CHAPTER

GAMMA-ALPHA CHAPTER

This semester, Eta-Sigma Colony has grown a lot overall. We kicked off our second semester with running our very first rush week events.

We were able to bring in quality men that we all knew would help continue to further expand our organization. We also grew our brotherhood between one another as well. Just a few weeks ago, Eta-Sigma Colony went on our very first camping trip, where we went to the Rocky Mountain National Park for a night in nature.

Because this event was so impactful for many of us, we’ve already began planning our next trip for next semester. We were also able to give back to the community through various philanthropic events. We got to swing dance with the elderly at retirement homes, help others with gardening events, and even held a donor registration drive with Donate Life. Even though we still may be few in number, we have all become very proud of how far we’ve made it this year, and we continue to look forward toward the future!

Theta-Mu Chapter has done extremely well coming back onto campus this semester.

The Chapter has participated in numerous fundraisers as well as philanthropy events for other organizations. In addition, we plan on hosting a steak dinner philanthropy that sheds lights on the dangers of binge drinking.

Gamma-Alpha Chapter had a great winter semester with its newly initiated members, one of which was awarded most promising new Greek organization member. The Chapter also had members win the Greek Man of the Year award, and Most Oustanding Educational Program among Greek organizations. Chapter Director Dr. James Lynch (’89) also won Faculty Advisor of the Year, showing excellence as an alumnus of Gamma-Alpha. We are proud of our brothers and their achievements. In other news, Gamma-Alpha is updating the risk management policy, and has many exciting projects for the future. We encourage our alumni to attend the bocce ball fundraiser this coming semester to support the advancement of our progress on developing a new house. We are looking forward to a great semester in the fall and are focusing our efforts heavily on new member recruitment for the fall semester. Gamma-Alpha Chapter has a promising year ahead of them!

Ø

70

3.49

$$

74

N/A

30

CSU-LONG BEACH BETA-OMICRON CHAPTER

Beta-Omicron took action to register as many new donors for Donate Life as possible. We also recently celebrated our 60th anniversary as a Chapter with an alumni social event and golf tournament. The brotherhood has grown stronger and so has the alumni presence. We are also preparing for a brotherhood camping trip.

8

CORNELL MU CHAPTER

Recently, Mu Chapter took part in one of the largest philanthropy events of the year, “Rock the Casa,” which is a nationally-organized volleyball tournament organized by Kappa Alpha Theta.

The event took place at Mu Chapter, and was able to be completed by filling our parking lot with 120 tons of sand to create a massive sand volleyball court. Hundreds of people attended, and collectively over $7,000 was raised for charity. Mu Chapter also held its annual initiation dinner for all of its new member, during which time the seniors of the house gave various toasts where they shared with the rest of the house the things that they have learned during their time and gave advice to the younger members. Lastly, the Chapter held its annual Orchid Ball at the scenic Emerson Park venue.

Brother Nicholas Wint (’15) won the annual Brother Of the Year award, exemplifying what it means to be a brother of Sigma Pi.

T H EEMERAL D.ORG + 27

C HA PT E R & CO LO N Y RE P O RTS

Ø

35

3.31

3

DRURY EPSILON-RHO CHAPTER

The Epsilon-Rho Chapter started off the spring semester with the pinning of six new undergraduate members, having the highest number of recruited members for the 2015 spring semester of Drury University. Following this was an insightful discussion on sexual assault prevention, consent, and the bystander effect, led by the Executive Director Michael Ayalon. Shortly after, a homecoming dinner was held, with many Epsilon-Rho alumni members in attendance. Undergraduate and alumni members mingled, each party learning countless aspects of one another. Later in the semester, we were visited by our Regional Director Joseph Granado, to whom we showed our progress as a Chapter. Not too long after that, Epsilon-Rho Chapter was glad to initiate five undergraduate students. We had the honor to initiate our new undergraduate members at the Mitchell House in Lebanon, Tennessee.

$$

27

2.75

3

Ø

34

3.03

4

Ø

11

3.03

2

EAST STROUDSBURG

EASTERN KENTUCKY

FAIRLEIGH DICKINSON

BETA-PSI CHAPTER

EPSILON-LAMBDA CHAPTER

EPSILON-XI CHAPTER

In the spring, we initiated eight new members.

We raised over $2,000 for philanthropy and worked for nearly 500 community service hours.

Going into next semester, Beta-Psi will have two brothers, Chase Berlin (’14) and Demitri Lahanas (’14) sitting on the IFC executive board as treasurer and philanthropy chair, respectively.

This semester we held our annual Pig Roast softball tournament. We had a great turn out which included alumni and undergraduates.

We raised around $250 for the Madison County Humane Society by selling t-shirts. We also initiated 11 new members. We look forward to seeing what we can do next year!

This semester has been a busy one for EpsilonXi Chapter. We have participated in many events that not only spread our name throughout campus, but also helped our community as a whole. We attended the province workshop at Monmouth where we learned how to be brothers of excellence by actively working for the good of the Fraternity. During our Founders’ Week, we had a tabling event for Donate Life. We promoted and advocated for students and faculty members to become organ donors and discussed all the positive outcomes it can lead to. In addition to this, we also participated in our Student Life Department’s Relay for Life which managed to to achieve a significant amount of money. For our environmentally friendly ACE Project, we went all around campus with volunteers from other organizations and cleaned up garbage. We have many events planned for the fall semester and we hope to involve ourselves in a lot more campus and community projects.

$$$

43

2.62

37

$

13

2.56

1

EASTERN ILLINOIS

EMPORIA STATE

BETA-GAMMA CHAPTER

EPSILON-EPSILON CHAPTER

In preperation for the fall semester, at the last Chapter meeting, we talked about scheduling brotherhood events, including going to a Chicago Cubs game, going to concerts, and spending a day on Lake Avenue in Chicago. We also talked about how we need to pay our summer dues and our existing balances before coming back in the fall.

The Epsilon-Epsilon Chapter had its Orchid Ball and congratulated the many people that received awards as well as the alumni that participated at the event. We are all proud to be a part of this joyous event and many people have stated their enthusiasm for next year!

28 + SUMMER 2015

CHA PT ER & COLON Y REPORTS

Ø

19

N/A

4

Ø

77

3.11

3

Ø

62

3.07

7

FERRIS STATE

FLORIDA STATE

GRAND VALLEY STATE

THETA-THETA CHAPTER

ETA-EPSILON CHAPTER

THETA-RHO CHAPTER

It was a productive and fun spring semester for Theta-Theta Chapter in beautiful Big Rapids, Michigan. A successful Orchid Ball was held in Grand Rapids and our annual Pig Roast open house was hosted just prior to finals week. ThetaTheta Chapter has now won our on campus Greek Games, hosted by the IFC and Panhellenic Council, for two years in a row, and we have participated in various annual charitable actions such as our Hellen Ferris garden cleanup, Relay for Life, and The Big Event (an off campus spring cleaning of the surrounding neighborhoods). The Chapter spent the past semester both celebrating the marriage of graduating brother Anthony Godinez (’15) and Sweetheart Angie Sarmiento, and mourning the loss of former Sweetheart and longtime friend of the Fraternity; Erin Groeb. A long lasting memorial to her impact on our Chapter is in progress. We look forward to continuing the Chapter’s development in a new larger house.

This past spring semester, our inaugural spring philanthropy, Beep Kickball, was a huge success!

We raised over $1,500 for FAER at FSU. Our Chapter came in second place for Greek Week, as well as raising over $9,000 for Dance Marathon, and over $3,000 for Relay For Life; the most out of any fraternity!

Theta-Rho held the second “Stuff The Bus” food drive and brought all organizations on campus together to donate non-perishable goods to our schools women’s center. The Chapter also set a new personal record for registering students on our campus through Donate Life. We then partnered up with the Sigma Kappa and held a car wash at our house and all the proceeds went towards one of the Sigma Kappa members mother’s funeral expenses. Lastly one of our brothers Nate Weber (’15) made a documentary, “Behind The Letters,” looking into the negative stereotypes surrounding Fraternities and Sororities portrayed in the media.

$

38

2.71

4

FITCHBURG STATE ETA-TAU CHAPTER

Eta-Tau celebrated its 21st anniversary in the spring, as well as made great strides towards excellence within our campus. Our biggest accomplishment was our Donate Life event, where over a dozen of us came together as brothers to support the organization. We also had table hours to get as many people as possible to register to be organ donors. By the end of the three days, we had over 60 people sign up to save lives. Congratulations to our new philanthropy chair, brother Devin Salviuolo (’18) on a job well done. For next semester, we have completely retooled our new member process as well as our recruitment tactics, so we are excited to see where these changes get us. Eta-Tau would also congratulate many members of our Chapter, undergraduate and alumni, who have received various titles, achievements, positions, and awards this spring semester. Congratulations, brothers! Keep up the great work!

Ø

27

2.94

15

FRANKLIN & MARSHALL NU CHAPTER

Nu Chapter has expanded from 11 to 27 total members. Many of these men are active in other campus organizations. With our growing numbers, we still held to our traditions this semester by continuing our weekly brotherhood dinners. In addition, Nu has remained active on campus by participating in philanthropic events, such as two Donate for Life events held on campus and the Relay for Life fundraiser for cancer. In addition, we participated in Kappa Delta’s White Rose Bowl benefiting the Lehman Center, Alpha Xi Delta’s Field Frenxi Kickball Tournament benefitting autism awareness, and Alpha Delta Pi’s Casino Night benefitting the Ronald McDonald House Charities. Lastly, Nu Chapter was also able to hold its annual Orchid Ball, which featured a candle-lit dinner for all brothers, pledges, and their dates. Next semester, Nu Chapter plans to increase substantially its number of members, continue its involvement on campus, and strengthen its impact as well.

Ø

16

3.17

0

GEORGIA TECH IOTA-MU CHAPTER

In the spring, we had a mixer with Alpha Delta Chi where we went curling in Marietta. We also had our formal in Memphis, Tennessee.

Everyone had a great time and it was a big success. Summer recruitment is a big focus for the Chapter right now, and everyone is highly motivated to get new recruits in the fall!

$

27

2.78

1

HOFSTRA ETA-GAMMA CHAPTER

With the leadership of new Executive Board, the Chapter has strived for success in the classroom, as well as on campus. Our first event of the semester was the Hofstra Winter Leadership Conference, which gave new members the opportunity to gain new information in subjects like resume building, LinkedIn networking and recruitment strategies. Our Chapter has also stepped it up with respects to philanthropy, such as traveling into Hempstead, New York, and handing out food to the less fortunate as a part of the organization, Food Not Bombs. We have also been helping out the Amazing Day Foundation. Our activities to help raise money for Amazing Day includes bagging groceries at a local supermarket, while making sure to explain to each customer what the foundation represents. While our work off campus has been strong, our goal to recruit a large class of initiates for the spring has been achieved after adding twelve new members. Our new members have already helped lead and partake in events such as the Relay For Life, Donate Life and Greek Week.

Although we are not satisfied with a second place finish for the second year in a row in Greek Week, the event made us closer as brothers, and for that we are grateful. Notable first place events include soccer, toga outfit design, skit and tug of war.

T H EEMERAL D.ORG + 29

C HA PT E R & CO LO N Y RE P O RTS

Ø

26

2.93

1

Ø

72

2.91

11

Ø

48

2.99

2

HOUSTON

IOWA

KANSAS

THETA-NU CHAPTER

XI CHAPTER

BETA-DELTA CHAPTER

Theta-Nu Chapter welcomed two new brothers, and sent off ten brothers who concluded their undergrad career. The philanthropy committee made a big step this semester by hosting a successful event for the first time in five years.

The Brothers hosted a Tennis tournament that raised nearly $1,000 for charity.

Xi Chapter accomplished a lot this semester. We had our annual sorority Super Bowl philanthropy, raising $2,000. For Founders’ Day, the brothers all got together at our local bowling alley and had some pizza to celebrate. We also held our annual ACE week, which celebrated several random acts of kindness, including handing out candy to students studying in the library, picking up trash around campus, and paying for people’s coffee! In addition to all of this, Xi Chapter also participated in several philanthropy events around campus, including the Sigma Nu kickball tournament, and while winning isn’t everything, we thoroughly enjoyed bringing home the gold.

In the spring, Beta-Delta brought in 7 new members. Adopting and enforcing a recently revised point system of accountability, brothers are now rewarded more heartily for going above and beyond to benefit the Chapter. With brothers in continuous community service obligations within Lawrence and Kansas City such as Jaydoc Free Health Clinic, Jubilee Cafe, and the Lawrence Parks and Recreation Department, Beta-Delta was able to go beyond the requirements for most fraternities at KU. Similarly, in regards to Philanthropy, the chapter has sponsored or planned seven different philanthropy events for the chapter, allowing each brother to go above and beyond. All this hard work doesn’t come without reward, though! With multiple social events sprinkled throughout the semester and culminating to a formal held in the Kansas City Chief’s Arrowhead Stadium, it’s safe to say the Chapter has been busy.

Ø

14

3.12

19

ILLINOIS PHI CHAPTER

For the next semester, several house projects are in the making, and we plan on strengthening brotherhood by further increasing the events for undergraduate members. With a plan to recruit ten new members, we are excited to find the best of the best from the incoming freshman in order to keep adding quality brothers to Phi Chapter.

$

34

2.97

2

Ø

3

2.31

2

INDIANA OF PENNSYLVANIA

KANSAS STATE

THETA-EPSILON CHAPTER

IOTA-ALPHA CHAPTER

The Chapter raised over $200 for the Amazing Day Foundation during our “Pie Sigma Pi” event. We ended the semester strong with our ACE Project - handing out refreshments to our student body. Our Chapter members hosted annual softball match with alumni. We all had a great time and look forward to next year!

The spring semester was tough but fruitful for Iota-Alpha Chapter. While the membership numbers remained low, several significant accomplishments were made by only a few members while staying within the 95th percentile for Standards of Excellence points.

The Chapter has been busy with service and philanthropic projects. Members completed two ACE Projects, one of which had participation by nine fraternities and sororities and had more than 50 volunteers. Members donated to or directly raised more than $450 per member over the course of the year. The Chapter also sponsored three separate philanthropic events for the semester: Donate Life K-State with Midwest Transplant Network, Thomas McCord Dunk for a Cure for the American Diabetes Association, and Sigma Pi for Hope. Following this, members contributed to winning 2nd Place in Homecoming 2014 and 3rd Place in Greek Week 2015.

Ø

70

2.93

9

IOWA STATE SIGMA CHAPTER

Sigma Chapter was awarded a Certificate of Merit in the Fraternal Awards of Excellence and in Greek Week, we took third in Lip Sync, CHAPTER FINANCIAL INFORMATION first in Lip Sync Script, and fourth overall.

