The Emerald, Spring 2014 by Sigma Pi Fraternity

BRAND STANDARDS

Proper Use of the Identity

PICAST

Current State of Affairs

UNDERGRADUATE SPOTLIGHT An Aussie Abroad

OF SIGMA PI FRATERNITY, INTERNATIONAL • SIGMAPI.ORG • SPRING 2014

How a medical emergency led William Kwass to his calling in life

The Emerald

TABLE OF CONTENTS

VOLUME XCVIII, NUMBER 2 SPRING 2014

BRAND STANDARDS

DE PARTM EN TS:

F E AT U R E S :

6 12 PiCast 14 The Return from the Fall

38 40 52nd Biennial Convocation

1 From the Grand Sage

42 Alumni Notebook

4 International Digest

44 Flashback Story

8 Historical Society

46 Flashback Photo

Brand Standards

Chris Carter, Director of Communications Michael Ayalon, Executive Director

An Aussie Abroad

Aaron Perrera, contributing writer

Location and event information

Phil Aiello, contributing writer

10 Educational Foundation

47 Adytum on High

18 Chapter & Colony Reports

48 Expansion

42 Alumni Notebook

53 Photo Finish

EDITORIAL STAFF: Chris Carter (QW, Middle Tennessee ’11) Editor and Creative Director Jason “Gilligan” Walker (AF, Georgia ’96) Business Manager Sigma Pi Fraternity was founded at Vincennes University, Vincennes, Indiana, on February 26, 1897. Sigma Pi has chartered more than 230 chapters in North America and has initiated over 99,000 members since 1897. The founding fathers of the Fraternity are: Rolin Rosco James (1879 - 1953) William Raper Kennedy (1877 - 1944) James Thompson Kingsbury (1877 - 1950) George Martin Patterson (1877 - 1960) THE EMERALD OF SIGMA PI FRATERNITY: (ISSN 1074-5289, USPS 011-013) has been published since 1911. The Emerald is published two times a year by Sigma Pi Fraternity, 106 North Castle Heights Ave, Lebanon, Tennessee, and additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to SIGMA PI FRATERNITY, 106 North Castle Heights Ave., Lebanon, TN 37087 MEMBERS: When making an address change, please send your full name and chapter with both the old and new address to the Executive Office address below or at mysigmapi.com. EMERALD SUBMISSION DEADLINES: Spring February 10 Summer May 10 Fall September 10 SUBMIT EMERALD NEWS TO: Sigma Pi Fraternity, Attention: Emerald 106 North Castle Heights Ave, Lebanon, TN 37087 Telephone: (615) 921-2300 Fax: (615) 373-8949 Email: emerald@sigmapi.org

Member, North-American Interfraternity Conference

SIGMAPI.ORG • MYSIGMAPI.COM

SIGMAPI

A Message

FROM THE GRAND SAGE

Dear Brothers, Sigma Pi conducted another successful Mid-Year Leadership Conference on the weekend of February 1st. Over 500 members were in attendance to learn about areas such as risk management, leadership, finances, their role as an officer and recruitment. The weekend was highlighted by a great keynote address by Dr. Lori Hart on Risk Management, and we received great feedback about high energy recruitment presentations delivered by Phired Up’s Vince Fabra. Of course, there were many other great presenters, whom we cannot thank enough for their time; many of them are Sigma Pi members. I was excited to meet many new volunteers, whom are a critical support component for our undergraduate chapters. We also certainly appreciate the support from the Sigma Pi Education Foundation in making this happen. And a big “Thank You” to the staff for making this a successful weekend. In my closing address, I urged (and still urge) the attendees to “make a difference”. It will not be easy to carry back some great lessons and ideas, especially in larger chapters where the voices of a few may get lost in the crowd. I believe the enthusiasm I saw on Saturday night will be contagious, and I hope the members find a way to make their experiences heard.

GS Edward Levesque (HH, Bridgewater State ’89)

From the Grand Council, I presented an update on our current activities and progress towards our biennial goals during the opening session. [To review the slides, go to the secure member’s area in mysigmapi.com and look for “Grand_Council_Update_ FEB_2014”.] In our update, I presented an overview of the Grand Chapter organizational structure, the Duties and functions of your Grand Council, and notable activities such as our upcoming Founder’s Month campaign. I also described our plan to create a Grand Council Volunteer Search Committee. This committee, as recommended by the Grand Council Operations committee, shall be appointed to seek out eligible alumni members to serve on a Grand Council committee or the council itself. Other non-profit organizations (including fraternities) have a similar committee that work in collaboration with a nomination committee or other body to qualify candidates; in many cases, it’s a standing committee. Once the committee’s role is further defined, details and a description will be posted in the member’s area of mysigmapi.com. As we head into the last six months of the biennium, I am truly pleased with how far we’ve come as an organization in our Quest for Excellence. Fraternally,

GS Ed Levesque

(HH, Bridgewater ’89) Grand Sage

Contact Ed: grandsage@sigmapi.org ed.levesque.71

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Dear Brothers, On Monday, February 3rd, Sigma Pi lost a great brother and friend, HGS Jim Hills (AC, Maryland ’54). Through his work, he has shown members what it means to be a Sigma Pi, and was dedicated to our beliefs and values. Jim will be sorely missed, and his devotion to Sigma Pi will forever be remembered. While Hills was a student at the University of Maryland in 1948, he joined Sigma Pi Fraternity. This, in turn, launched his 66-year relationship with the Fraternity, serving on both a local and international level. He was a Founding Father of Alpha-Chi Chapter of Sigma Pi at the University of Maryland and served as the Chapter Sage. From 1954 to 1971, Hills held national positions as Field Representative, Executive Assistant and Executive Secretary with the Fraternity. In 1992, Hills was given the title of Honorary Grand Sage of Sigma Pi Fraternity, International; an honor bestowed upon only six men in the Fraternity’s 117-year history. He received the Fraternity’s Founders’ Award in 2000, which is the Fraternity’s highest and most prestigious form of recognition. More recently, he served on the boards of the Sigma Pi Educational Foundation and the Sigma Pi Fund. Hills also founded the Alpha Alumni Association. At the time of his death, he was the President of the Alpha of Sigma Pi House Corporation, a position he held for 16 years. Due to the many lives that were touched by Hills, along with the large group of men who were honored to have met/know him, we have made the decision to postpone the article about Hills due to this issue of The Emerald being a digital-only copy, opting instead to feature him in the Summer 2014 issue. The article will feature an interview with HGS Jim Hills himself, along with several short stories from various alumni about their memories of Hills. Some of the alumni that will be featured include PGS Frank Fryburg (Q, Penn State ’49), PGS Jim Verplanck (BM, Mississippi ’61), PGS Howard Beyer (AM, NJIT ’56) and others. We look forward to your feedback, and are honored to share the story of HGS Jim Hills, as well as the memories that he shared with others.

Fraternally,

Chris Carter

(QW, Middle Tennessee ’11) Director of Communications & Editor, The Emerald

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International Digest

NEWS & INFORMATION A look at the recent stories from the world of Sigma Pi Brad Vaughn named Florida Province Archon Sigma Pi Fraternity announces that Brad Vaughn (BN, SIU-Carbondale ‘87) has been appointed as Florida Province Archon. He will work with undergraduate chapters at Eta-Epsilon (Florida State), and Iota-Kappa (Central Florida), as well as the Colony at the University of South Florida (USF), and alumni clubs and house corporations in the Province. Brad takes over from Dean Houser (E, Ohio ‘72), who is stepping down after a long history of service to Sigma Pi. He commented, “Sigma Pi’s success in Florida, opening new colonies and chartering strong chapters, has revitalized the southeastern United States. I look forward to working with the young men and alumni from those colonies and chapters, and all those alumni from elsewhere around the United States and Canada who now call Florida their home. Interaction with these campus leaders at the grass roots level will assure Sigma Pi a strong place on each campus. I look forward to this interaction and the opportunity to work with these brothers.” Brad received his MEd. and his MS in Public Administration from Florida State University and currently works as a U.S. Probation Officer for the U.S. District Court in the Middle District of Florida. He is often involved in close negotiations with the U.S. Attorney’s Office, assisting the sitting federal judges in the decision making on each case. In his current role, Brad presents risk management and substance abuse programs to high school and community groups. Brad has previous experience as a university administrator (fraternity advisor) and has collaborated with the NIC. In addition to his tenure as a fraternity advisor, Brad was house father at our Eta-Epsilon (FSU) chapter, has served on other Grand Chapter committees, and was instrumental in the expansion decision at the University of South Florida. Brad also currently serves as one of two Sigma Pi NIC delegates in the role of the Grand Sage’s ambassador, to cultivate relationships with the other delegates and NIC staff, and to represent Sigma Pi, its philosophy, its policies, its interests in all NIC related interactions.

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Spillner To Leave Executive Office Staff At the end of April, our Director of Expansion, Zach Spillner (QR, Grand Valley State ’10), will be moving to the Chicago area to pursue his future endeavors. We want to express our sincere thanks for all of his hard work with Sigma Pi to develop our strong colonies and our new chapters all across North America.

Charter Revoked From Eta-Pi Chapter At Kutztown University Effective January 10th, 2014, the Grand Council of Sigma Pi Fraternity, International revoked the charter of Eta-Pi Chapter at Kutztown University in Kutztown, Pennsylvania. Eta-Pi Chapter had their charter revoked after Kutztown University suspended the chapter for four years as a result of the chapter being found responsible for hazing new members and violating FIPG regulations. Eta-Pi Chapter will be eligible to return to campus no earlier than Spring 2018. Sigma Pi Fraternity, International has resolved to hold its chapters accountable for compliance with all Grand Chapter and University policies, FIPG guidelines, new member education policies, minimum standards on chapter membership, and adherence to the governing laws of the Fraternity.

Justin Steele To Become Regional Director And Director Of Conferences It is with great pleasure that we announce that Justin Steele (EP, Christopher Newport ’03) is moving from his role as Director of Chapter Services to become the fifth Regional Director, as well as the Director of Conferences, for the Executive Office. As Regional Director, Justin will be responsible for growing and developing chapters that he works with, as well as the primary contact for their alumni associations, housing corporations, and host institutions. Regions will be realigned in the Fall to maximize the efficiency of our Regional Directors, and in the interim, Justin will assist with Province Workshops and our chapters that previously didn’t have a visit scheduled for the spring semester. “Over the last eight years, Justin has done a great job in raising the standards of Sigma Pi chapters all over North America as Director of Chapter Services”, said Michael Ayalon, Executive Director. “We appreciate Justin’s dedication to Sigma Pi, and we feel that by going from four Regional Directors to five, we can reduce travel time, spend more time individually working with our chapters, and allow all of our Regional Directors to help us with other areas such as alumni engagement and identifying new expansion opportunities in their regions. Justin has done a wonderful job with our conferences, so he will have additional responsibilities as our Director of Conferences for Mid-Year Leadership Conference, Sigma Pi University, and Convocation.”

Armstrong promoted to Director of Expansion Sigma Pi Fraternity, International announces that Ryan Armstrong (X, Iowa ’12) has been promoted to Director of Expansion at the Executive Office, effective May 1, 2014.

Chris Ruth Named Great Plains Province Archon Sigma Pi Fraternity, International has recently named Chris Ruth (DZ, UMSL ’08) to an alumni volunteer position. Ruth will serve as the Great Plains Province Archon. The position had been previously vacant. “I am very excited for this opportunity to serve our great fraternity,” Ruth said. “I look forward to working with students, alumni and other volunteers in the Great Plains and across the country.” Ruth will be working with the following chapters: Epsilon-Epsilon at Emporia State, Iota-Pi at Oklahoma State, IotaAlpha at Kansas State, and GammaGamma at Central Missouri. He will also be working with our expansion department regarding the Beta-Delta Colony at the University of Kansas. Jason Beck (AF, Georgia ’93), Director of Alumni Services, said, “I’m happy to have Chris on board as a member of our volunteer ranks once again. His experience, both as an undergraduate and as a former Chapter Director, will be an asset to our chapters in the Great Plains Province.”

Armstrong joined the Executive Office staff in 2012 where he served our southern region as the Educational Leadership Consultant. Since July 2013, Armstrong has held the position of Senior Expansion Consultant where he led the expansion effort at the University of South Florida that colonized with 48 men. Currently, he is assisting the colony at the University of San Diego where he helped to colonize with 45 men. As Director of Expansion, Armstrong will be broadly charged with strategically and sustainably growing the number of new Sigma Pi chapters and colonies, as well as working closely with Expansion Consultants to recruit, train, and ensure proper and successful colonization for the long term success of the new chapters. Armstrong will also conduct primary and secondary research to determine which institutions are examples of exemplary North-American institutions that would be good targets for Sigma Pi, as well as maintaining a current list of institutional profiles. Armstrong will be responsible for overseeing the progress of multiple expansion efforts each semester. “I’m extremely grateful for the opportunity to continue serving our fraternity, and I’m very honored to have been chosen to represent Sigma Pi as Director of Expansion,” said Armstrong. “Zach Spillner (QR, Grand Valley State ’10) has done an incredible job over the last two years, and I plan to continue his work by expanding to even larger and more prominent universities in the years to come.” “Ryan has done an exceptional job on the Executive Office staff, both as an ELC, as well as in his current role as Senior Expansion Consultant”, said Michael Ayalon (EO, SUNY-Buffalo ‘97), Executive Director. “His leadership skills, interpersonal skills, and rapport with the undergraduates at our host institutions are all top-notch. Ryan has the proven ability to bring in quality men to Sigma Pi Fraternity; men that share our common values and ideals, and men that will lead this Fraternity on their Quest for Excellence. We couldn’t be happier to have Ryan continue the legacy that he has started as our new Director of Expansion.” a

Ways To Stay Connected

Lost touch with Sigma Pi? Here are some ways to keep up with the latest news and information visit our website

sigmapi.org be an alumni volunteer

alumni.sigmapi.org subscribe to our mailing list

sigmapi.org/emaillist

update your information

mysigmapi.com

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

“like” us on facebook

Step 5: Enter your current information (mail, phone, e-mail, etc.) and click to save it.