October 2 Sigma Chapter also held its annual ACE Project Fall Semi-Annual Dues Billed (Due by 11/1) - Random Acts of Kindness Week - where November 2 the brothers went out on campus to pass out Convocation Assessment Dues Billed (Due by 12/1) lemonade, hold doors, and give out free ice December 31 Grand Chapter Balance of $0 for SOE Points cream. RAK Week was well received, and February 2 President Steven Leath of Iowa State University Spring Semi-Annual Dues Billed (Due by 3/1) personally sent a card thanking our amazing March 1 event! This summer, Sigma Chapter has taken a Convocation Assessment Dues Billed (Due by 4/1) new recruitment strategy focusing retention of June 30 new members and all aspects of our Creed.

Grand Chapter Balance of $0 for SOE Points

30 + SUMMER 2015

CHA PT ER & COLON Y REPORTS

Ø

21

3.23

0

Ø

35

2.76

2

KEENE STATE

MICHIGAN TECH

IOTA-RHO CHAPTER

ZETA-EPSILON CHAPTER

Iota-Rho has been busy working on various projects across campus. Brothers participated in Day of Clarity, Alternative Breaks, and a service day at a local farm, as well as began to work with a new charity, The Wounded Warrior Project.

Iota-Rho has also maintained the highest GPA of all Fraternity and Sorority life.

In the spring, we were able to initiate four new members, totaling eleven new brothers for the school year - three have already held Executive Board positions. With the decision to renovate on our Chapter house, as many as sixteen brothers have already made a commitment to living in-house next semester. Several community service projects were done this semester, such as the Donate Life campaign, where we set up a booth with information during the Spring Fling event. We handed out candy and talked with people walking past to spread awareness of the importance of being an organ donor. As part of our ACE Project, Zeta-Epsilon mapped out the holes of the campus Frisbee Golf course, and framed the maps. We got together as a group and walked along each of the nine holes, helping each other attach the maps to the starting posts.

We are looking forward to working closely with our alumni in the near future to improve engagement and activity.

$

16

2.28

0

LOUISIANA TECH DELTA-LAMBDA CHAPTER

In the spring, the Chapter participated in Big Event, a city wide community service project.

Brother Daniel Addison (’17) won Mr. Louisiana Tech, a fundraiser benefiting Children’s Miracle Hospitals. The Chapter held an alumni-active crawfish boil in which several alumni were in attendance.

$

29

2.6

3

LAWRENCE TECH ZETA-OMICRON CHAPTER

Our community service and philanthropy committees have been hard at work keeping the Chapter involved with the Lawrence Tech campus and the city of Southfield that surrounds it. This semester we participated in the Martin Luther King Jr. Peace Walk and also hosted a blood drive with the American Red Cross. Another highlight was several brothers participating in Delta Phi Epsilon’s annual male beauty pageant, the proceeds from which benefit cystic fibrosis research. Zeta-Omicron Chapter’s ACE Committee also fed scores of hungry Greeks through its annual Greek Day Pig Roast. The Fraternity should never be just work, however, and Brotherhood Chairman Tyquan Jackson (’15) made a point of providing fun events and games for the brothers throughout the semester, making sure that we always have an escape from the stress of school and work. We’re looking forward now to a relaxing summer, even as we prepare for the new school year in the fall.

Ø

42

2.74

2

LOUISVILLE IOTA-OMICRON CHAPTER

Iota-Omicron took the momentum from the fall semester and had a really successful spring. We initiated nine new members, which is the largest we have ever had for spring recruitment. Our performance at the annual UofL Greek Sing competition was our best yet, and in intramurals we won the most improved award for the semester. We had a great turnout at our ACE Project, where we held a bowling tournament between campus organizations. We hope to make this an annual event. Overall, it was one of the better semesters that we’ve had as a Chapter and we are really looking forward to carrying it over to the fall.

$$

25

2.94

4

MIDDLE TENNESSEE THETA-OMEGA CHAPTER

Theta-Omega is pleased to announce the end of a very successful year. Our Third Counselor Jonathan Gandy (’15) was elected IFC President and also received the award for Chapter President of the Year and Fraternity Man of the Year for 2014. Theta-Omega also just completed the 10th Annual See Spot Run 5K to benefit Habitat for Humanity. There were around 250 participants, including alumni.

T H E EMERAL D.ORG + 3 1

C HA PT E R & CO LO N Y RE P O RTS

Ø

51

3.11

1

Ø

31

3.12

12

$$

33

2.99

6

MINNESOTA

MISSOURI S&T

MONMOUTH

IOTA-ZETA CHAPTER

ALPHA-IOTA CHAPTER

DELTA-BETA CHAPTER

Iota-Zeta initiated 24 men this year. Our academics received praise from the University and IFC with an average GPA of 3.19. We raised $3,484 through philanthropic events throughout the year. We recently adopted a portion of Interstate 94 and continue to actively volunteer in our community.

At Alpha-Iota, our new rush program has been working effectively in attracting not only more potential new members but also higher academically achieving students as well. With our new rush program and our new scholarship program - The Quest for Excellence Scholarship we have shown that we have high expectations to be a candidate for membership. Our Chapter has been more visible on campus and in the community through service projects, the ACE Project, and philanthropy projects. We gave out free root beer floats to students, had a custodial luncheon for the staff of Missouri S&T, and had our Donuts for Diabetes philanthropy event with another fraternity and together we raised $500.

Next semester, we plan on growing more on social media to help connect with other Sigma Pi Chapters, as well as fraternities and sororities on campus. With these changes made to our Chapter, we plan to see a significant growth in the next few years.

In the spring, the Executive Council assigned a new scholarship committee to tutor brothers, and implement study hours for brothers that were not reaching our new standards for academics. The Chapter also set out to increase our brotherhood to over 50 members. The spring pledge class finished with nine men, and we are now at 53 active brothers which is the biggest it has been in over five years. This semester, we worked on our campus image with our brothers becoming a part of other clubs or getting student jobs on campus, with 35 of our 53 brothers currently involved in these types of roles on campus. Additionally, we wanted to become a larger part of the fraternity and sorority life community, where we currently have two brothers serving on the executive board. As for community service, each Saturday four brothers volunteer at St.Luke’s Church in Asbury Park. In April, our Chapter hosted an event called the Christopher Mejia Walk, which is a walk that is a remembrance of one of our brothers who passed away two years ago, where all of the money collected goes to a scholarship in his honor. We had over 250 people there including Christopher’s family and close friends. Our Chapter also volunteered at the Children’s Center of Monmouth County by hosting a fashion show for the autistic children. We had a fashion show for them to teach them how to dress for the upcoming summer weather, business attire, and we made it funny and dressed up in costumes to give these children a good laugh. This semester was a huge success, and we accomplished a lot of our goals!

Ø

123

2.86

1

MISSISSIPPI BETA-MU CHAPTER

In the spring semester, Beta-Mu Chapter held our first-ever beach volleyball tournament to benefit the Amazing Day Foundation and raised over $1,000. Also, four Chapter brothers competed in Phi Mu’s annual “Bonnamu” battle of the bands tournament. Later in the semester, we held our second annual Dad’s Weekend, to let our dads visit Ole Miss and learn a little bit more about Sigma Pi. After this, as always, we packed our things up and spent a weekend in New Orleans for our annual Orchid Ball. We were all sad to leave for the summer, but are all excited to come back to a new house and a new year in the Fall.

Ø

114

3.18

27

MISSOURI GAMMA-SIGMA CHAPTER

Gamma-Sigma has currently been working vigorously on raising money towards the Testicular Cancer Awareness Foundation (TCAF) striving to beat last year’s donation of $10,500, and also make a donation to go toward the National Heart Association. The Chapter has also had four new members enter the Emerging Greek Leaders program on campus, as well as one member taking a major position on the organization’s committee. Gamma-Sigma also took first place in the 2015 Greek Soccer program! Other major news consists of the signing of a new 18-man annex to be on campus for next year.

32 + SUMMER 2015

Ø

16

2.86

20

MISSOURI SOUTHERN STATE ETA-MU CHAPTER

In January, the Chapter conducted a Donate Life challenge along with Gamma-Gamma Chapter and together achieved over 500 organ donor registrations. For our ACE Project, we organized a luncheon, inviting custodial staff and their families to join us for burgers, hot dogs and yard games. In April, we were able to raise $145 with the events “Rent a Puppy” and “Pie a Pi”. We also had Greek week during April, where we won Greek Week and also the Greek Laurel Award.

On top of that Timothy Daniel (’15) won Greek Man of the Year. Overall this academic year was very successful for the brothers of Eta-Mu. We raised in total $95,556 for philanthropic causes, served 500 hours of community service!

EXECUTIVE OFFICE INFORMATION Sept. 7

Closed - Labor Day

Nov. 26-27 Dec. 7-11

Closed - Thanksgiving Winter Executive Office Staff Meetings

Dec. 24-Jan. 3 Jan. 18

Closed - Winter Holiday Break Closed - Martin Luther King Jr. Day

Mar. 25

Closed - Good Friday

May 30

Closed - Memorial Day

July 4

Closed - Independence Day

July 18-26 Summer Executive Office Staff Meetings

CHA PT ER & COLON Y REPORTS

$

31

2.98

0

Ø

23

2.89

12

MONTCLAIR STATE

OAKLAND

IOTA-IOTA CHAPTER

ZETA-PI CHAPTER

In the spring, Iota-Iota hosted a Miss Sigma Pi pageant with all proceeds going to Amazing Day Foundation. The Chapter also hosted a barbeque at the Meet-the-Greek event in which we had a table and a speaker talk about Donate Life. We also put on two additional philanthropy events, “Dunk-a-Pi” and “Pie-a-Pi” for Relay for Life.

Zeta-Pi is proud to say that a very successful Donate Life philanthropy event was held, through which brothers registered over 170 new organ donors. Also, we are growing within the fraternity and sorority community through our participation during Greek Week. We are eager to take our presence on campus to the next level.

Ø

31

2.62

12

MOREHEAD STATE DELTA-RHO CHAPTER

Delta-Rho continues to dominate in intramural sports with championship wins in Soccer and Ultimate Frisbee. We continue to have very strong alumni support. We hosted an Amazing Day philanthropy event where we set up a table and gave out compliments and candy. We did this in conjunction with Founders’ Day. The Chapter also set up a table for our other national philanthropy, Donate Life where we explained the significance of being an organ donor.

Additionally, we held our Hoops for Troops, 3-vs-3 Basketball Tournament, where the funds raised go to the Special Operations Warrior Foundation.

Ø

38

2.83

Ø

38

3.09

27

NJIT ALPHA-MU CHAPTER

In our 77th year, we successfully recruited a very high quality pledge class as the highlight of this semester. The majority have GPAs above 3.5 and are members of NJIT’s Albert Dorman Honors College. A number of our brothers participated in NJIT’s first dance marathon, Highlanderthon, in which they danced straight for 18 hours. Brothers have completed many hours of community service this semester. Along with strengthening our friendships through a number of brotherhood events, we made a major comeback to take third place in Greek Week!

We had a great ACE week, the highlights being cleaning up greek row, and hosting a barbecue for NJIT’s public safety department.

$$$

64

2.76

2

OHIO EPSILON CHAPTER

Epsilon initiated six new members for our spring class. During Greek Week, our team raised $5,000 for local Athens Charities. We hosted our second annual “Queens of the Beach” volleyball tournament where we raised $2,000 for the National Ovarian Cancer Coalition. We also held a great alumni social to end the year!

18

MURRAY STATE GAMMA-UPSILON CHAPTER

In the spring, Gamma-Upsilon held its annual ACE Project in April, where we provided lunch for police officers and local law enforcement workers in the community. The Chapter also backed efforts to promote Donate Life and encouraged students and faculty to become organ donors. The Chapter was able to take three new members this spring. The Chapter also won the awards of Best Brotherhood and Best Chapter President from the All-Greek Awards.

We will hold our annual summer reunion event the third weekend in July in which all alumni are invited to attend.

$$

54

2.7

5

NORTH CAROLINA STATE RHO CHAPTER

In the spring, Rho Chapter hosted our annual philanthropy event the Break the Silence 5k Run/Walk, which was a huge success as we greatly surpassed our goal this year and raised over $12,000 for the NC State Counseling Center. Not only was our own philanthropy a

huge accomplishment but Rho Chapter was also named the top fundraiser for Dance Marathon at the university. Rho Chapter continues to be a shining light at NC State’s fraternity and sorority life and next year will be moving into a new house close to campus, which will hold up to 40 brothers. In addition to preparing for the move and doing excellent philanthropy work, Rho Chapter has been strengthening it’s bonds with each other with a 3-vs-3 Basketball tournament that was held at the end of the semester.

T H EEMERAL D.ORG + 3 3

C HA PT E R & CO LO N Y RE P O RTS

$

65

3.05

16

Ø

63

N/A

10

OHIO STATE

OREGON STATE

GAMMA CHAPTER

OMEGA CHAPTER

Gamma Chapter put on Sigma Puppies, in which puppies were brought in for students to play with to de-stress during finals. The Chapter also held the first annual Sigma Pi 5K benefiting Nationwide Children’s Hospital in which the Chapter raised over $500 and volunteered at two separate Red Cross Blood Drives.

In the spring semester, Omega Chapter participated and won many different events, including Delta Gamma’s Anchor Slam, Kappa Alpha Theta’s Iron Brawl, and Alpha Omicron Pi’s Sisters for Soldiers and successfully swept all three philanthropies in the matter of one week. Our own project, Pi for Life, benefited the Amazing Day Foundation and suicide prevention. Events included a pie baking and eating contest, “Pie a Sigma Pi” a dinner put on by the Old Spaghetti Factory, guest speakers from the university, and a candle light walk around Fraternity Row to shed light on anyone affected by suicide. We also had a very successful mom’s weekend, where we held a brunch and auction in which we raised over $11,000 for our house. We would also like to wish the best to our graduating seniors who have been the leaders of our Chapter, specifically Lanse Macke (’15) who will be joining the Executive Office staff as an Expansion Consultant.

Ø

48

2.43

3

OLD DOMINION THETA-ETA CHAPTER

Ø

22

2.84

3

OKLAHOMA STATE IOTA-PI CHAPTER

This spring, Iota-Pi Chapter participated in many different events across campus and our members had many achievements. During February, we placed third in Alpha Omicron Pi’s Strike Out Arthritis bowling tournament and also participated in many other philanthropy and community service events such as Sigma Nu’s Temple Classic, Zeta Tau Alpha’s Zeta Olympics, Junior Greek Life’s Scott Carter’s Heroes Tournament, and the SGA sponsored Big Event. By the end of the semester, we have had brothers accept full-time positions in the Dallas Metro area, be accepted into graduate programs at the University of South Florida, land an internship with a United States Senator in Washington, D.C. The fall semester brings a new pledgeclass, America’s Greatest Homecoming Celebration, a revamped philanthropy event and the possibility to become involved in OSU’s Greek-led vocal performances!

34 + SUMMER 2015

Theta-Eta Chapter won many awards at the fraternity and sorority life awards in spring. The Chapter won the Chapter of the Year award and our brothers won many individual awards. This marks the third time since 2010 that our Chapter has won the award. Our sailing team also finished the year in great fashion, finishing fourth overall in the Division A races and second place in the Division B team races. Overall, the ODU Sailing team finished second in the MAISA Dinghy Championships. Our Firefighter Day event had over 250 guests, including many alumni. We are planning initiation for the Friday prior to the start of Classes (August 21st) and will post the official time on the alumni page. The highlight of the year was the establishment of the Theta-Eta Chapter Educational Fund through the SPEF. We were able to start the fund immediately with funds that the Chapter had raised. We would encourage you to consider donating to this fund at sigmapiedfund.org.

$$$

40

3.13

4

INTERNATIONAL EVENTS October 1

Province Archon Conference Lebanon, TN

November 9 MYLC Registration Opens January 11 MYLC Registration Closes January 29-31 MYLC

St. Louis, MO

April 15 Convocation Registration Opens July 5 Convocation Registration Closes July 27-31 Convocation

Las Vegas, NV

$

18

3.0

4

OREGON

PENN COLLEGE

IOTA-ZETA CHAPTER

THETA-PHI CHAPTER

Iota-Epsilon is excited about our new Executive Council, and look forward to their positive leadership. After some unfortunate events last term, the Chapter only has 50 members. We were unable to participate in any events last term due to a suspension but we are looking to get back on our feet and have a better than ever fall!

Theta-Phi has made our presence known through an event call Sigma Paws. Which brought dogs to campus right before finals for students to play and relieve some stress with the help of SPCA. Sigma Pi supported the Penn College Alliance by performing a dance at the annual drag show to help raise money for THON.

CHA PT ER & COLON Y REPORTS

Ø

Ø

100

3.18

8

PENN STATE

41

N/A

3

$

29

2.53

2

PENN STATE-ALTOONA THETA-IOTA CHAPTER

As of the spring pledge class, Theta-Iota has 43 members. We hosted a philanthropy event - Glow in the Dark Volleyball - with proceeds going to the Amazing Day Foundation. Many organizations came out to support us. We also had a table setup during the campus-wide event Sex on Campus, where students were educated on safe sex. Gamma Phi Beta hosted a “Out of the Darkness” Suicide Prevention Walk that many of us took part in, where we spoke about our personal stories and experiences with people who committed suicide. It had special importance this year as it took place around the time a member of Phi Sigma Kappa took his own life. This years Greek Week proved to be a difficult challenge for us, and unfortunately did not win first place. Our ACE Project was a campus cleanup, where we cleaned up the river, pond and surrounding areas. We are all looking forward to next year, meeting new people and hosting more events.

60

3.04

13

RADFORD

RUTGERS

THETA-LAMBDA CHAPTER

GAMMA-ETA CHAPTER

Theta-Lambda participated in many events for countless organizations. Because of our efforts we raised thousands of dollars and our Chapter was rewarded with the Outstanding Philanthropy award from Radford. We also had a very successful ACE Project that involved planting and landscaping around campus.

Gamma-Eta Chapter participated in several great events throughout the semester, highlighted by Rutgers’ annual Dance Marathon. Participating brothers collectively raised over $5,400, and proudly danced 30 straight hours “For The Kids.” For the second straight year, we held our very successful “Trees for TD’s” philanthropy event, where we planted one tree for each touchdown Rutgers Football scored in the fall, totaling 43 trees. We concluded our semester with our annual Orchid Ball, which was a boat cruise around New York City this year. It was a great bonding experience and our last get together before finals.

THETA CHAPTER

In the spring semester, Theta Chapter raised a new grand total in THON of $118,000, beating last year’s total. THON is a student run philanthropy to raise awareness and provide funds for family’s who loved ones are battling pediatric cancer. The Theta Chapter thanks all of those who contributed in making this effort possible.

Delta Zeta’s annual Turtle Tug Competition was held at Theta Chapter this year raising $3,800, tripling the total from last year. The event was a competition between fraternities. Theta Chapter is proud of their new accomplishments!

Ø

Ø

76

N/A

8

RHODE ISLAND ALPHA-UPSILON CHAPTER

With the additions in the spring class, AlphaUpsilon had the largest group of new members in any single academic year. We have already started preparing for the upcoming fall rush. We had solid brotherhood participation in the local Polar Bear Plunge supporting A Wish Come True.

We have also been making personal strides to try and improve the on-campus house. The house will be updated over the course of the summer as a result of reaching out and connecting with the URI football team. Furthermore, as we look ahead to the next year, we see positive strides in growing as a Chapter and becoming a productive part of the community.

Ø

83

3.02

4

ROWAN ZETA-CHI CHAPTER

Zeta-Chi intramural sports teams seem untouchable after basketball, indoor, and outdoor soccer teams all took first place without losing a single game. Zeta-Chi also took first place in Homecoming during the fall. We hosted our second annual “Rent-a-Brother” philanthropy event in the fall. Students were able to bid on brothers. The winners then asked the brothers to do whatever the winner wanted. All proceeds were donated to the Wounded Warrior Project. A high point of the year was hosting our 3rd annual “Swing for the Fences,” an event for Special Olympic Athletes. It was a great time for all the athletes and parents involved.

$

21

N/A

1

SAGINAW VALLEY STATE THETA-BETA CHAPTER

Theta-Beta Chapter received honors for being the Registered Student Organization of the Year! All of our Brothers participated in the schools annual Relay for Life Cancer Awareness.

We also held a very successful ACE Project with our 18th Annual Pi Games that involved other Greek organizations on campus, with all proceeds going to charity. Also, a large number of brothers were able to clear trash and dead brush out of a large strip of ditch near campus to brighten up the community. With all of our great accomplishments this semester we are sad to see the year come to an end, but are very excited for the fall!

Ø

51

3.02

0

SAINT JOSEPH’S THETA-CHI CHAPTER

Theta-Chi has truly advanced Greek unity on campus with philanthropy and community service events. Theta-Chi continued their annual rose giveaway ACE Project, with great success brightening the day of over 200 individuals on campus. Theta-Chi is striving to increase membership and Give back to campus.

T H E EMERAL D.ORG + 35

C HA PT E R & CO LO N Y RE P O RTS

Ø

$

50

N/A

1

SALISBURY THETA-XI CHAPTER

89

N/A

4

BETA-NU CHAPTER

Zeta-Eta initiated our winter pledge class in January, ushering in one of our largest classes in recent memory. We had our volleyball tournament philanthropy event the first weekend in May and are proud to announce that we gave a record $8,000 donation to the Multiple Sclerosis Society.

In the spring, Beta-Nu partnered with I Can Read, as well as Quatros to raise money for children. Beta-Nu also won Greek Week! The Chapter also hosted the annual Orchid Ball at Von Jakob Winery and Brewery. Our proudest achievement though, is winning the Military Support award, for our work with veterans.

$$

SAN DIEGO EPSILON-CHI COLONY

This semester has been heavily focused on chartering. As it stands, we are very close. Our main philanthropic project was Operation Bow Wow. Using all channels available Epsilon-Chi Colony raised $20,000. The money allowed a blind student on campus to receive a guide dog. That student is training with his new companion in Palm Springs. We welcomed a few new members this semester as well. As we move forward our focus is on heavy recruitment.

We realize the need for larger numbers, and are currently building and implementing a plan to reach this goal.

36 + SUMMER 2015

34

2.8

24

SIU-EDWARDSVILLE DELTA-OMEGA CHAPTER

Delta-Omega won the “Outstanding Intramural Program” award during Greek Week and held different events supporting Donate Life and an ACE Project that benefitted the Early Childhood Development Center. Delta-Omega has started its Chapter Educational Fund and we would like to thank our alumni for helping out!

55

3.18

5

SETON HALL

2

11

SIU-CARBONDALE

DELTA-EPSILON CHAPTER

N/A

2.79

SANTA CLARA

Ø

42

42

ZETA-ETA CHAPTER

Theta-Xi Chapter added 14 new members to our Chapter, tripling the size of our last new member class, the new members have learned the values and traditions of Sigma Pi. The Chapter held our big philanthropy event, Sigma Cutie Pi, where we raised $500 dollars for suicide awareness and prevention. Additionally, we participated in the “Big Event”, where fraternity and sorority life joined together to help beautify the community by cleaning and landscaping yards and parks in the area. We received praise from the mayor of Salisbury for our help. Recently, two of our brothers have been elected to the Interfraternity Council executive board here at Salisbury.

Ø

$

In the spring, the Chapter successfully initiated the spring pledge class, Gamma Omicron, this past March, adding 15 new brothers to our Chapter. We recently raised awareness for organ donation by having the NJ Sharing Network come to Seton Hall to speak about Donate Life America. The event brought various Greek organizations together to educate the Seton Hall community on the power of organ donation.

Delta-Epsilon also hosted an event with Delta Phi Epsilon that spoke about Suicide Awareness in honor of TJ Sefcik, a boy who tragically committed suicide in 2010. Most recently at the Relay for Life event, we raised almost $200 for the American Cancer Society from our “Pie a Pi” fundraiser. As a result of the Chapter’s steadfast efforts to enhance the Seton Hall community, Delta-Epsilon won the “Innovation & Change” award from the Interfraternity Council. We are thrilled with the progress made as a Chapter this school year and only look to further progress our quest for excellence.

Ø

36

2.76

3

SOUTHERN INDIANA THETA-PSI CHAPTER

In the spring, Theta-Psi Chapter made great efforts and held our first car show on campus, we had an amazing turn out and handed away five awards to car lovers in our local area. Theta-Psi’s Dance Competition team placed second. We were also awarded the Fraternal Values Chapter of 2015 from fraternity and sorority life.

Ø

21

2.74

3

SOUTHERN TECH EPSILON-ALPHA CHAPTER

Spring marked the end of the SPSU era and a new beginning as we prepare to expand Sigma Pi ideals at Kennesaw State University. We also welcomed four new brothers. We became stronger as a Chapter and learned how to perfom better as a team. We are ready to continue the tradition set by Epsilon-Alpha Founding Fathers.

CHA PT ER & COLON Y REPORTS

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47

N/A

2

$

19

N/A

8

ST. JOHN’S

TEXAS

ST. JOHN’S COLONY

GAMMA-THETA CHAPTER

The St. John’s Colony is still growing at a rapid pace - beginning with 23 and now reaching 45.

We have been working towards chartering. This past semester our focus was giving back to our community and overall brotherhood. To start the new year we worked with a local philanthropy which provide school supplies and funds to African nations. Secondly, we fundraised for St. John’s Relay for Life. We completed 300 hours of service and raised $2,300 for Relay for Life.

Afterwards, we raised awareness of Donate Life on campus and registered over 100 donors and we were able to work with Habitat for Humanity.

Our achievements were large this year as well.

We won the IFC Softball Championship, participated in seven intramural sports, won the arena football championship, and finished second in the school’s dodgeball tournament. To close the year, the colony won several awards, including highest GPA and Faculty Advisor of the year.

During the spring semester, we recruited three pledges, who all ended up being initiated! Next when we heard about the Nepal earthquake we sprang into action and had a BBQ, raising over $200 for relief. This year we had Orchid Ball at the Steiner Ranch Steakhouse, and followed that up with an alumni crawfish boil.

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64

3.09

0

Ø

125

2.92

1

UCF IOTA-KAPPA CHAPTER

Ø

61

2.62

6

TCNJ

TEXAS-SAN ANTONIO

THETA-DELTA CHAPTER

IOTA-DELTA CHAPTER

In the spring, Theta-Delta Chapter was able to raise over $3,000 for Relay for Life alone, sixth place among the 55 participating teams.

Our ACE Project saw similar enthusiasm from the brothers who enjoyed the opportunity to give back to the local community at TCNJ. We held events that included bringing breakfast to administration and staff, running Eichoff Dining Hall for a day, and hosting a Teacher Appreciation Night in honor of outstanding faculty members on campus. Recruitment also did exceptionally well which allowed our Chapter to add 14 great young men, making us one of largest fraternities on campus. With a strong brotherhood to support these new members, they have already done well to assimilate and establish themselves as leaders. Although we will be saying goodbye to some of the most revered men to become members at TCNJ the future of the Fraternity holds tremendous promise, and we will strive to grow upon our recent success in the fall.

As the spring semester comes to a close, the brothers of Iota-Delta look back at an amazing semester. This semester’s focus for IotaDelta was scholarship. We put a lot of time and effort into ensuring that our brothers would have good grades this semester. Our Chapter also had great success on campus with our ACE Project, as well as once again raising a significant amount of money for the philanthropic contest put on by the women of Alpha Sigma Alpha and Gamma Phi Beta. We also had a lot of brothers participate in the “For The Kids” dance marathon, in which our brothers danced for 12 hours straight to help raise money for families facing pediatric cancer.

After an unforgettable Orchid Ball, it was time to say farewell to our graduating brothers. But now that summer is upon us, it is time to get started with recruitment and work to bring in a bigger and better pledge class in the fall.

For the spring semester, Iota-Kappa happily welcomed nine outstanding gentlemen as newly initiated brothers. For our ACE Project, we raised a record amount of over 1,400 pounds of food for the Knights Helping Knights Pantry on campus and over $1,500 in our fifth annual SPIKE which consists of a volleyball tournament and a canned good sculpture competition. Also, the Chapter placed first in Knight-Thon, UCF’s Dance Marathon, raising three times what we did last year - over $13,000! Our own brother Sebastiam Eyzaguirre (’16) was also crowned Mr. Knight-Thon at the event. Sigma Pi also won first place overall in the Alpha Delta Pi “Cheers for Charity” competition, first place overall in the Kappa Kappa Gamma “Kickin’ it with Kappa” kickball philanthropy, second place overall in Greek Week, and third place in Greek Cup. In addition, Sage James Briggs (’17) was recognized as “Fraternity Man of the Year”

by UCF. What we are perhaps most excited to report, however, was that brother Jarell Jones (’16) was elected student body Vice President!

He will be the second brother in three years to hold the position.