@sigmapi

facebook.com/sigmapi

Step 4: Click on “Edit My Profile” That ensures you will continue to get important information and communications from Sigma Pi. SPRING 2014

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Fraternal Communication

BRAND STANDARDS

THE BRAND STANDARDS OF SIGMA PI A LOOK AT THE PROPER WAY TO USE THE BRANDING OF THE FRATERNITY By Chris Carter (QW, Middle Tennessee ‘11) Director of Communications & Editor, The Emerald In 2013, former Director of Communications Todd Shelton began work on the new, modernized branding of Sigma Pi. The design, an updated version of the “owl” that can be seen on the the crest of Sigma Pi, had been released to the public, with plans to release the proper standards for the branding at a later date. When Todd moved on to a new endeavor, I inherited the branding. In Contact Chris: the early period of my time as Director ccarter@sigmapi.org of Communications, I determined and mapped-out the proper uses of @chriswcarterii the updated branding, with several tweaks from Todd’s initial plans. These changes should be actively and properly applied to all measures of Sigma Pi branding throughout chapters, colonies, alumni clubs, and any other entity of the Fraternity. One change you may notice is that the “Sigma Pi Gold” version of the owl icon is no longer used as a standard branding image. Now, that version is solely used to represent the Grand Council, a group that represents the “gold standard” of Sigma Pi Fraternity, International. Another change is the lack of the “pyramid” icon. This icon doesn’t fully represent the traditional sense of the Pyramid of Stars, as the Pyramid of Stars should be properly shown as a flat surface. Therefore, the “pyramid” logo will no longer be used in any Sigma Pi branding.

I’m excited to have built upon the foundation that Todd laid down in developing the modern branding for Sigma Pi, and am honored to be a part of the evolution of Sigma Pi’s image on an international scale. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me. All elements of the branding will soon be available in the MySigmaPi Resource Center, which will include vector and raster image files, so that you can use the logos as need be. However, please contact me if you need something specific (chapter extention added, colorized version of the full logo, etc.) a

BRAND STANDARDS Click here to access the complete Brand Standards guide. This guide contains all important information for the format, style, color, usage, and description of all Sigma Pi branding elements.

The Brand Standards guide also provides pertinent information for several other important factors of the Fraternity’s image. This information includes: • Brand presence and the elements that make up Sigma Pi, from the creed to the motto to the ideals, and so on. • Proper color values (Pantone Matching System, CMYK and RGB) for all official primary and secondary colors of Sigma Pi • Logomark descriptions for Sigma Pi, the Grand Council, and Sigma Pi Educational Foundation • Description of the design of the crest of Sigma Pi and its elements • Proper use of chapter extensions with the various logomarks of Sigma Pi • Typography and the fonts that Sigma Pi uses • Usage violations, and what not to do with the branding • Letterhead, business card, and email signatures styles and layout guidelines • Proper style guidelines, such as the use of “Executive Office” instead of headquarters, nationals, internationals, etc.

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Various Sigma Pi Graphic Identity logos are available by clicking the Google Drive logo to the left

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WANT TO BE A PART OF A FUTURE ISSUE OF THE EMERALD? THERE ARE MANY WAYS TO GET INVOLVED!

If you are interested in volunteering for any of the following, please contact Chris Carter, Director of Communications, at ccarter@sigmapi.org • • • •

Communications Committee Article Contribution (Research and Writing) Photography Editing

If you know someone who is deserving of a feature article or spotlight, please send the following information to ccarter@sigmapi.org • • • •

Name Chapter And University Initiation Or Graduation Year Why They Deserve A Spotlight

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Historical Society

CONVOCATION

SIGMA PI HISTORICAL SOCIETY MAKES PLANS FOR CONVOCATION By Christian J. Miele (HN, Towson ’04) President, Sigma Pi Historical Society The Sigma Pi Historical Society (SPHS) was established by a unanimous vote of the Grand Chapter on June 30, 2010, at the Fiftieth Biennial Convocation in Danvers, Massachusetts. This organization, the first of its kind in the Greek world, was formed as a friendly organization within the Fraternity “to preserve and promote the history of Sigma Pi, and foster an appreciation of the same among its members.” The Society is governed by a constitution and bylaws, and its membership is open to initiated members of Sigma Pi who have attended at least two Convocations, a prerequisite the Society’s organizers hoped would serve as an incentive for brothers to stay involved with the Fraternity at the international level year after year. There are two levels of membership in the Society: Associates, or those members who have attended between two and four Convocations; and Fellows, those members who have attended five or more. The Society’s elaborate induction ceremony incorporates parts of The English Chivalric Ritual (the Fraternity’s first national initiatory rite, in use from

1907–1910) and Sigma Delta Ritual (forerunner of The Golden Quest and initiatory rite of Kappa Chapter’s predecessor, Sigma Delta, at Temple University). During the induction ceremony, secrets contained in The English Chivalric Ritual are revealed to both Associates and Fellows of the Society, while Fellows are conferred one additional secret from the now 106-year-old Sigma Delta Ritual. If you are interested in joining and meet the requirements for membership, send an email to SPHS President Christian J. Miele (HN, Towson ’04) at historicalsociety@sigmapi.org. The email should include your name, chapter/university, and a list of the Convocations you have attended. Attendance at this summer’s Convocation in Orlando will count toward the two-Convocation requirement for membership. Prior to Convocation, all prospective members and members must pay the Society’s biennial dues assessment ($50) through the Convocation registration site. All new members will be presented with the Society’s official lapel pin during the induction ceremony. a

SIGMA PI HISTORICAL SOCIETY EVENTS IN ORLANDO Annual Meeting Friday, 8/8 at 6pm (Room TBD)

Third Biennial Banquet La Luce at Hilton Orlando Bonnet Creek Friday, 8/8 at 8:00pm $75 per person (Tickets can be purchased on the Convocation website)

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MISS OUT ON

MID-YEAR LEADERSHIP CONFERENCE

CLICK THE ICON BELOW TO ACCESS THE PHOTOS FROM THE 2014 MYLC

SPRING 2014

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Sigma Pi

EDUCATIONAL FOUNDATION

NOTICE OF ANNUAL MEETING

Allen W. Yee (AF, Georgia ’99) Chairman Les L. Wright (GU, Murray State ’70) Vice-Chairman of Administration