Ø

34

3.0

18

UMSL DELTA-ZETA CHAPTER

In the spring for Delta-Zeta, Daniel Mueller (’18) won the Rising Student of the Year and Evan Loveless (’15) won Fraternity and Sorority Leader of the Year. For our ACE Project, we renovated a playground for the Child Development Center and also volunteered at the Children’s Heart Foundation’s annual trivia night.

T H EEMERAL D.ORG + 37

C HA PT E R & CO LO N Y RE P O RTS

Ø

33

3.29

0

URSINUS THETA-SIGMA CHAPTER

Theta-Sigma brothers that were initiated in the fall have really contributed to the Chapter, and are an essential part of the group. One of the brothers initiated last semester, Bahir Eley (’17), organized a number of community service events with the Speaker’s House (home of Frederick Muhlenburg) a few blocks from campus. Efforts are underway to turn the house into a museum, and we have devoted many weekends to helping complete the monumental task. This semester, we also organized a trip to Ocean City, Maryland for our annual Orchid Ball, where we rented a hotel near the beach for a weekend of fun.

Many alumni joined us, and had a great time reconnecting with the undergraduate members.

One alumnus even biked all the way from North Carolina! We had another good semester with brotherhood, just recently taking our annual trip to get cheese steaks at Pat’s in Philadelphia.

We also hosted a pool tournament, organized multiple poker nights, and had two barbecues.

Ø

24

2.96

13

VALPARAISO BETA-TAU CHAPTER

In the spring, Beta-Tau was very busy hosting a multitude of events, including our ever popular recruitment event, Sigma Pirates. We hosted this event to promote the university’s new attitude towards year-round recruitment.

Our candlelight vigil, which was hosted in remembrance of Cameron Chana, where individuals could light a candle for someone who they wished to remember. In the end, brothers assisted in carrying out a candle for every life that Chana had been able to affect with his donations.

For our ACE Project, the Chapter decided that it could best serve campus by promoting smaller organizations and encouraging all undergraduates to do well on their finals. The Sigma Pi members spelled out the organizations using sticky notes, where each note had words of encouragement written by both brothers and organization members. Undergraduates passing the display were encouraged to take a note that they liked, or even put one up of their own.

38 + SUMMER 2015

$

17

3.04

16

WAKE FOREST ALPHA-NU CHAPTER

Ø

73

3.25

7

VIRGINIA BETA-PI CHAPTER

In the spring, our eighth annual Surf and Turf was a huge success featuring live music, steak, and shrimp for all attendees. The proceeds were donated to Students Helping Honduras, a student-run organization that seeks to end gang violence and poverty in Honduras. For this year’s Ace Project, Beta-Pi visited a local fire station and helped clean the trucks while getting to know the people who make our community safe.

This spring, Alpha-Nu celebrated the 75th anniversary of the Chapter at Wake Forest. Over 150 people made it to campus where members were able to share great stories and history. In addition to the attendance of graduates from a span of 70 years, the Grand Sage and Executive Director joined us for a reception in downtown Winston-Salem.

With homecoming in September, we invite all of our brothers to join us again in the fall. The celebration was a successful effort for Alpha-Nu, and we are looking forward to what the next 25 years have in store!

CHA PT ER & COLON Y REPORTS

Ø

49

2.85

6

WASHINGTON STATE IOTA-NU CHAPTER

During the spring, Iota-Nu had a successful philanthropy event with all proceeds going to the Sean Vernon Feliciano Amazing Day Foundation, which promotes suicide awareness and prevention. Our event was a color fight where participants threw colored corn starch at one another.

Ø

43

2.99

1

WAYNE STATE GAMMA-OMEGA CHAPTER

With the recent additions in the winter pledge class, Gamma-Omega is now at a total of 43 members! We would also like to mention that our ACE project was a huge hit across our campus in helping our student body get a little stress free during finals. We are happy to announce that we will be hosting an alumni barbecue on Sunday July 26th at the Chapter house which is located at 630 Virginia Park. Our Chapter has been looking forward to reconnecting with our alumni and volunteers from our past. If you interested in attending our summer barbecue or want to help us with some of the stories/history of our Chapter, please contact First Counselor at gammaomega1c@sigmapi.org or Chapter Director at gammaomegacd@sigmapi.org. The Chapter has also started to show interest in purchasing a new Chapter house, and are very interested in expanding in honor of the growth our Chapter has had this year.

Ø

18

3.02

1

Ø

108

3.04

4

WEST CHESTER ZETA-ALPHA CHAPTER

2015 marks Zeta-Alpha Chapter’s 31st year at West Chester University. Concentrating on the continuation of our Founders’ success, we are proud to announce the initiation of 11 new brothers to our Chapter this spring semester.

This summer will be highlighted by the return of our alumni summer barbeque. The Chapter is currently in the process of fine tuning a new recruitment program that we will utilize in the fall semester. Zeta-Alpha also hosted a blood drive, where volunteers were asked to sign up for a later date as our Chapter filled the maximum amount of blood the Red Cross could handle at one time. We also got a few dozen of the volunteers to sign up with Donate Life.

$

5

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3

$

16

2.8

2

WILLIAM PATERSON THETA-TAU CHAPTER

This past spring, Theta-Tau hosted a clothing drive, and also co-hosted multiple food drives for the CUMAC food pantry in Paterson, NJ with the sisters of Delta Phi Epsilon. We also co-hosted a Sexual Assault Awareness campaign with Phi Sigma Sigma and Alpha Kappa Alpha.

We also had the highest fraternity GPA!

Ø

27

3.1

1

WEST VIRGINIA TECH

WISCONSIN

GAMMA-XI CHAPTER

TAU CHAPTER

In the spring semester, Gamma-Xi held a few events to focus on building brotherhood, such as a movie night where brothers attended. We headed an ACE Project, where we painted gold and blue bear paws on our sidewalks and roads on campus. This was a school sanctioned event and helped to spruce up our campus.

Tau Chapter asks that alumni donate towards the endowment fund, which helps to subsidize membership fees in hopes that this will help future members fulfill financial obligations easier. As part of the fraternity community, Humorology 2015 raised over $116,000 to the Dane County Boys and Girls Club.

$

25

2.4

10

WEST ALABAMA

WESTERN ILLINOIS

THETA-GAMMA CHAPTER

EPSILON-ZETA CHAPTER

In the spring, we took home the Highest GPA among fraternities, the All-Sports Intramural Cup, and also became back-to-back Greek Games Champions, which marked eight out of the last nine years that Sigma Pi has won the Greek Games.

Earlier this year, Epsilon-Zeta hosted our annual suicide awareness and prevention philanthropy.

Aside from raising money for the Amazing Day Foundation, we hosted a QPR training session, where our Chapter participated in becoming Gatekeeper certified. In the fall, we are hoping to recruit 20 new members!

T H E EMERAL D.ORG + 39

C HA PT E R & CO LO N Y RE P O RTS

CHAPTER REPORTING DEADLINES

September 10

October 1

October 10

Ø

33

2.74

5

WISCONSIN-OSHKOSH GAMMA-MU CHAPTER

Gamma-Mu will be focusing on having a productive summer that will lead to successful recruitment in the fall. We have begun to turn our focus towards working with alumni by holding cook outs and meetings regularly. Gamma-Mu Chapter is also looking to help change the image of Fraternity and Sorority Life on campus by participating in on campus events such as; Walk a Mile in Her Shoes and Relay for Life.

Ø

22

2.8

5

WISCONSIN-PLATTEVILLE DELTA-IOTA CHAPTER

Delta-Iota had a very successful semester. Our Chapter has four new members that we are very thankful to have in our brotherhood. We recently completed our ACE Project where we helped our campus clean up its grounds due to a tornado last semester. Delta-Iota was also able to sign up around 100 people for Donate Life.

43

3.37

Monthly Officer Reports Chapter Workbook Checkpoint

November 10 December 1

December 10

Monthly Officer Reports Outstanding Membership Issues Cleared Alumni Newsletter Monthly Officer Reports

January 10

Monthly Officer Reports Chapter Workbook Checkpoint

February 1

Spring Records Verification

February 10

March 1

March 10 April 10

Monthly Officer Reports Emerald Report Committee Expectations & Goals Fall Institutional Statistic Report (GPAs, Rankings, etc.)

Fall Grades (Individual Member Term & Cumulative) Monthly Officer Reports Monthly Officer Reports Chapter Workbook Checkpoint Monthly Officer Reports Emerald Report Convocation Award Applications Due

16

WORCESTER POLYTECH GAMMA-IOTA CHAPTER

Gamma-Iota placed second overall in Greek Week, featuring notable performances in the week’s film competition, Alma Mater contest, and talent show. We also recently initiated 15 new members. This semester brought another successful Health Week, the annual ACE Project for Gamma-Iota Chapter.

40 + SUMMER 2015

Fall Records Verification Spring Institutional Statistic Report (GPAs, Rankings, etc.)

Spring Grades (Individual Member Term & Cumulative)

October 15 Membership Contract

Academic Success Program Budget

Chapter ByLaws

Risk Management Plan

New Member Education Plan

Values-Based Recruitment Plan

May 10

May 15 Ø

Monthly Officer Report Emerald Report

June 1

June 10

Alumni Newsletter Outstanding Membership Issues Cleared Alumni Mailing List Annual Financial Review Verification IRS Form 990 Confirmation Final Standards of Excellence Submission Due Monthly Officer Reports

sigmapi.org/chapter-reporting

A. (Chain sold separately.)

F.

C.

B.

E.

D. A. Rope Chain, 18", #013R GF...$27 SS...$23 B. Vertical Letter Lavaliere, #L2647 10K, 10KW...$56 SS...$26

G.

C. Chapter Sage Badge, #3495 GP...$62 D. Past Sage Badge, #0395 GP...$20

H.

E. Plain Single Letter Guard, #J0100 GP...$20 F. Sweetheart Badge, #1940 GP...$33 I.

G. Classic Ring with badge replica, #7808 14K, 14KW...$637 10K, 10KW...$465 SS...$268 H. Brocaded Cufflinks with engraved Greek letters, #SCL715 SS...$118 I. Tie Bar with engraved Greek letters, #ATB1008E GP...$38

J. (Fob crest is often worn on a silver chain or rope cord.)

L.

K.

J. Fob Crest Charm, #2609 SS...$26 GP...$20 SP...$20 K. Black Colibri Inkpen with crest, #0800 GP...$44 L. Black Leather Money Clip with crest, #MC9 SS...$36

K – karat gold, KW – karat white gold, GF – gold-filled, SS – sterling silver, GP – gold-plated, SP – silver-plated.

Prices are subject to change without notice. Returns must be made within 30 days of receipt of merchandise. Forfeiture may apply. Refer to website FAQs for additional information.

Items may not be shown at actual size.

UN DE R G R A D UAT E SP OTLIGH T

by Jimmy Berents (Wake Forest ’17), undergraduate contributing writer

42 + SUMMER 2015

UN DERG RA DUAT E SPOT L I GHT

N

othing sucks more than hearing the words, “you have cancer”, and at 20-years-old, this is the fourth time I am hearing those words. After hearing that phrase, you become suddenly and strangely aware of how fast your heart is beating.

Simultaneously, you feel as if your body has been completely drained, which has left you staring straight ahead, unblinking, and focusing on a specific point in front of you but not really seeing it. You’re not really there. You’re in your head somewhere playing over and over again the words “you have cancer” and it doesn’t matter how many times you play them over, it never feels real or seems true. After all, you’re in shape and you eat healthy. You work out and avoid any known carcinogens. You haven’t smoked a cigarette in your life. Plus you think, well I’ve already had cancer three times before and I beat it just fine, so why should I get it again? That doesn’t make sense, it isn’t fair. Life isn’t fair.

“Are you okay?” These words seem to come from far away but it’s actually from the doctor sitting next to me and I begin to come back to the present again. “Yeah I’ll be alright,” I mumble, still not looking at him but staring straight ahead, unblinking. I say this more to make myself feel better than to answer his question. “I just want to be alone for a while,” and the doctor stands up and walks out to leave me alone in the room.

Fast forward a couple of weeks and treatment has begun. I have several new tubes in my body for chemotherapy, known as a port and a Hickman line. My life has been put on hold again. I had fought so hard to get to college in the first place, having to battle cancer for a year before I could enroll, and then after just one semester in, I find out that I have cancer again. My belief is gone. Life sucks. I’m giving up. I feel like I have already lost everything, and in many ways I have. All my progress from the past year is wiped away. I’m already behind my friends, and after another roadblock, they will move on with their lives, and that means moving on from me. I rationalize that they probably think I’m going to die anyway and who wants to be close to someone when they die?

Life is hard enough already, and mortality is always scary.

I have nothing to do but sit and think - I think a lot. I think too much. I wonder about getting back to school and keeping my friends from my first semester. I think about having to rush and pledge later when I get back, whenever that is.

Will I even be able to? Will I be healthy enough?

I was so strong during the last treatment and it hardly phased me, but all that strength is gone.

I’m broken.

One day I’m sitting on my couch and trying to kill the boredom with a little television. I have the week off but next week I’ll be back in the hospital again for more tests and chemotherapy to prep me for the upcoming bone marrow transplant. Then the phone rings.

“Hello?”

“Hey, is this Jimmy?”

“Yeah, who’s this?”

“This is Beck Miller (’15), from Sigma Pi.” Sigma Pi was my favorite fraternity at Wake Forest.

I knew most of the brothers, and for the most part they were the most relaxed and down to earth of all the fraternities I knew at Wake.

“We’re wondering if you will accept a bid to join Sigma Pi?” “Yeah. Yeah man, that sounds awesome.

Thanks,” I staggered. It doesn’t really register initially. For the first time in what feels like forever, I’m happy. My future went from bleak, to a shimmer of hope.

“Sounds good man. I know you’re in Baltimore battling cancer but we’ll figure everything out.

I’ll give you more information about what to do later. For now, good luck. You’ve got a whole brotherhood who has your back.”

I can’t put into words what Sigma Pi has meant to me. When I felt like I had lost everything, Sigma Pi was there. My brothers kept me entertained, came to visit me a couple of times and most importantly kept me connected and a part of the Wake Forest community when I was hundreds of miles away battling cancer. I don’t know if I would have gotten through my Bone Marrow Transplant without them. They gave me a morale boost that I sorely needed. I can’t thank my brothers enough, especially the ones that went out of their way to help me when I was in the hospital. This is more of a thank you to them than anything else.

To learn more about Anaplastic Large Cell Lymphoma, visit the Lymphoma Research Foundation online at lymphoma.org/ALCL

For better or worse I’m a part of two fraternities, both dear to me. Sigma Pi is newer to me, but ever since my first diagnosis of Anaplastic Large Cell Lymphoma when I was three years old, I’ve been a part of a fraternity of cancer patients and survivors. In the same way that I want to see Sigma Pi grow and prosper, I’d love nothing more than to see cancer crushed and to close the ranks of those affected by it.

I believe in Sigma Pi, and I believe in a cure. I hope you believe in this, too.

T H E EMERAL D.ORG + 4 3

F RATE R N A L E X P E R IE NC E

A LOOK BACK AT

SIGMA PI UNIVERSITY

by Kevin Pons (Johnson & Wales ’06), Assistant Executive Director

Values-based leadership was the overarching theme of Sigma Pi University (SPU), an Undergraduate Interfraternity Institute (UIFI) experience. As a valuesbased fraternity, Sigma Pi was able to offer this unique educational experience to representatives from chapters and colonies across North America. The program focused on seven main concepts, uniquely taught by our facilitation team. Each was visited in engaging ways that immersed our participants in experiential learning, a learning-by-doing instructional method.

The concepts included understanding and acting upon one’s beliefs (Courage), advancing your chapter and community (Elevation), doing what you say you will do as a person and a leader (Integrity), the process that occurs when shared values foster collaborative relationships leading to collective action (Leadership), the symbolic and esoteric ceremonies that teach us the founding values of our organization (Ritual), the practice of altruism for the benefit of the community (Service), and the guiding principles that guide choices and behaviors (Values).

Throughout the program, participants were able to reflect on what they were learning and create their own UIFI Blueprint: a plan to build their chapter, council and community. This workbook prompted students to think critically about their experience and create a customized action plan for the application of this experience once they return to campus, which will help each participant teach skills to his chapter brothers and serve as a positive change agent within his own chapter.

The first day of the program was all about the exploration of leadership and trust while establishing common truths for both topics. Participants learned that trusting each other is the foundation of building any successful team. In order to build trust and a sense of community within each small group, each attendee was asked to reflect on and share a defining life moment that has shaped who he is today.

To further explain the concept of leadership, each undergraduate completed the Student 44 + SUMMER 2015

Leadership Practices Inventory (SLPI) from Kouzes & Posner’s Five Practices of Exemplary Leadership® Model. This instrument allows students to measure their leadership skills and take specific action to improve their effectiveness as leaders. Those practices include: Modeling the Way, Inspiring a Shared Vision, Challenging the Process, Enabling Others to Act and Encouraging the Heart.

The second day of the experience allowed participants to determine and clarify their own person values and beliefs. Often times, we internally know what we value, but find difficulty in the articulation. Participants were guided through a series of activities that assisted them in identifying their own values and identifying congruence of those values with the values of our Fraternity.

On the third day we took the participants “Into the Streets” and performed various service projects throughout Lebanon, TN to emphasize core value of service to others.

This action was directly tied to the topic of servant leadership and the importance of “sticking your neck out” for others. The day was concluded with an exploration of Ritual. Participants were inspired to “Learn It, Live It, Teach It, Expect It”.

Day four was dedicated to putting it all together through reflection time, one-onone consultations between students and facilitators and small group discussions.

Each participant was given the necessary time to process what he learned and develop his strategic action plan. The message of this day was to believe in yourself and your ability to create lasting change.

The tagline for UIFI this year is “It’s Time”.

It’s time for change. It’s time for leadership.

Fraternities are fighting for relevance on a daily basis on campuses and in the media. It’s time for Sigma Pi men to have those difficult conversations and hold our members accountable to living our values and not just reciting them in our creed. If we are not part of the solution, we ARE the problem. This experience was just the beginning to a much-needed conversation on how we can elevate our Fraternity and advance man’s quest for excellence.

A SPECIAL THANK YOU TO ALL OF OUR FACILITATORS AT SPU! Will Foran, Vice President of University Relations at NIC Mandy Womack, Director of Student Organizations & Greek Life at USD Karen Katz, CEO at Phi Delta Epsilon Michael Ayalon (Buffalo ‘97), Executive Director Robert Marias, Assistant Director of Student Activities-Greek Life at Radford Kyle Koelbel (Arizona State ’09), Province Archon Chad Mandala, Residential Learning Coordinator at Virginia Tech Scott Tucker (Cal Poly ’10), Chapter Director Mary Frances Simeoli, Membership Education Director at Alpha Delta Pi Brittany Graham, Program Manager-Greek Life at Toledo Amber Jolly, Chapter Services Coordinator at Kappa Delta Nicole Hamilton, Assistant Director of Student Involvement at Ohio Northern Mindy Dilley, Assistant Director of Student Involvement at Nebraska Wesleyan Thea Zunick, Associate Director of Student Life at Stevens Institute of Technology Tina VanSteenbergen, Organizational Growth Expert at Phired Up Eddie Lovin, Director of Residence Life, Greek Affairs, & Orientation at Cumberland Jesse Koch (Penn State-Altoona ’06), Assistant Director of Greek Life at Carnegie Mellon Kevin Foster (West Chester ’06), Assistant Director for Student Life at Indiana of Pennsylvania Donald Abels (Middle Tennessee ’12), Interim Director of Fraternity & Sorority Life at Middle Tennessee Nick Zeisler (Colorado State ’93), Volunteer Michael Davis (UCF ’13), Regional Director Rhett LaRose (Texas-San Antonio ’12), Regional Director Jess Emig, Office of Fraternity & Sorority Life Program Coordinator at Duke Maggie Bach, Assistant Dean of Students at Seton Hall Caitlin Parker, Coordinator for Fraternity & Sorority Involvement at Montana Michelle Castro, Assistant Director of Campus Life at FIU Leigh Thiedeman, Assistant Dean of Residential Education at Stanford Gina Keucher, Assistant Director Student Activities at Wright State Justina Demott, Assistant Director of Fraternity & Sorority Affairs at Syracuse

FR AT ERN A L EX PERI EN CE

SEVEN WAYS TO BE A

BETTER FRATERNITY MAN

by Joseph Crafton (Kentucky ’18), undergraduate contributing writer

Editor’s Note: This piece originally ran on theodysseyonline.com.

From July 15 to July 19, 2015, I had the privilege to attend Sigma Pi University: A UIFI Experience. UIFI, or the Undergraduate Interfraternity Institute is a five-day conference that brings together fraternity men and sorority women in order to help understand, develop, and teach leadership within the Greek community. Sigma Pi Fraternity International partnered with the North American Interfraternity Conference (NIC) to bring the UIFI experience to Sigma Pi men from all across the country.

It is not easy for me to explain the absolute power of such an experience. Spending a week developing leadership skills with my brothers from all around the country has taught me more about what it means to be a Sigma Pi man than I ever dreamed possible.

At the end of the week, my small group sat down and each wrote ourselves a letter outlining what we need to remember as we head back to our campuses and begin to make radical changes to advance our fellow brothers and our organization as a whole.

Regardless of your Greek affiliation (or lack thereof ), I believe that what I wrote is applicable to all walks of life, so I want to share my letter(s) with you.

Stop looking the other way. If you see values incongruence, call it out! Make sure that your actions and the actions of those around you, especially in your brotherhood, reflect the values that you hold close to your heart.

Impede the “frat” mentality at every step of the way. Do not succumb to the pressure to fit in; instead, stand out and work hard to break the stereotypes that are too often reality in fraternity and sorority life.

Generate positivity constantly. Make every cycle you are a part of constructive and work to build each other up. Forward thinking and happiness are infectious, so take pride in what you do because others will, too!

Mentor those who come after you. Success absolutely cannot be a reality if the knowledge and drive to succeed are not present. If you believe in your organization, you must believe in its people, so foster their growth!

Apathy is unacceptable. Never forget why you do something. Never stop caring.

Never remain stagnant. Change may be difficult, but it is necessary! We must remember that as we move forward with our goals.

Project yourself onto your campus. Make sure others know what it means to be a Sigma Pi (or Greek) man through you. We serve as beacons for our respective affiliations, and, as such, we must demonstrate our values unashamedly.

Intentionality is everything. Do nothing without a purpose because purpose drives life. When we walk, think, speak, write, look around, and live, we must remember our purpose. We must better ourselves and those around us.

Do not forget to love yourself. I Believe in me, and I Believe in us.

To view this article online, visit theodysseyonline.com T H E EMERAL D.ORG + 45

S I G MA P I PA RT N E R S

SIGMA PI PARTNERS

FINANCIAL CHECKLIST FOR EACH CHAPTER OF LIFE

by Brett Stewart, Sigma Pi Relationship Manager at Nationwide Affinity Solutions

“Financial Checklist for Each Chapter of Life” is a four-part series from our partner, Nationwide, to help provide information about financial situations that our members may face throughout their lives.

Each chapter of life brings a new assortment of financial decisions you will have to make. We compiled useful information from Forbes, USA Today and Daily Worth to create this checklist of financial issues you may face – and how to address them.

“It’s tough to think about the end a journey when you’re just starting out.” Says Nationwide Director of Business Consulting John Kerr (Wake Forest ’89). “Thinking about retirement when you land your first full time job? Wrapping your head around sending your newborn off to college?

These feel like the last things in the world to be considering but in reality, its the best thing you can do to insure you’re prepared for the next stage of your life.”

CHAPTER 1. RECENT COLLEGE GRADS En route to independence Organize and manage debt • Focus on paying down any credit card debt you may have racked up over the years • An online credit card calculator can help you determine the best way to pay off your credit cards and give you insight into how long it may take to pay off your balance Save no matter how small the amount • Calculate how much you’d need to live on without income for six months, and make that amount your savings goal • Create a student loan repayment plan • A loan counselor can help you to understand your options and figure out an appropriate repayment plan Prepare for retirement – today • Contribute to your employer’s 401(k), 403(b) or similar retirement-savings account • Track your monthly expenses • This worksheet can help you monitor your monthly spending Make a budget you can stick to • Nationwide’s home budget calculator can help • Minimizing your highest expenses (such as rent) creates breathing room in your budget Begin estate planning • Designate someone to have as your power of attorney and someone as your health care proxy (this can be the same person) • Create a living will Designate beneficiaries on your financial accounts • Your beneficiary may change as time goes on, and you can always revisit it

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VOLU N T E E R S

WH Y I VO LU NTE E R

by Thea Zunick, contributing writer

Thea serves as the Associate Director for Student Life at Stevens Institute of Technology in Hoboken, New Jersey. Her career in higher education has spanned work in fraternity and sorority life, leadership, service, wellness, and campus programming. She is currently enrolled in the Educational Doctorate Program at Rutgers University to fulfill her personal value of lifelong learning and to contribute to the body of research on fraternity life. She serves on the Conference Planning committee for NGLA and is on the NEC of the Association of Fraternity and Sorority Advisors. She is a longtime friend to Sigma Pi and the work that the Fraternity does as an international organization. Her interests include facilitating and presenting at national conferences, fitness, dancing, teaching Zumba, hanging out with her puppy, and being a foodie!

Connect with Thea on Twitter @thearachel

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Have you ever found something in life that inspired such passion within you that you couldn’t imagine not fighting for it? That is exactly how I feel about my work with fraternity and sorority life. When fraternity and sorority is done right, it can be a powerful thing to those within and outside of these organizations. In order to make sure this is so, it takes effort from all different people. Its not enough for me personally to support this community just on one campus with just one group of students.

Therefore, finding opportunities to volunteer for other organizations to expand my work is something that I have practiced since the start of my career in higher education. And to this, I am forever grateful to Sigma Pi Fraternity for being one of those organizations who have welcomed me into their family of volunteers with open arms.

My first experience working with a Sigma Pi chapter was when I began my second job in my career in Student Affairs at the New Jersey Institute of Technology. I immediately became fond of the Alpha-Mu Chapter members as they were a charismatic group of men with the obvious potential to be an excellent chapter. What other group would bring their advisor cookies just to make them smile and then hang around to talk about their ideas? I immediately began working hand in hand with the headquarters staff members to increase the support of this chapter to help them realize their full potential.

Volunteering with Sigma Pi has been more of a reciprocal partnership that both sides benefit from, which is very unique. Aside from my opportunity to give to the fraternity, they have done just as much for me and my students.

Executive Director Michael Ayalon (Buffalo ’97) has personally keynoted on

two of my campuses that I have worked on despite not even having a chapter on the second campus! He and his staff ’s spirit of advancing the fraternal movement caused me to want to do even more for this fraternity.

I had the chance to take my work with Sigma Pi to the next level when I was asked to facilitate and present for their Mid-Year Leadership Conference in the spring of 2015. I immediately accepted and was honored to be on the volunteer team for this leadership opportunity.

The men that I met during my time at MYLC only made my passion to support this Fraternity even stronger.

They had the drive to become the leaders on their campuses by living their values and serving as role models to the young men on their respective campuses. Following this experience, I was once again privileged to serve Sigma Pi as a facilitator of the inaugural Undergraduate Interfraternity Institute (UIFI) leadership opportunity that occurred in mid-July. This was my first UIFI experience and I cannot imagine a better group to work with. This type of programming highlighted what the future of Sigma Pi can and will look like, a relevant and inclusive fraternal experience representative of the values and creed of this organization.

Serving the Fraternity in this capacity is an honor and a privilege. My commitment to fraternity, specifically for the Sigma Pi Fraternity, grows out of my belief in this organization and the staff, alumni, volunteers, and undergraduates that I have worked with that all support its mission to be a top men’s collegiate organization. I will always support my Owls!

VOLUN T EERS

I volunteer as Chapter Director because I love Gamma-Sigma and truly believe I joined Sigma Pi for life. The most successful chapters all have strong alumni involvement in common. Sigma Pi has done so much for me, being there as an involved alumnus is the least I can do in return.

How long have your volunteered for Sigma Pi? This is my third year serving as Chapter Director.

Where do you see yourself and your role in the next two years?

I am hopeful Gamma-Sigma can build on their recent success over the next two years. As we grow and improve each year, I envision my role shrinking. I’ve already seen the members asking less of me over my first two years, and I expect to continue in that direction. We work hard and expect to continue to compete for recognition within Sigma Pi, and at the University of Missouri.

What is your biggest accomplishment in your role this year?

My biggest accomplishment over the last year recently occurred at Sigma Pi UIFI. Gamma-Sigma was recognized with a number of awards from the previous school year, including the Best ACE Project and Beyer Fryburg Standard of Excellence Award. It was a very proud moment for me seeing our chapter representative accepting those awards and seeing our members hard work pay off.

What is your biggest struggle in your role this year?

The biggest struggle for me in this past year involved the tragic loss of our brother, Chris Nicklow (Missouri ’15). There is no amount of training or education that can prepare a volunteer to deal with this situation.

Having to deliver the news that night, and the emotions of our brothers was without question the toughest thing I will ever do as Chapter Director.