All members of the Sigma Pi Educational Foundation are hereby notified of and invited to attend the 2014 Annual Meeting of the Educational Foundation on August 8, 2014. The meeting shall take place at:

Edward Mora (BO, Cal State-Long Beach ’93) Vice-Chairman of Investments

The Hilton Orlando Bonnet Creek 14100 Bonnet Creek Resort Lane, Orlando, Florida 32821 (407) 597-3600 Commencing at 4:30 PM (ET)

PGS Larry Rovira (EN, Cal State-Fullerton ’85) Vice-Chairman of Development Gary S. Grubacich (AO, UC-Santa Barbara ’68) Vice-Chairman of Legal Affairs

The annual business of the Educational Foundation will be conducted at that time. Matters up for consideration are:

Paul M. Hetrick (GU, Murray State ’92) Treasurer

• Appointment of Joseph DeCosimo and Company, PLLC as independent auditors • Amendments to the bylaws of the Educational Foundation

Ian M. Itschner (W, Oregon State ’93) Secretary

• Election of Trustees for the 2014-2018 term Per the bylaws of the Educational Foundation, proxy voting is not permitted. Additional information regarding the 2014 Annual Meeting will be posted soon on the Educational Foundation’s website at www.sigmapiedfund.org or call the Educational Foundation’s office at 1-615-921-2300.

Dr Jay C. Joern, Jr. (GS, Missouri ’72) Trustee Michael Simmons (EN, Cal State-Fullerton ’87) Trustee

Bylaw amendments up for consideration and for review by the membership will be posted soon on the Educational Foundation’s website at www.sigmapiedfund.org.

Rick Marshall (AP, Arkansas State ’92) Trustee Shea Stickler (BK, Arizona State ’90) Trustee GS Edward Levesque (HH, Bridgewater State ’89) Trustee PGS Christopher R. Brown (GH, Rutgers ’81) Trustee Paul W. Hansen (BT, Valparaiso ’80) Advisor Trustee PGS Frank C. Fryburg (Q, Penn State ’49) Honorary Life Trustee

To donate, please contact Lisa Pearson at 615-921-2300, or make a donation online at sigmapiedfund.org/waystogive.php 10 |

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DONOR SPOTLIGHT DR. MICHAEL COMPTON (AR, MISSOURI STATE ’70)

Dr. Michael Compton (AR, Missouri State ’70) currently serves as the Colony Director for Alpha-Rho at Missouri State University. After attending the recent Mid-Year Leadership Conference in St. Louis, Dr. Compton was moved to become a monthly donor. He said, “The ‘$18.97 option’ showed me a way to give, and to give in a way that was both affordable and made sense to me. I hope and expect now to be able to encourage others of my Alpha-Rho alumni brothers to make similar donations to the Foundation.”

THOUGHTS ON BEING A MONTHLY SUPPORTER By Lisa M. Pearson, Foundation Director 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. Now, those organizations for which you strongly believe in, you might consider being a monthly and/or quarterly supporter. We all have to make some charitable donations each year to benefit from the tax deduction. When making a monthly and/or quarterly gift to a non-profit of your choosing, it does not have to be a large amount of money. Small amounts add-up and definitely help the organization’s bottom line. If you were to become a monthly donor in the amount of $18.97, that equals an annual donation of $227.64. Monthly and quarterly gifts assist an organization in budget planning, as these dollars are considered fixed dollars for which an organization can depend on this money coming in every month and/or quarter. When monies are automatically deducted from your checking or savings account or even payroll deducted, most times you do not miss the money because it is gone before you even receive it. If you would like to become a monthly and/or quarterly supporter of the Sigma Pi Educational Foundation, contact Jen Wyatt, Foundation Administrative Assistant at 615-921-2300 or jwyatt@sigmapi.org. Jen will be able to process your monthly and/or quarterly gift through recurring automatic deduction from your checking or savings account, or charge to your credit card of choice. The Educational Foundation accepts MC, Visa, Discover and AMEX. 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 501C3 non-profit organization as recognized by the Internal Revenue Service. Should you have any questions about making a gift of support to the Educational Foundation, please feel free to contact Lisa M. Pearson, Foundation Director at 615-921-2313 or lpearson@sigmapi.org. The Educational Foundation truly hopes you will consider being a monthly and/or quarterly supporter (if you are not already) of it mission to support 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.

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Executive Director Michael Ayalon

PI CAST AND UPDATE

FEBRUARY 2014 - PICAST AND TRANSCRIPT AN UPDATE ON THE CURRENT STATE OF AFFAIRS FOR SIGMA PI FRATERNITY Brothers, It’s hard to believe that I’ve been in the role of Executive Director for almost two years now. In that time, I’m often reminded of Robert Browning’s poem, which would eventually become Sigma Pi’s motto. “Progress, man’s distinctive mark alone, Not God’s, and not the beasts’; God is, they are. Man partly is and wholly hopes to be.”

Michael Ayalon (EO, SUNY-Buffalo ‘97)

I firmly believe that Sigma Pi Fraternity is the best leadership experience for undergraduate men on our campuses today. It’s never been more relevant than today. Our men are getting the benefit of fellowship on their campus, they are working together in raising money for various philanthropies and rolling up their sleeves in community service opportunities. They are raising the expectations for scholarship in their chapter, and they continue to be guided by the values of our organization in their daily lives. Our Sigma Pi conferences including Sigma Pi University and Mid-Year Leadership Conference have the best speakers in the country, and the quantifiable results of these conferences show in our chapters. We are truly building men that will be the leaders of tomorrow. Thank you for supporting the Sigma Pi Educational

Foundation. It allows us to bring the higher level training and programming that our men need. We still have much more work to do. In keeping with the transparency that I wanted to bring to you when I took office, you will find a recent PiCast that will update you on our progress to date. I’m very proud of our staff, our alumni volunteers, and our undergraduate members for their role in making Sigma Pi a leader in the Fraternal movement. Thank you for all that you do to make this the best Fraternity in North America. We would also like to thank Maxwell Hauser (ΓΜ, Wisconsin-Oshkosh ‘17) for his hard work in designing and developing the new motion graphic that you will see at the beginning of the video. I look forward to seeing all of you at our Convocation in Orlando, Florida on August 6th, 2014. Fraternally,

Michael Ayalon (EO, SUNY-Buffalo ’97) Executive Director

CLICK HERE TO WATCH PICAST

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FEBRUARY 2014 - PI CAST TRANSCRIPT Welcome to the next edition of the PiCast. My name is Michael Ayalon, Executive Director of Sigma Pi Fraternity. I wanted to continue to bring you more communication and transparency on what we’ve been working on at the Executive Office and share some of the great results we’ve been seeing. It wouldn’t be possible without the work of our staff, alumni volunteers, and our chapters that are more committed than ever in their Quest for Excellence. For those that attended our most recent Mid Year Leadership Conference in St. Louis last month, it clearly shows our commitment as an organization to becoming the best in North America. First we’ll talk about our growth in pledges and initiates. As of December 31, 2013, we’ve had 1,635 pledges, as compared to 1,456 in the year prior. That’s a 12.29% increase over last year, and that includes cleaning up 209 pledges from prior years. As for the initiates, we’ve had 868 initiates as of December 31, 2013, as compared to 739 in the year prior. That’s a 17.45% increase over last year, and that includes cleaning up 398 initiates from prior years. Our Regional Directors are doing a wonderful job in ensuring that our rosters are correct and cleaning up old membership issues, and we’ll continue to see those numbers climb as we properly document all of our chapter members. This means that our average chapter size continues to increase, from 41.4 in 2012 to 44.8 in 2013. I want to say thank you to our chapters in particular for their commitment to following FIPG on a local level, as our insurance claims were exceptionally clean over the last year. This allows us to provide insurance and programming that is lower in cost to our members than many of our competitors. We frequently get questions about where the insurance and programming fees go. Of the per man insurance and programming fee, 37% goes to pay for our Liability Insurance premiums, 42% pays for our Chapter Services (including salaries and travel expenses for our Regional Directors), 21% goes to pay for our conferences like Mid Year Leadership Conference and Sigma Pi University, and there is a $5 donation to the Sigma Pi Educational Foundation that was voted by the undergraduates at our last Convocation. We’re very excited about Sigma Pi’s move to our new Executive Office at the Mitchell House. You’re all invited to participate in the ribbon cutting ceremony on Saturday, March 29th at 11 AM, which will take place at the new Executive Office in Lebanon, TN. The building, which is only 20 minutes from Nashville, formerly served as the headquarters for Cracker Barrel. It gives Sigma Pi meeting space for Board Meetings and Interfraternal meetings, a space for a proper museum to display our historical artifacts, a place for Sigma Pi initiations, a site for Executive Council training and development, and it gives us more opportunities to raise money for the Sigma Pi Educational Foundation through events and other rental income not available to us before.

We’re now working on a new national membership education program that will take our members from pledging, through the various stages of being an undergraduate, to successful graduation, and then finally to being a productive alumnus for Sigma Pi. It will start with a survey of our undergraduates, alumni, and volunteers on the type of education you want, and the best way to get that information to you. The program will focus on continuous education through all 4 years of college on areas like recruitment, chapter engagement, social excellence, job search, and preparation to enter the workforce. The education will continue even as an alumnus, and we’ll include things like career development and volunteering for the Fraternity. I can’t wait to pilot this program with our chapters and alumni, but it will take some time to develop all the content. I’ll keep you in the loop as we move forward with the program. Our staff is working on the strategic initiatives and goals for 2014 in which each member of the management team has specific goal statements. Our Regional Directors are seeing higher efficiency scores, chapter growth, lower accounts receivable, and proactive conversations with our host institutions. Our communication continues to improve with the updated Emerald that you’re all enjoying, more videos and blogs, as well as increased social media presence. We were happy to have our first ever online town hall with WebEx last semester, and hope to do another one soon. We’re looking forward to getting our colonies at Kansas, Missouri State, Central Michigan, and Keene State to chartering in the very near future. University of South Florida won’t be far behind. Our expansions are going extremely well at the University of San Diego and St. John’s, and Fall 2014 will bring new expansions to Kentucky, Colorado State, and Cal State Fullerton. The future is looking very bright. We’re going to continue to work on alumni engagement. The new National Membership Education program will help. The new regional alumni clubs started, including Lone Star, Upper Canada, and the Gateway Alumni Club are all steps in the direction of alumni engagement. We’re going to continue that trend in 2014 to ensure even more ways for alumni to connect with Sigma Pi in their local cities, and that gives our undergraduates even more professional contacts to network with. All of our recent college graduates will be receiving a packet in the mail on ways to engage with Sigma Pi beyond graduation. This month is values month for Sigma Pi, which leads in Founder’s Day on February 26th. We hope you’ll enjoy the various messages you’ll be receiving this month from our Grand Council, and find ways to live our values in your own daily life. Thank you.

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By Phil Aiello (GM, Wisconsin-Oshkosh ’14), contributing writer

It is not often that we find our calling at an early age. It is even less often that it is found after a medical emergency. William Kwass (ΘΠ, University of Arizona ‘06) crash-landed his quest after a four-wheeler accident in 2000, which led to three corrective surgeries for both arms.

all photos in this article provided by AJ Abcejo SPRING 2014

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A child with oranges in the La Concepcion community.

Kwass reflected on his journey from patient to practitioner with The Emerald, following his 2013 medical mission trip to Honduras. It was fall and the leaves had just fallen. Kwass, 13, and a close friend were each riding four wheelers around the grounds of a Paris, Texas ranch when a hidden ditch suddenly sent Kwass soaring into the air. “ I flew head first and landed on my head, which was protected by a helmet, and laid there with outstretched arms. After that, I do not remember much, I was in shock,” Kwass said. After being transported to the nearest hospital located an hour outside of Paris by his friend’s mother, Kwass received a threehour surgery that evening. As an undergraduate at University of Arizona studying Physiology and minoring in Business and Chemistry, Kwass alludes to his accident as the seed that assisted him in finding his career path, along with help from his orthopedic surgeon, Earl Lund, who still acts as a mentor today. “Even though it was a painful and frustrating experience, it brought light to something I had never seen before, medicine. I began to start enjoying my trips to the doctor, just so I could ask them about their profession,” Kwass said. Interests for the fusion of medicine and business, as well as the fundamental ideas of economy sparked Kwass’ appreciation for his field.

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Top and bottom: Kwass (goalie) plays soccer with kids from orphanages outside in Nuevo Paradiso. The group played 3-on-3, and the children were given the soccer ball after the game was over.

Kwass showed interest in joining Sigma Pi after meeting several founding fathers of the University of Arizona chapter. “Two of the founding fathers, Joe DiVita and Chris Mercer, that I met during recruitment ended up becoming two of my closest friends throughout college. We spent my junior year living together with total of five brothers. They have had a big impact and influence on me. I have always admired their ability to create their own path,” Kwass said. As legacy of his father, Bruce Kwass (ΒΦ, Rochester Institute of Technology ‘70), Kwass opted to go into recruitment with an open mind. “I went in pretty blind, not knowing anyone from the chapter, which just goes to show you that these men made such a huge impression on me that any other options were knocked out immediately,” Kwass said. “I realized, this was the reason my father chose this Fraternity as well. It is very cool being able to share stories regarding Sigma Pi with my father and vise versa. We were always close but this made it that much more,” Kwass continued. “I remember when I was initiated, my father gave me his old Sigma Pi ring with the Greek letters engraved into the gem. I thought that was just the coolest thing that we shared a bond like that.” Throughout his undergraduate experience in Sigma Pi, Kwass served as social chairman and First Counselor. “It may sound cheesy but my initiation was my fondest

Walking down the street during a day spent at the orphanage.