Who do you model your volunteer experience after?

R O B E R T PA N K AU I I I MICHIGAN PROVINCE ARCHON

Why do you volunteer for Sigma Pi? Volunteering for our fraternity was never a question for me as the fraternity had contributed significantly to my own personal development. I volunteer because I want the brothers that follow me to have an even better experience then I had.

How long have your volunteered for Sigma Pi? Approximately ten years, including a biennium on the Grand Council as the Grand Herald.

Where do you see yourself and your role in the next two years?

My plan is to continue to volunteering in various roles.

I want to use my passion for the fraternity to do work for the greater good of the organization.

What is your biggest accomplishment in your role this year?

F E AT U R E D P R OV I N C E A R C H O N

Why do you volunteer for Sigma Pi?

F E AT U R E D C H A P T E R D I R EC TO R

S C O T T E VA N S GAMMA-SIGMA CHAPTER DIRECTOR

One of the biggest accomplishments that I have been part of this year is being part of a renaissance at multiple chapters to have them understand what a modern fraternity man as well as how a modern fraternity should function. Seeing the potential of the fraternal movement come to fruition has been very rewarding. The changes in these chapters couldn’t have happened without dedication from all of the volunteers that work with the undergraduates What is your biggest struggle in your role this year?

The struggle, as always, has keeping the balance between all aspects of my life. Giving back to the fraternity is important, but keeping the other aspects of life in balance is critical to overall happiness.

Who do you model your volunteer experience after?

PGS George Hakim (Detroit-Mercy ’78). I have known PGS Hakim since I was newly initiated at Oakland University. I saw him as not only a leader for our organization but also a brother that did not shy away from doing heavy lifting when it was necessary to move our fraternity forward.

I try to model my style after what I wish we would have had as Chapter Director when I was in school. I do my best to relate to the guys as much as possible, while keeping my distance to maintain my role as Chapter Director. I’m like a parent who gets to be the good cop, but also has to play bad cop, sometimes in the same day.

T H EEMERAL D.ORG + 49

A LUMN I N E WS

SIGMA PI UNVEILS VETERANS MEMORIAL

M

ore history was made at The Mitchell House on Saturday, July 18, 2015, where Sigma Pi officially unveiled the Veterans Memorial to hundreds of guests. The memorial - a striking nine-foot tall polished granite centerpiece, topped by the Sigma Pi Greek Cross- was gifted to Sigma Pi by generous donations from 50 individual alumni. sitting on an 8-by-8-foot center foundation, surrounded by four 8-by-8-foot bricked arms consisting of bricks and pavers to recognize and honor the veterans who were members of Sigma Pi. An aerial view discloses that the Veterans Memorial is in fact a representation of the Sigma Pi badge/pin. The Walk of Honor leading up to the memorial has additional bricks and pavers, which can honor non-veteran Sigma Pi brothers and other non-Sigma Pi veterans. These bricks and pavers will be soldby the Educational Foundation to fund scholarships to Sigma Pi veterans. Behind and framing the memorial are three 30’ tall flagpoles flying the American flag, the Canadian flag and the Sigma Pi flag.

The dedication commenced at 6:00 PM with Executive Director Michael Ayalon (Buffalo ’97) welcoming the attendees and then directing all to face the flags where the Pledge of Allegiance was recited, the Canadian Bill of Rights, and the Creed of Sigma Pi. PGS Frank Fryburg (Penn State ’49) delivered the invocation.

Ayalon then introduced our featured speaker, Major General James Livingston (Auburn ’62), USMC – Medal of Honor recipient. General Livingston gave an inspirational speech, sharing that we are here today to honor all Sigma Pi veterans, past, present and future, touching on the legacy of Sigma Pi, from its four cadet founders to those special Sigma Pi alumni who served our country and made the ultimate sacrifice. He pointed out how Sigma Pi men have always stepped up to serve their country, be it under arms or in other ways of serving, including education, business, government or other ways, and that Sigma Pi prepares our men to that end. He compared Sigma Pi to the Marine Corp in that they are both a brotherhood of like-minded men, with a legacy of greatness and success.

He started and ended his speech with the phrase “Sigma Pi – Semper Fi.” Veterans Committee Chairman Mark Reed (Georgia ’69) spoke next. He gave historical context about how the Veterans Memorial came to be, from its inception as an idea for honoring our veterans that he and GS E. Andrew Morris (Murray State ’70) discussed some years before. He shared how Morris contacted him in 2014 and asked him to become Chairman of 5 0 + SUMMER 2015

a new Veterans Committee and that the first goal was to design and construct a suitable Veterans Memorial.

Since there were no funds available for such an undertaking, Mark reached out to 50 individual alumni who donated $1,000 each, raising $50,000 to construct and maintain the Memorial.

He said a specifal thank you to his eight-man committee, the 50 original donors and the contractors who built the Memorial.

Morris was the final speaker, and gave an overview of the entire process and the ideas behind wanting to honor our Sigma Pi veterans. He pointed out that Sigma Pi is the only fraternity that has and wears the Greek Cross.

He also noted that there were over 1,000 bricks in the Memorial’s Greek Cross, but that the grounds of the Mitchell House were not big enough to hold all the bricks representing those Sigma Pi brothers who have served our country. He said the Veterans Memorial may be the most important part of The Mitchell House – no veterans, no Sigma Pi. Sigma Pi exists because the U.S. exists, and the U.S. would not exist but for our veterans who served, fought and died to make sure our country existed. He quoted President Ronald Reagan who said, “Freedom is not free. It can not be passed on to the next generation. They must earn it.”

He told the undergraduates that this should be an event they will remember for the rest of their life. He commented, “what a great day for Sigma Pi, as the sun gets ready to set and we unveil the monument, and we honor those men who served, and we cherish them.”

For more information on the Veterans Memorial, please visit sigmapi.org/veterans-memorial

SIGMA PI VISITS...

On Friday, July 17, 2015, members of the Grand Council, Sigma Pi Educational Foundation, Executive Office, and volunteers attended a tour of the Jack Daniels Distillery in Lynchburg, Tenn. As part of the tour, attendees also had the chance to meet Master Distiller and Sigma Pi Brother Jeff Arnett (UT-Martin ’89), who took time to sign bottles and take photos.

The town of Lynchburg is the seat of Moore County, the smallest county in Tennessee. Even though it’s home to the Distillery, it’s a dry county and has been ever since Prohibition.

GRAND COUNCIL PROCLAIMS INTERNATIONAL SWEETHEART

By Grand Sage Proclamation, Mrs. Barbara Livingston, the wife of Major General James Livingston (Auburn ’62) was introduced as an Honorary International Sweetheart during the dedication ceremony of the Veterans Memorial on July 18, 2015. Although General Livingston has been recognized for his service to the United States, it was only possible due to the support of his sweetheart. Mrs. Livingston was presented a Greek Cross Sweetheart Badge of Sigma Pi Fraternity, International by GS E. Andrew Morris (Murray State ’70).

did you know?

Jeff Arnett currently serves as the seventh Master Distiller of the Jack Daniels brand, whose most popular whiskey is “Old No. 7”.

A LUMN I N E WS

BRIDGE AWARD GIVEN AT 2015 MID-YEAR LEADERSHIP CONFERENCE At the 51st Biennial Convocation of Sigma Pi Fraternity, International, held in San Antonio, Texas, a new award was introduced call the Bridge Award. This award is in recognition of 50 years of dedicated service by an alumnus after graduation. The poem “The Bridge” was first read to the fraternity at the 1976 Convocation by Founder’s Award receiptiant, Col. Walter H. Lemmond, Jr., from Psi Chapter at Emory University.

The Bridge by Will Allen Dromgoole An old man going a long, highway, Came, at the evening cold and gray, To a chasm vast and wide and steep, With water rolling cold and deep. The old man crossed in the twilight dim, The sullen stream had no fears for him, But he turned, when safe on the other side, And built a bridge to span the tide. “Old man,” said a fellow pilgrim near, “You are wasting your strength with building here, Your journey will end with the ending day, You never again will pass this way, You’ve crossed the chasm deep and wide, Why build you this bridge at eventide?” The builder lifted his old gray head, “Good friend, in the path I have come,” he said, “ There followth after me today, A youth whose feet must pass this way. The chasm that was as naught to me, To that fair-haired youth may a pitfall be, He, too, must cross in twilight dim, Good friend, I am building this bridge for him.”

At Mid-Year Leadership Conference in St. Louis, Missouri, on January 31st, 2015, the names of this year’s recipients were introduced to the 660 attendees. They are as follows: Donald J. Cox (Temple ’53), James H. Keene III (Cornell ’54), Eli R. Sidwell, Jr. (Eastern Illinois’55), James S. Verplanck (Mississippi ’59) and Frank W. Woodbury (Missouri S&T ’64).

The Bridge Award plaque is displayed at the Mitchell House for all to see with the other leaders that have been honored.

Kentucky Thoroughbred Alumni Club Homecoming for Murray State will be Oct. 10. There will be a parade and we will have a tent at Tent City with refreshments. We put out a newsletter earlier this year that can be read on-line at www.scribd. com\GammaUpsilon. At Summer Reunion Joshua Johnston was elected Treasurer of the Housing Corp and Dakota Fields was elected Treasurer of the alumni club.

Graham Lynch is in immediate need of a kidney as he has been diagnosed with End Stage Renal Failure. If you would like a free test to see if you are a match please call the Vanderbilt Kidney Transplant team at 615-936-0695. They can answer questions you may have.

Let them know you are calling on behalf of Graham.

Don’t forget to pay your alumni club dues which are $25 per year.

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You can pay on PayPal by sending money to SigmaPiAlumni@hotmail. com. With the election of a new treasurer, we are in the process of setting up a new PO Box for the alumni club to receive checks. If you would like to pay by check please email us and we will send the address to you.

Jack Faulk owns several businesses in Kuttawa, KY. Charles Lounsbury is the VP of the Admiralty Point Condominium Assoc. This comes after many years in the logistics industry where he had been named the Marketing Executive of the Year. James Lockwood is running for the St. Paul, MN city council.

Tex Shellhart is the Purchasing Supervisor for a division of Newell Rubbermaid. Bo Brooks’ daughter signed a letter of intent to play soccer for Murray. Brian Rickard works for MSU’s Payroll Dept.

Calling All Northern California Alumni!

A new Alumni Club is coming to the beautiful state of California!

We’ve already had our first three meetings and are well underway in terms of making ourselves official. As it stands, we had about 25 alumni who have been involved thus far and attended our first meetings. Over 80 men have expressed interest in the club!

If you are living in the Northern California area and are interested in more information or joining the NorCal Alumni Club, please fill out this contact sheet: sigmapinorcal.com/signup Meetings are regularly scheduled for the last Wednesday of the month and we are currently rotating them throughout the San Francisco Bay Area.

For more information, to be added to the Facebook group, or to join the email distribution list; contact mike@sigmapinorcal.com

A LUMN I N EWS

New England Province Archon Hosts Successful Workshop in Massachusetts On Saturday April 11, 2015, the New England Province held its annual New England Province Workshop at Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Worcester, MA. Province Archon Michael Courville (Bridgewater State ’06) started the session by introducing the alumni volunteers and special guests, including Regional Director Joe Turck (SIU-Edwardsville ’98), Peter “Max” Quinn (Bridgewater State ’11), Greg De Jesus ( William Paterson ’10), GS E. Andrew Morris (Murray State ’70), and PGS Ed Levesque (Bridgewater State ’89). There were approximately 130 undergraduate members in attendance from our six chapters.

Courville started the discussion with a recap of the last year including Convocation 2014, where our Eta-Tau Chapter at Fitchburg State University received the Top 12 Chapter award as well as a 2014 Grand Sage Cup. Other mentions included Eta-Eta Chapter at Bridgewater State University who came home with a Top 25 Chapter Award. We congratulate all of the hard work our chapters put into the previous biennium and all the work they’ve put into the first year of this biennium.

GS Morris gave the undergraduates updates on the State of Sigma Pi Fraternity as we finished up this academic year. This included many topics from our new membership dues structure to an online tour our new Executive Office at The Mitchell House in Lebanon TN. Regional Director Turck presented on the Standards of Excellence, things included, and the current point standing of the New England Province. This was followed by Alumni Volunteer Quinn who presented on ACE Project, Amazing Day, and Donate Life. Our chapters are already doing some really great projects which they shared with the group.

Following lunch, Alumni Volunteer

Max Quinn gave a fantastic presentation on what it means to be a leader, a role model, and an exemplary Sigma Pi. This sparked great discussion among the undergraduates about the role that Sigma Pi must take on their college campuses.

Alumni Volunteer Greg De Jesus gave a presentation on becoming an “active” alumni. We taught our undergraduate members how to stay involved in their local chapters, how to give back to the grand chapter, and how to continue to represent Sigma Pi in their daily lives after college. Last, but surely not least, #SigmaPiSharkTank was introduced by PGS Levesque. Our chapters competed in a “Shark Tank” style competition to introduce a recruitment plan for the Fall 2015 semester.

They presented to our panel of alumni volunteers and guests in an effort to “sell” their plan to the investors. Our Mark Cuban’s did a fantastic job at getting undergrads to think about their fall recruitment plans and to really get started now on planning the fall semester. Big thank you to all the support from our alumni, the attendance of the undergraduates, and to Worcester Polytechnic Institute for helping to put on a fantastic workshop!

UPDATE YOUR INFORMATION ONLINE We are proud to announce that a redesigned version of MySigmaPi is now available!

We are asking for your assistance in spreading the word to all alumni. Please keep your e-mail address, mailing address, and phone number up to date. It can be done online and it only takes about 10 minutes.

Step 1: Go to mysigmapi.com Step 2: Click on “Establish Access” if you have never had an account there.

Step 3: Once you are approved and have your access set up, login to the site.

Step 4: Click on “Edit My Profile” Step 5: Enter your current information (mail, phone, e-mail, etc.) and click to save it.

You can also visit sigmapi.org/updateinfo and complete the online form!

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A RC HI VE S

THE EMERALD RECOVERED

THE EMERALD’S FIRST NUMBER In our new series, The Emerald staff finds past articles from the archives that are still relevant in today’s fraternal world . To read the complete article from Louis L. Moore visit sigmapi.org/the-emerald-archives and read Volume I, Issue I from 1911.

T

his is the first appearance of The Emerald. This is the first chance you have had to contribute your share toward making it what it should be to the fraternity and we do not desire that you look upon it as the product of any one, two, three or even groups of men in the fraternity. It is the magazine of the fraternity, the property, the product of the fraternity and devoted to the interest of every and all of its members.