A Honduran child plays with a member of the medical teams’ cellphone.

The last day of the trip/medical treatment in Palo Alto.

memory because none of my other memories would have existed without it. I am truly blessed to be a part of such a wonderful organization with such amazing human beings,” Kwass said. Sigma Pi served as an identity for Kwass. He describes his chapter as being fun and always willing to help in times of need - in all areas, especially scholarship, where a number of brothers shared both his major and minor. In his 2013 medical mission trip to Nuevo Paradiso, Honduras, Kwass notes his gratitude for the financial assistance from his brothers and their families. The mission, involving two-weeks of traveling through various villages in Honduras focused on daily patient care. Kwass recalls his necessity to travel light, as one of his checked bags required a crate full of practitioner-approved medications. “Every day we would wake up around 5 a.m. and load up the medications that we were planning on taking to the village that day. After that we grabbed a quick breakfast and hit the road. Most of the drives were around two to three hours on very bumpy roads. When we got there lines spanned of 50+ people that had been waiting hours to be seen. It took 30 minutes to set everything up to begin to see patients,” Kwass said. At the end of each day, students packed up the belongings, and traveled back to Nuevo Paradiso. Throughout the duration of the mission trip, Kwass and his colleagues saw a total of 619 total

An event called “Charla” which is health education for children. It teaches kids to monitor their health starting early, how to brush their teeth, fluoride treatment, etc.

patients. The program, initiated by Global Brigades, is a nonprofit health and sustainable development organization with varied membership that spans North American and European universities. “I feel like I have come so far but my journey is just beginning,” Kwass said. “If I would give advice to any Sigma Pi, I would say don’t give up on what you want to do. It gets tough, believe me, but it is really worth it. Also, utilize your brothers. They are there for you, and they all have different strengths. It’s really amazing having this huge support system who just wants you to succeed.” Kwass sees this impact daily. He continued, “I strive to make myself better everyday by looking at two things, my qualities and my flaws. I swear to never lose the qualities and work on the flaws. I actually have the Sigma Pi creed hung up in my bathroom, so every morning when I brush my teeth I am reminded of who I am and who I need to be.” a

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Undergraduates

CHAPTER & COLONY REPORTS

Gamma-Upsilon Chapter at Murray State University

Arkansas State University Alpha-Pi Chapter

39 841 7

Alpha-Pi had an extremely productive Fall Semester. The chapter volunteered at the local animal shelter, visited a nursing home, and held their second annual “Auction for the Cure” to support the search for a cure for breast cancer. We held a date night, which received an exceptional turnout, and received much praise from dates, as well as brothers, for being one of the best events all semester. After such a successful fall semester, Alpha-Pi is powering through into the spring semester, full-speed ahead. Another visit to the Humane Society is already scheduled for the semester, with many more philanthropies to be scheduled soon. Various social events are also in place, making this semester look very promising for Alpha-Pi Chapter

Arkansas Tech University Iota-Lambda Chapter

43 21 1 After losing a good part of the chapter this past spring and fall due to brothers graduating, Iota-Lambda Chapter has recovered substantially well. In the fall, we subsequently doubled our chapter size with our biggest pledge class yet, 24 men.

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Through initiating more than half our pledges, the chapter GPA has increased greatly, getting extremely close to a 3.0 with a 2.9. Even more triumphant, IotaLambda is now the biggest fraternity on campus, and was the only fraternity & sorority life organization to receive zero negative comments at review, a forum of constructive criticism featuring all fraternity and sorority chapters on campus. We have huge fundraising and philanthropy plans in the spring, which includes hosting a live, televised performance by Arkansas Tech alum, “The Voice” contestant, and rising singer, Cody Belew. Not to mention our socials and fundraisers have been recordbreaking in either participants or grossedrevenue and will continue to grow. From a recruiting perspective, Iota-Lambda has been blessed to be one of the most diverse chapters on campus - the first IFC chapter to initiate two African-American gentlemen - and we are welcoming two young Latino gentlemen of character this spring. Sigma Pi is a fraternity of excellence, we of Iota-Lambda plan to represent that quality well with this good news and continue to progress, as progress is the one thing we men can offer distinctively to this community and world.

Auburn University Alpha-Delta Chapter

95 1415 10

It has been a very exciting time for Alpha-Delta Chapter here at Auburn University. In preparation for our upcoming founders’ weekend, our chapter has made numerous renovations and additions to our already stunning house! Some of the changes include a renewed chapter room and dining room, while our most prominent addition is our new Brotherhood Annex. We have numerous events planned for the upcoming spring to make use of the new annex including our annual luau. Our chapter is also extremely excited for our upcoming philanthropy events, including the Sigma

Guide to Undergrad Reports

Use this key to learn more about each chapter: h

Chapter has zero balance with Executive Office Total number of undergraduates in chapter Total number of living alumni from chapter Total donors to SPEF this fiscal year (undergrad & alumni)

Note: Chapter reports are those submitted by deadlines listed inside front cover - Data current as of 2/10/14

Pi Puppy Project, which raised close to two-thousand dollars for the Lee County Humane Society last year! We are very proud of how we are representing Sigma Pi here at Auburn University!

California Polytechnic StateSan Luis Obispo

Bentley University

Things have been going great for EtaDelta chapter. We are very proud to have initiated 17 new members into Sigma Pi Fraternity at Cal Poly-San Luis Obispo and currently working on our new members to initiate at the beginning of the upcoming spring quarter. With Cal Poly’s new rules for the Greek system, Eta-Delta is doing its best to continue to grow stronger.

Iota-Theta Chapter

45 39 0

Iota-Theta Chapter is now operating under a new executive office this spring semester. Congratulations to all of the new members of the Executive Council! We had great success at our annual “Sigma Pi Eating Contest,” which had impressive attendance of fraternity & sorority life members, and first year students as well. Iota-Theta reached out to the parents and children of our local community at our universities fraternity & sorority life holiday mixer, where we operated a booth with coloring and games for children, and collected items for the events toydrive. We are looking forward to the upcoming fraternity & sorority life lip-sync competition, where we hope to land our fourth consecutive win. The annual Sigma Pi Sean Williams Charity Basketball game is in the works for one of the best yet.

Bridgewater State University Eta-Eta Chapter

50 284 2 As the spring semester begins, the brothers of the Eta-Eta Chapter begin seeing one color everywhere: Purple. Relay For Life quickly approaches the Bridgewater State campus and the Sigma Pi brothers are ready to do their part. Brother Arron Myers has stepped up this year and is captaining our team and starting our contribution to fighting cancer. Brothers like Kristoffer Tangen have started growing their hair for our annual “Shave to Save” event. On the night of the relay, each brother participating carries with him a jar to accept donation to help in cancer research. Then, halfway through the night, the highest bidder into each jar gets to shave the head of that brother. We are also excited to introduce six new pledges into our chapter. The Beta-Epsilon class will be taught by Brothers Nick San Angelo and Matthew Mullen. We wish them the best of luck!

Eta-Delta Chapter

69 175 1

California State University-Chico Theta-Mu Chapter

22 127 0

No report was submitted for the February 10th deadline.

California State UniversityDominguez Hills Eta-Iota Chapter

33 226 0 Eta-Iota Chapter is off to a great start this semester. From recruitment to events, this chapter has focused more than ever on our obligations. California State UniversityDominguez Hills has recognized the efforts of the chapter to get involved with on-campus activities like Ultimate Frisbee and soccer on our sculpture garden. As a chapter, we also see the necessity in being active around the organizations around us. We have taken it upon ourselves to make that extra effort to commute to campuses that may not be near us to show support to others who have one thing in common with us; Greek Life.

California State UniversityLong Beach Beta-Omicron Chapter

82 1312 22 The fall semester was an excellent one for Beta-Omicron Chapter at California State University-Long Beach. We had 25 great pledges complete the new member education process. We won a variety of different athletic events such as: IFC football, Alpha Phi’s Phi Ball, and Delta Gamma’s Anchor Freeze. We also held our annual philanthropy, Miss Greek beauty pageant, which was extremely successful. Throughout the fall semester. We also held many different social events that proved to strengthen our sorority relations. The start

of this spring semester has also been a good one, and we had another strong rush. We are very excited for what is to come this semester.

Carleton University Eta-Rho Chapter

58 267 0 The brothers from Canada have been up to a lot these past few months. We raised over $2000 for Movember (prostate cancer) and were the top fundraisers at Carleton University. Recently we hosted our annual Tundra Bowl. This event is an outdoor football in the snow tournament with over 200 in attendance. The brothers from Fitchburg came up to play some football and joined in on the tasting of the prestigious chili cook-off. This year, the winning chili belonged to Eta-Rho Chapter Sage George Parry and 2nd counselor Ben Schroder. The Canadian brothers look forward to the snow melting as we are eager to refresh our recently adopted park.

Central Michigan University Delta-Alpha Colony

59 740 1 It has already been one year since DeltaAlpha Colony was re-colonized at Central Michigan University. We have gone from a bunch of random guys who were recruited to start a fraternity, to a band of brothers who are now proud members of the fraternity & sorority life community. In the past year, we have taken 2nd place in Greek Week, while raising over $20,000 as a community. Our first ever philanthropic event, “Pie a Sigma Pi”, was the first fraternity & sorority event that our university president had ever attended. We partnered up with Alpha Chi Omega to spread the word about domestic violence by passing out “Domestic Awareness Flowerpots” around campus and to local businesses. We also teamed up Phi Sigma Sigma for Adopt-A-Family to raise and donate over $2000. We are excited to be chartering this spring and continuing our quest for excellence. Also, thank you to our alumni for their support.

Clemson University Eta-Psi Chapter

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CHAPTER & COLONY REPORTS College of William and Mary Alpha-Eta Chapter

43 709 5 The fall semester of 2013 was a great period for our chapter. First of all, we got to move in to a beautiful new house provided by the college. On top of that, we recruited an awesome, diverse group of twelve new members. These men came to our college not just from other parts of Virginia, but from San Francisco, New York, Dallas, and Italy. We then went on to have a great homecoming where more alumni than ever before came back to see our new house. Later on, we had a very successful philanthropy event called “Nerf Superbowl” where we got together with the sororities of our school and raised money for the Susan G. Komen breast cancer organization. Finally, we capped the semester off by going on a brotherhood retreat to the Shenandoah Valley. Hopefully this spring semester will be as successful as the last.

Cornell University Mu Chapter

71 1219 5

Mu Chapter has been busy in the first few weeks of this spring semester. Before the semester began, Mu Chapter welcomed 19 new associate members into the fraternity house, and have begun the process of new member education. We believe the

Epsilon-Theta Chapter at Elon University

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new members exemplify Sigma Pi in their attitude toward the house and the brotherhood as a whole, and we are happy to welcome them into our home. In other news, Mu Chapter recently held a Career Weekend in New York City, where alumni of Sigma Pi Mu Chapter met with current students to help strengthen resumes, network and get a feel for the work environment in New York City. Overall, the experience was extremely useful for the current brothers and we would like to extend our utmost appreciation to the alumni that helped make the event happen. Our philanthropy chairmen have also been busy to establish our National Organ Donor campaign at Cornell. More details will come later.

Duke University

Drury University

The past semester has been amazing for Beta-Psi Chapter. The biggest highlight of it was our partnership with MetLife Stadium, where we worked a concession stand and received a percentage of the sales we made. This ultimately led up to us working the Super Bowl, which was an amazing experience for the brothers involved. We have just concluded our formal recruitment week this semester, and are extending five bids to potential new members; some of which we recruited through a pick-up football game on the quad in the snow. The weekend of February 8th, we held our annual Founders’ Day meeting. With the changes and success the chapter has had, our chapter saw a larger alumni turnout than

Epsilon-Rho Chapter

29 407 1

Following an exceptional fall semester, Epsilon-Rho is continuing its quest for excellence. For the second semester in a row, our chapter has maintained the highest GPA among Drury’s fraternities, as well as held the highest new member retention rate. Inspired by the Mid-Year Leadership Conference in St. Louis and a highly successful retreat, the EpsilonRho Executive Council is well-prepared to guide our chapter in new, exciting directions in 2014.

Iota-Xi Chapter

19 10 0 Duke received snow for the first time this winter and had our first snow day! Two brothers from our Executive Council were fortunate enough to participate at MYLC in St. Louis and had a great time learning a lot about other chapters and meeting new brothers. The chapter successfully recruited our newest class of pledges as part of formal spring recruitment.

East Stroudsburg University Beta-Psi Chapter

18 689 0

past years, which reflected their strong support and appreciation towards our brotherhood. Now we look towards the future with many events in mind and are anxious to get started.