The first issue of The Emerald, volume I, issue I was published on July 15, 1911, with PGS Francis L. Lisman (Vincennes 1905) serving as Publisher and Business Manager and PGS Louis L. Moore (Temple 1909) serving as Editor-in-Chief.

We can not hope to make it anything more than it is in the first issue without the support of every member of the fraternity. It sells for 25 cents for the single copy or $1.00 by annual subscription. It is the duty of every member to forward immediately to the business manager $1.00 for a year’s subscription.

Every inch of The Emerald is being made use of for the interest of every member. It is being economically managed so as to give every member a chance to secure from it every iota of benefit that can come from any such investment and if any member has anything to say which he thinks will be of interest or benefit to the other members of the fraternity, to the membership at large or to the fraternity as a national organization, he should not hesitate to forward the same to the proper executive. But however glad we are to have copy- to have the ideas of the members which will prove of interest and a benefit to all-we will be thrice as glad to receive the subscribtions, paid and accounted for in such a way that we can show our advertisers that we are giving them what we have promised.

Now here is a good place to put in a word for the benefit of our advertisers. They are paying their money for the privilege of bringing to your attention the articles they have for sale, either from their central offices or factories, or from the branch offices, shops or show rooms in your own city. They would not place the advertisements in this publication, or any other publication for that matter, if they did not think they were reminding you that they are producing articles which you are buying. Therefore it is only fair to them that we should ask that you buy their product, unless you find that it is not up to the standard of a similar product put out at the same price by some other concern.

These requests may sound strange to some of the members who have not been so public spirited toward the fraternity as to have given up much of their time for the benefit of various departments.

We are not grumbling. We are well pleased. Tickled to death, so to speak. We have something to show you. Something for the benefit of all of us. We have done it for the fraternity. That is not all. We are going to do a lot more for the fraternity through The Emerald. We intend to hold up some of the dry bones and let you hear them rattle. It will do you good to hear them. Perhaps even the dry bones will be more lively after they have been properly held up for an airing, and will actually become working, striving and enterprising flesh and bone in the interest of Sigma Pi. We have not told you what we have done to make you feel that you have done nothing.

Some of you are in a position to furnish us advertisements and other assets besides subscriptions and we expect them regularly from you. We expect every member of the fraternity to become a live supporter and a closely allied part of the working force of The Emerald.

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A DY T U M O N H I G H “Our Ancient Sage firmly believed in the persistence of the soul beyond the grave, and although we mourn our brother’s passing from this world, we take comfort in sharing this belief that life is not ended, but changed, and that he now enjoys the reward for a life well-lived and guided by the ideals of our Fraternity.”

ARKANSAS STATE

CALIFORNIA-IRVINE

Billy Powell (’56)

Kamal Malouf (’09)

Walter Picker (’54) Anthony DePiano (’62)

DREXEL

AUBURN

CALIFORNIA-SANTA BARBARA

Fred Robinson (’49)

Dale Eckrote (’49)

James Morgan, Jr. (’62)

Edward Lindsey (’43)

Dennison Curtiss (’50)

Kenneth Schubach (’81)

Clarence Hornsby, Jr. (’51)

Pietro Milano (’70)

EASTERN ILLINOIS

Fred Fuller (’50)

______________________________________

Robert McAfee (’53)

Marion Weatherby, Jr. (’37)

Gary Grubacich (’68)

______________________________________ John Myers (’51) Represented the 7th Congressional District of Indiana for 30 years. He received the Founders’ Award at our 1980 Convocation in St. Louis. His acceptance speech was published in the Fall 1980 issue of The Emerald.

Charles Taylor

Served as the Chapter Director and Alumni Comptroller since 2007 and was Vice Chairman of Legal for the Sigma Pi Educational Foundation since 2010. After the Chapter’s rechartering in 2007, his devotion to the group helped in securing a dominant house on the campus with over a 100 active members.

Carroll Dunshee (’17)

______________________________________

ELON

CALIFORNIA-SANTA CRUZ

William Ginn, Jr. (’83)

Travis Marton (’14)

EMORY

CENTRAL MICHIGAN

Glenn Johnson (’42)

Donald Eikhoff (’71)

FINDLAY

Fred Scott

CORNELL

Darren Ressler (’74)

Clyde Custer (’23)

Richard Clark (’51)

FRANKLIN & MARSHALL

Julius Hussey (’20)

William Taylor (’24)

Peter Honaman (’44)

Olaf Snyder (’20)

Albert Johnson (’23)

Keith Bockes (’46)

Charles Faso (’22)

CSU-FULLERTON

Donald Barshinger (’53)

Joseph Spencer (’28)

Mark Jennings (’83)

Ernest Stoll (’22)

BELOIT

Benjamin Ollman, Jr. (’39) Charles Woodford (’56) CALIFORNIA

W. Edward Maurer

Wilbur Green (’23) Franklin Reagan James Ross (’17) Charles Cron (’16) Earle Simpson (’18)

John Outcalt (’18) Franklin Lewis (’18)

CSU-LONG BEACH

William VerSteeg (’56)

______________________________________

William Landefeld, Jr. (’25)

A DYTU M O N H IG H

GEORGIA

MILLERSVILLE

William White (’20)

James Nash (’63)

Christopher Brideau (’86)

William Lenhardt (’67)

______________________________________

MISSOUR S&T

Howard Deckard (’21)

Robert Alford, Ret. (’63)

Jean Shipman (’44)

Harry Wilson (’16)

Served a 30 year career led him to assignments in Germany, Fort Gordon, Georgia, Fort Benning, Georgia, two combat tours in Vietnam, several tours at Fort Jackson, SC, Seoul, South Korea and numerous positions in the 108th Training Division in South and North Carolina. In 1970, he was wounded in combat in Vietnam and was awarded the Purple Heart.

Joseph Coffman (’50)

Herman Earich (’21)

______________________________________ ILLINOIS

Homer Erzinger, Jr. (’48) David Evans (’40) Otto Klein (’37) INDIANA

Arthur Mengon (’46) Benjamin Barnhart (’58) Thomas Peterson (’79) IOWA

Frank Feldhahn (’21) Henry Hartwick (’26) LOCK HAVEN

Elmer Myers, Jr. (’62) LSU

Keith Irwin (’62) Richard Eller (’73) LYCOMING

Wayne Siegmann (’69)

Charles Gehring (’23)

MISSOURI

Chris Nicklow (’17)

Ross Todd (’20) ______________________________________

MISSOURI STATE

Dean Houser (’72)

Michael Compton (’70)

Transferred from Vincennes University to Ohio University and reopened the dormant chapter that had been closed since 1943. He assisted the Executive Office in running the Convocation operations in the 1980s. While living in Florida, he served as Chapter Director for several chapters, and also served as Florida Province Archon until 2014.

NJIT

Lars Erickson (’39) Richard Ebersbach (’40) F. Raymond Fogel (’24) ______________________________________ Arthur Lewis (’47) Served as Grand Herald (19601962) and Grand Fourth Counselor (1962-1964). In 1972, he received the Founders’ Award for his dedication to Sigma Pi, as well as Chairman of the Sigma Pi Foundation in 1977.

______________________________________ James Ruef (’61) Charles Miller Charles Long (’16)

______________________________________

Frank Berger (’24)

NORTH CAROLINA STATE

Evart Bain (’15)

Elmo Mann (’19) NORTHERN ARIZONA

Norman McGinn (’65) Joseph Comparin (’65) John Schlotfeld (’68)

Donald Hill (’23) Kent Petrie (’16) William Kincaid (’17) Oliver Young (’17) Paul Perkins (’23) Lloyd Sickles (’22)

OHIO

Roy Hart (’15)

Elmer Schofield (’24)

John Johnson (’25)

Andrew Bruce (’26)

Henry Randle (’18)

William Stage (’15)

B. Fay Roller (’27)

MARYLAND

Allen Sprague (’21)

Savvas Savopoulos (’90)

Frank Dulaney (’15) Steward Shilling (’18)

TO REPORT A BROTHER’S DEATH : Visit sigmapi.org/adytum-on-high to let us know.

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OHIO NORTHERN

OHIO STATE

Norman Pierce (’41)

A DY T UM ON HI GH

OREGON STATE

SALEM-TEIKYO

VIRGINIA

Jerry Larson (’57)

Barton Rowe (’71)

Robert Wilson, Jr. (’78)

PENN

William Clayton (’12) William Coyne (’18) Harold Pack (’22) Wilbur Harkrader (’20) William Houghton (’21) Howard Schaffer (’20)

SAN DIEGO STATE

WAKE FOREST

Stuart Markham (’64)

Maurice Biggs, Jr. (’48) Moses McCall, III (’64)

SIU-EDWARDSVILLE

Kenyon Hacker (’74) Gary Allen (’73)

Frederic Hatch (’20)

SOUTHERN POLYTECH

Charles Stanton (’19)

Billy Thompson (’89)

Charles Teller (’38)

ST. LAWRENCE

Howard Sutter (’41)

Michael Tornatore (’49)

Charles Watkins (’42) William Cooper (’40)

WEST CHESTER

John Brookover (’89) WESTERN ILLINOIS

Michael Koller (’82) WESTERN MICHIGAN

Thomas Thebolt (’67) ______________________________________

TEMPLE

Thomas A. Moore, Jr. (’67)

Richard Stouffer, Jr. (’50)

Owen Landon, Jr. (’51)

TROY

Gerhard Gaenssle (’57)

Lonnie Porter, III (’73)

Raymond Albed, Sr. (’57)

TULANE

William Junk, Jr. (’46)

Richard Fraser (’22)

PURDUE

Dewey Lantrip

Charles Smith, Jr. (’64)

UCLA

Founding Father of Gamma-Rho Chapter in 1967 and then worked on staff for Sigma Pi from August 1969 until June 1974. In 1994, he was called in to serve as Interim Executive Director at the Vincennes Headquarters until 1997. In 2002, Brother Moore was elected as an officer of the Sigma Pi Educational Foundation and went on to serve as Chairman from 2002 until 2009.

Always active as an alumni volunteer, he also served as Province Archon for Michigan from 1998 to 2004. He received the Founders’ Award at the 50th Biennial Convocation.

Kenneth Wilson (’70)

Eugene Roche, Jr. (’51)

William Webb (’21)

______________________________________

Andrew Fleming (’09)

Jess Fardella (’43) Walter Funk, Sr. (’46) Guy Straub, Jr. (’45) Ira Coldren, Jr. (’45) George Burke (’50)

Forry Stonehill (’20) RHODE ISLAND

David Richardson (’57) Richard Jackson (’59) Richard Manson (’68)

James MacDonald John Betz, Jr. William Olson (’19) Harry Schmidt

UTAH

Franklin Rasmussen Joseph Brindley (’24) William Nebeker (’23) William Roche

SAINT JOSEPH’S

Sam Hamill, Jr. (’28)

Neil York (’15)

Glenn Williams (’23)

WILLIAM & MARY

Zachary Sulkowski (’09) WISCONSIN-WHITEWATER

Paul Martin, Jr. (’73) WORCESTER POLYTECH

James Keith (’65)

Stanley Anderson

RETRACTION: Rich Nowalk (Elon’97) - NOT DECEASED - Rich is alive and well, living in Raleigh, NC with his wife Jenn and two daughters Caitlin and Taylor.

T H E EMERAL D.ORG + 57

C HA RT E R IN G A N N O U N CEM ENT

INTRODUCING

I O TA -

The mission of the University of South Florida is to grow our chapter by developing our individual members. We believe that the strength and effectiveness is a direct result of the quality of our members. By sculpting young men using the values and standards of Sigma Pi, we will be able to become the most powerful and effective chapter we can be.

CHA RTE RI N G A N N OUN CEMEN T

-SIGMA

INSTALLATION TEAM Grand Sage GS E. Andrew Morris (Murray State ’70) Grand Second Counselor Brad Vaughn (SIU-Carbondale ’87)

AT T H E U N I V E R S I T Y O F S O U T H F L O R I D A

Grand Third Counselor Michael Schreiber (Auburn ’15)

by GS E. Andrew Morris (Murray State ’70), contributing writer

Grand Fourth Counselor PGS James Verplanck (Mississippi ’61) Grand First Counselor William Lusk (UCF ’09)

HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSITY Founded in 1956, the University of South Florida was the first independent state university conceived, planned and built in the 20th century. The university has made incredible strides in few more than 50 years, developing into one of the nation’s leading research institutions.

Home to over 48,000 students, 14 colleges and four different campuses, USF is the third largest college in the state, and is consistently ranked in the Top 100 Public Colleges by U.S. News and World Report.

In September of 1967, Lambda Chi Alpha was the first fraternity chartered on the campus. By 2015, the Greek Community at USF is now home to fourteen fraternities and nine sororities, and is currently in the midst of an expansion progress that aims to expand and diversify the community.

HISTORY OF THE COLONY On September 29th, 2013, fifty-two men at the University of South Florida came together to become a Colony of Sigma Pi. At the colonization ceremony many of these men were meeting each other for the first time as complete strangers, but it was bond of brotherhood that would unite this group as one; to come together to grow, work, and strive towards excellence in the name of Sigma Pi. Its birth was the result of a great effort put forth by the Director of Expansion Ryan Armstrong (Iowa ’12), and Michael Davis (UCF ’13). The ceremony included numerous alumni from chapters ranging from Alpha at Vincennes to members of Iota-Kappa Chapter at the University of Central Florida. The overwhelming support gave confidence to the new colony, and from their first day on campus the new brothers put a tremendous effort over the next two years. The petition was submitted on January 18, 2015 and was approved by the Grand Council on January 31. The approval announcement was made at Mid-Year Leadership Conference in St. Louis in front of 660 attendees.

Grand Herald Les Wright (Murray State ’70)

CHARTERING OFFICERS Sage Rider R. Lisenberry (Riverview, FL) Second Counselor Daniel C. Martinez (Weston, FL) Third Counselor Evan M. Brown (Riverview, FL) Fourth Counselor Scott Murray (Sarasota, FL) First Counselor Matthew Itzkowitz (Tampa, FL) Herald Joshua Knutson (Palm Coast, FL)

FOUNDING FATHERS Adrian Agosto

Alex Johansson

Jeremiah Osibodu

Jon Alter

Bennett Johnson

Brandon Paton

Hamza Asif

Spencer Jones

Jacob Pedrero

Evan Baker

Noel Kelly

Joshua Pelletier

CHARTERING

Cody Beech

Josh Knutson

Jared Piper

On the morning of March 14, the ceremony was held at the Embassy Suits Hotel in Tampa with 57 Founding Fathers installed. This was directed by the Executive Office Staff consisting of Associate Executive Director Jason Walker (Georgia ’96), Armstrong, Regional Director Rhett LaRose (Texas-San Antonio ’12) and Expansion Consultant Andrew Locke (Kansas ’14).

Alex Branton

Erick Lacayo

Brian Rothenberger Michael Santurri

The Installation Banquet was held on the University of South Florida campus that evening at the Marshall Student Center with over 200 guests. Sage Rider Lisenbery (’17) and Brian Rothenberger (’15) spoke about the colony and its progress over the 15 months to becoming Iota-Sigma Chapter. Chapter Director Will Lusk (UCF ’09), about the accomplishments and expectations of our newest chapter. Grand Sage E. Andrew Morris (Murray State ’70) read the Presentation of the Charter proclamation and officially recognized the installation of Iota-Sigma Chapter of Sigma Pi Fraternity, International.

Evan Brown

Jorge Leon

Jordan Brown

Rider Lisenbery

Daniel Schmitz

Fabrice Cassamajor

Daniel Martinez

Michael Schreiber

Matthew Chung

Joseph Michalsky

Jon Schwalie

Frank Cirillo

Brian Millan

Samier Shah

Mitchell Darnell

Matthew Miller

Robert Steeg

Austin Dickerson

Michael Misichia

Steven Syzonenko

Watson Finney

Vincent Moore

Troy Taylor

Hunter Hageman

Rick Moreno

Ben Thayer

Kase Harper

Scott Murray

Aeschton Tomita

Iain Hillenberg

Zach Murtha

Tommy Truman

Brandon Hulcher

Matt Naples

Devin Tully

Matthew Itzkowitz

Nicolas Noisette

Srini Vemulapalli

T H E EMERAL D.ORG + 59

2020 A DVA N C E M E N T P LAN

In our mission to advance man’s quest for excellence, our goal is to articulate our core values, qualities, and skills that are important to leadership positions. Our core values are to promote fellowship, develop character, advance heightened moral awareness, enable academic achievement, and to inspire service.

By assembling this 2020 Plan for Sigma Pi Fraternity, we will ensure that we meet the vision that our founders’ had in 1897, as well as the vision of our Grand Chapter today.

GROWTH

EDUCATION & LEADERSHIP

1.1 EXPANSION Execute an expansion strategy that culminates in 9,000 undergraduate members that make up 150 chapters.

1.2 INCREASE CAMPUS MARKET SHARE Execute a chapter growth and retention strategy to assist existing chapters to reach average chapter size of 60 men, including a dynamic recruitment culture.

2.1 VALUES-BASED LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT Provide a values based leadership education experience for 11,000 members (undergraduate and alumni) by 2020 through educational conferences and strong campus professional partnerships.

1.4 SCOUTING MODEL Develop scientific scouting model to accurately predict the success or failure of future expansion projects based on specific University metrics.

Currently: 124 Chapters & Colonies* Goal: 150 Chapters & Colonies

83%

Provide our undergraduates and alumni volunteers with officer or position training through conferences and E-Learning.

2.3 LIFELONG CURRICULUM DEVELOPMENT

3.3 LOCAL ALUMNI ENGAGEMENT

Design and implement a lifelong mentorship program to mentor undergraduates and engage alumni through networking, career development, diversity awareness, inclusive initiatives, and opportunities to connect utilizing Education Coalition partners.

Provide chapter-specific engagement opportunities for alumni members, including important events such as graduation, having children, and retirement.

3.4 HOUSING

Educate on the ladder of risk and FIPG policy to reduce risk management incidences to protect our members and guests at all times. This includes harm reduction and to specifically address issues such as sexual assault, hazing, and mental health.

Goal: Pilot Testing of Program with 25% of Chapters

Develop and implement a comprehensive strategic plan for providing housing resources to local house corporations and chapters.

PROGRESS TRACKER Currently: 75% Province Archon positions filled; 89% Chapter Director positions filled* Goal: 95% Province Archon positions filled; 95% Chapter Director positions filled

PROGRESS TRACKER Currently: Develop a Lifelong Membership Education Program

6 0 + SUMMER 2015

Enhance and build the alumni volunteers to 95% filled on Province Archons, 95% filled on Chapter Directors, and 50% filled on alumni advisory boards. Must be 80% effective through evaluations.

20 new Regional alumni clubs chartered (four per year) to support regional alumni and undergraduate networking opportunities. Hosting regional alumni meet ups.

2.4 EFFECTIVE RISK MANAGEMENT PROGRESS TRACKER

3.1 FRATERNITY SUPPORT

3.2 REGIONAL SUPPORT 2.2 UNDERGRADUATE & ALUMNI OFFICER DEVELOPMENT

1.3 RETENTION Develop year-round programs to attract a pipeline of new expansion consultants and retain existing expansion consultants.

SUPPORT

DEVELOPMENT

PA: 75%

CD: 89%

202 0 A DVA N CEMEN T PL A N

OUR MISSION

OUR VISION

O U R C O R E VA L U E S

To advance man’s quest for excellence

Our men will strive for excellence by living our core values

Promote fellowship Develop character and leadership Advance heightened moral awareness Enable academic achievement Inspire service

★

★

★

★

★

★

★

★

★

★

★

★ ★

COMMUNICATIONS

4.1 COMMUNICATION CHANNELS Acquire, develop, and retain the best possible staff of all Fraternal organizations. Hosting recruitment sessions at all conferences, professional development and coaching.

★ ★

INFRASTRUCTURE & TECHNOLOGY

5.1 TALENT DEVELOPMENT & RECRUITMENT Acquire, develop, and retain the best possible staff of all Fraternal organizations. Hosting recruitment sessions at all conferences, professional development and coaching.

FUNDING & RESOURCES

6.1 NEW REVENUE STREAMS Introduce and develop new revenue streams including but not limited to merchandising, sponsorships, royalties and events.

6.2 ASSIST SPEF 4.2 THREE EMERALD PUBLICATIONS

5.2 DEPARTMENT POLICIES AND PROCEDURES

Produce high quality articles for the Emerald Online with regular updates, Summer edition in print, and Fall edition in print.

Develop and maintain a current set of procedures for every job and process: Chapter Services, Expansion, Alumni Services, Communications, and Finance.

4.3 MEMBERSHIP PARTICIPATION Encourage member and organizational participation or sponsorship of community service, philanthropy, ACE Projects, and other values focused initiatives.

4.4 INCREASING REACH Increased traffic on social media, websites, blogs, and email subscribers for newsletters. Regular survey to members for satisfaction levels and reaching the “Ends” of the Fraternity.

5.3 ONLINE RESOURCE CENTER Build and update our online resource center for undergraduate and alumni resources, including best practices, career development, Sigma Pi Job Board and app.

5.4 TECHNOLOGY IMPROVEMENTS Review and assess our current information technology efforts and implement solutions to improve those deficiencies.

PROGRESS TRACKER Sigma Pi App Launch

PROGRESS TRACKER Currently: 7,137 Member Average of Followers on Social Media* Goal: 15,000 Member Average of Followers on Social Media

48%

OCTOBER 2014

Enhance the Sigma Pi Educational Foundation by assisting to cultivate lifelong supporters for the educational needs of our membership – Amazon Smile, Delta Society, etc.

6.3 REDUCE ACCOUNTS RECEIVABLE AND IMPROVE EFFICIENCIES Develop and implement an Accounts Receivable Reduction Plan, as well as finding new ways to reduce operating expenses.

6.4 PHILANTHROPY & COMMUNITY SERVICE Raise $3 million total dollars for charity by 2020, and 500,000 total hours of community service by 2020. Unify charitable donations through the fraternity and submit larger annual donations. Formalized relationships with Donate Life & Amazing Day. PROGRESS TRACKER Currently: $363,000 raised towards Capital Campaign*

73%

Goal: $500,000 raised towards Capital Campaign

T H EEMERAL D.ORG + 61

UN DE R G R A D UAT E E X PERIE NC E

As a focal point of the 2020 Advancement Plan, the Expansion Department has spent a lot of time and energy refining our growth strategy as an organization. With as many as 40 new and recolonizing groups hopefully opening within the next five years, the staff in the Expansion Department have their work cut out for them, and you will likely see a new group begin at a university near you.

Here is a look at how a new expansion project begins:

1 Each summer, the expansion staff researches over 450 universities across North America, tracking graduation rates, the caliber of incoming students, and growth trends in different parts of the country.

2

3

4

5

Once identified as a targeted university for growth, a member of the Expansion Team contacts the Fraternity & Sorority Life Advisor on that campus to assess the campus environment, and note other organizations that are currently scheduled to expand at that university.

If a university supports open expansion, a letter will be sent from the Director of Expansion to the Interfraternity Council (IFC) and the Office of Fraternity and Sorority Life (OFSL), notifying them of our intent to bring a new group to their campus.

Typically, an Expansion Proposal is sent to the IFC and OFSL, outlining the history of our organization, our values, and a Five-Year Colony Development Plan. Each proposal highlights the added value of establishing a Sigma Pi chapter on campus, and provides a detailed look at Sigma Pi programs & leadership development.

If Sigma Pi is invited, a member of the Expansion Team will present to the campus community and share our values, membership programs, and plans for community involvement. Alumni participation in the presentation adds value, and invitations will typically be sent out three-four weeks in advance.

FA L L 2 0 1 5 E X PA N S I O N E F F O R T S Sigma Pi will be expanding on these campuses in the coming months:

6 2 + SUMMER 2015

UN DER GRA DUAT E EX PERI EN CE

6

7

If selected by the campus, we will set a date for colonization and begin the process of identifying alumni volunteers to work with the new group.

Occasionally, “Interest Groups� will contact the Expansion Team and request to become a colony of Sigma Pi. Unless the group is on a campus previously targeted for growth, and has the full support of the Office of Fraternity & Sorority Life, we will typically not endorse their colonization.

8 Two members of the Expansion Team spend five-six weeks at the university recruiting campus leaders who endorse and support the fraternal movement, and appointing officers to lead the colony during their first year.

9

10

Upon colonization, one member of the Expansion Team will stay on campus to train officers, provide support throughout the new member education period, and begin integrating the colony into the campus community.

When all accreditation requirements have been met, the chapter is installed at a Chartering Banquet on campus! Members, Alumni, and guests in the area are invited to attend in celebration of their accomplishment.

S P R I N G 2 0 1 6 E X PA N S I O N E F F O R T S Sigma Pi will be expanding on these campuses in the spring semester of 2016:

T H E EMERAL D.ORG + 63

UN DE R G R A D UAT E E X PERIE NC E

2 01 5 -1 6 R E G I O N A L B R E A K D OW N The Regional Director Program was established in 2013 and continues to evolve as we find more impactful ways to work with chapters and colonies, as well as alumni clubs. As our Executive Office grows, we will continue to modify and update regions to properly fit the needs of our undergraduates and alumni. We are hopeful that these changes will allow us to provide more support throughout our organization.

REGION I

REGION II

REGION III

REGION IV

REGION V

JOE TURCK SIU-EDWARDSVILLE ’98

JOSEPH DRAIN FLORIDA STATE ’11

MICHAEL DAVIS UCF ’13

RHETT LAROSE TEXAS-SAN ANTONIO ’12

KEVIN PONS JOHNSON & WALES ’06

Bentley

Alabama

Arizona State

Arkansas

California

Bridgewater State

Auburn

Central Michigan

Arkansas Tech

California-Irvine

Buffalo

Clemson

Detroit-Mercy

Arkansas State

California-Santa Barbara

Carleton

Duke

Ferris State

Central Missouri

California-Santa Cruz

Cornell

East Carolina

Franklin & Marshall

Drury

Cal Poly

Delaware

Eastern Kentucky

Grand Valley State

Eastern Illinois

Colorado

East Stroudsberg

Florida State

Indiana of Pennsylvania

Emporia

Colorado State

Fairleigh Dickinson

Georgia

Lawrence Tech

Houston

CSU-Dominguez Hills

Fitchburg State

Georgia Tech

Miami (OH)

Illinois

CSU-Long Beach

Hofstra

Kentucky

Michigan

Illinois-Wesleyan

CSU-Chico

Keene State

Louisiana Tech

Michigan State

Indiana

CSU-Fullerton

Missouri S&T

Louisville

Michigan Tech

Iowa

Fresno State

Missouri

Mississippi

Middle Tennessee

Iowa State

San Diego

Monmouth

Morehead State

Northern Arizona

Kansas

Santa Clara

Montclair State

Murray State

Oakland

Kansas State

UCLA

NJIT

North Carolina State

Ohio

Minnesota

Rhode Island

Old Dominion

Ohio State

Missouri Southern State

Rowan

Radford

Oregon

Missouri State

Rutgers

Salisbury

Oregon State

Oklahoma State

SIU-Carbondale

South Florida

Penn College

Purdue

SIU-Edwardsville

Southern Arkansas

Penn State

Southern Indiana

Seton Hall

Southern Tech

Penn State-Altoona

Texas

St. John’s

UCF

Saginaw Valley

Texas-San Antonio

Saint Joseph’s

Virginia

Washington State

Valparaiso

TCNJ

Wake Forest

Wayne State

Vincennes

UMSL

West Alabama

Western Illinois

Ursinus

West Virginia Tech

Wisconsin

West Chester

William & Mary

Wisconsin-Oshkosh

Willam Patterson Worcester Polytech 6 4 + SUMMER 2015

Wisconsin-Platteville

PHOTO FINISH Shane Stahl (California-Irvine ’17) - who serves as the Second Counselor of his Chapter - represents Sigma Pi by holding the flag at the peak of Mount San Jacinto.

To submit your own photos for consideration as the Photo Finish, please email them to emerald@sigmapi.org or use #sigmapi on your social media accounts.

SIGMA PI FRATERNITY 106 North Castle Heights Ave. Lebanon, TN 37087

Prsrt Std Non-Prof U.S. Postage PAID Lebanon Junction, KY Permit No. 441

ELECTRONIC SERVICE REQUESTED

Your support of our Tomorrow’s Leaders campaign will empower our members to become superior leaders in their chapter as well as effective and principled leaders of the broader society.

Sigma Pi Fraternity, International is 125 active Chapters & Colonies strong and recently initiated its 100,000th member. We are united in brotherhood with kindred minds and kindred spirits: conscious of our civic, national, and international responsibilities; leaders and team players; respectful and worthy of respect.

Your Sigma Pi Educational Foundation seeks to fortify Sigma Pi for the future by improving and strengthening the Fraternity’s educational programs and, as a result, our undergraduate members.

Our campaign goal is $500,000.00. This campaign will fund endowments for the Mid-Year Leadership Conference and Sigma Pi UIFI (Undergraduate Interfraternity Institute) to ensure the long-term stability and sustainability of these two programs.

Give today at sigmapiedfund.org/donate