Eastern Illinois University Beta-Gamma Chapter

67 1789 16

The men of Beta-Gamma Chapter ended this past fall semester with a philanthropy project in which the chapter teamed up with Alpha Phi Sorority that benefited local less fortunate children. We came together and bought the children Christmas gifts that included shoes, clothes and toys that they wanted. We had a brother play the role of Santa Clause. The kids loved the event and had a blast! A few brothers on Executive Council attended the Mid Year Leadership Conference in St. Louis, where they spoke with other chapters and alumni. They came out of the event with many new ideas and tools to better Beta-Gamma and Sigma Pi as a whole. Beta-Gamma Chapter is looking forward to our annual Founder Day banquet where we will celebrate our fraternities history. The night entails a banquet style dinner and entertainment. Followed by awards for active members and speeches from honorary guest alumni.

Eastern Kentucky University Epsilon-Lambda Chapter

52 388 2

Epsilon-Lambda Chapter had a good semester last fall; we initiated 13 new members and became the 2013 Greek AllSports champions. We have big plans for this spring semester with trying to keep our all-sports title. Spring ‘14 recruitment just finished and we were able to gain three new members to become an asset to this chapter. We are also working on our biggest event, Sigma Pi pig roast, which will be taking place in the month of April.

Elon University

Epsilon-Theta Chapter

56 557 0 Since our last Emerald report, Sigma Pi Epsilon-Theta Chapter has been thriving as an organization. During the fall semester, we initiated four new members into our fraternity. We recently underwent a successful spring rush, which has given us the opportunity to welcome 16 potential

Gamma-Eta Chapter at Rutgers University

new members into our new member education process. For our philanthropy this fall, we participated in a profit-share at Fat Frogg, and raised $164 for The American Red Cross to assist in their relief efforts for Typhoon Haiyan. As another fall semester activity, our chapter went to the local paintball arena, and battled it out. It was a bonding brotherhood experience, and we came to the conclusion that it would be an effective rush event for our next semester. As for our most recent community service event we volunteered at The Western Alamance High School Wrestling Tournament.

Emporia State University Epsilon-Epsilon Chapter

12 453 1 Epsilon-Epsilon chapter at Emporia State is very excited as we begin our next semester. Over break we initiated three of our new members, JaShawn Wallace, Jesus Jimenez, and Jordan Dwyer and we are very happy to call them brothers. We have many events in the works, including our annual Bike-a-thon fundraiser for our local philanthropy, Living Is So Big. Also we are in the middle of planning our ACE Project which is now apart of our campus Greek Week. Finally, we are planning our formal dance, Orchid Ball, which is always a great time for our active chapter and attending alumni’s.

Fairleigh Dickinson UniversityMadison Epsilon-Xi Chapter

11 201 2

been actively planning our rush week, while at the same time coordinating events to celebrate the week surrounding Founders’ Day. We have been panning events such as Staff Appreciation, Relay for Life and an event around national sleep week focusing on relaxation and meditation. As well as the events listed, the chapter will also be participating in a joint formal to promote fraternity & sorority life unity with organizations from the Interfraternity Council and the National Panhellenic Council. The brothers are looking forward to having a promising semester ahead of them as well as furthering their progress through future endeavors.

Ferris State University Theta-Theta Chapter

20 119 3

Here at Ferris State University we have started another exciting semester. Our community service events have been coming along well with our weekly quad clean ups.

Fitchburg State University Eta-Tau Chapter

57 183 1 Eta-Tau has experienced a lot of success in our recruitment process this past year. After successfully recruiting 19 men with 100% bid acceptance in the Fall semester, it was followed by another 100% acceptance rate with 10 bids out this Spring. The Chapter also hosted two rather successful events in the 20th Annual Sleep Out for the Homeless and the 10th Annual Brotherhood Auction

The brothers of Epsilon-Xi Chapter have

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Undergraduates

CHAPTER & COLONY REPORTS for Autism Speaks. The new Executive Council is looking towards new and innovative events for this spring 2014 semester and the chapter is excited to see the outcome. As we prepare for the upcoming regional workshop being hosted at Fitchburg State, the members of the chapter, young and old, are anxious to learn and develop with hopes of further improving upon the chapter’s recent successes.

Florida State University Eta-Epsilon Chapter

76 509 0 Eta-Epsilon Chapter is thrilled to have initiated 20 new brothers into our chapter this past fall. We are excited to welcome a great group of guys into the brotherhood and are eager to continue to grow. This past semester, the chapter has placed a major emphasis on scholarship and we are pleased to announce that we had the best GPA for on-campus fraternities. We are also excited to welcome 14 new men into our new spring pledge class, breaking our previous rush record. On top of all this we are filled with enthusiasm as we welcome the 2013 BCS National Champion Florida State Seminoles back to Tallahassee. Eta-Epsilon Chapter knows that great things are about to come, because at Eta-Epsilon, if we are going to do it, we are going to do it BIG!

Franklin & Marshall College Nu Chapter

11 763 8

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Georgia Institute of Technology Iota-Mu Chapter

30 40 0

Nu Chapter is ready for big changes in the upcoming year. So far, our chapter has been involved in Alpha-Male, a men’s beauty pageant sponsored by Alpha Phi sorority. Our entrant, Pat Mallon, had support from all of our brothers and we raised around $200. We have initiated 3 new promising members in February, each of them determined to contribute to the chapter by immediately serving as officers. Our next philanthropy event is 1,000 acts of kindness. Many companies in the Lancaster area are sponsoring our chapter as we improve our community by performing small acts of kindness for our peers and neighbors. With this event we are looking to raise over $1,000.

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Beta Chapter at Indiana University

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After having a very successful retreat in a cozy cabin near Barefoot Landing, we are proud to inform you that we initiated all of our fall semester pledges. At the retreat, the bonds of brotherhood grew stronger while having a great time. Anyhow, some of our shiny-pins are already distinguishing themselves as chairmen. Our Sage, Second Counselor and Third Counselor had a great experience at the Mid-Year Leadership Conference where they met members of other chapters in efforts to support each other through event attendance. After two successful semesters in terms of recruitment, we are shifting our resources to other activities. For example, we are trying to increase presence by having members attend campus-wide events. To achieve this, we enforce compulsory attendance to selected events for chapter members who do not have any other chapter-related responsibilities. For instance, we had a

large portion of our chapter participate in the MLK day of service where we had fun while helping the Atlanta community. In addition, we are also planning several service and philanthropy events. These include Puppy-Love which our pledge class is taking tangible steps to implement and our ACE Project. Remember to keep in touch with the chapter via our website gtsigmapi.com.

Grand Valley State University Theta-Rho Chapter

61 132 3

This year, we have already had some great events and we’ve got more planned. We had Executive Director Mike Ayalon, come speak for a networking presentation which was very beneficial to our chapter and the fraternity & sorority life community. One great recruitment tool we had was Grand Valley’s Campus Life 2.0, where we were able to meet some quality potential members. We had a great bid night and our chapter gained awesome new guys. We plan to do another ACE Project to

class paddles to honor each member of Beta Chapter of Sigma Pi. We will be lining the 26 paddles from years ranging between 1960 and 2005 on walls surrounding a TV. Along with this, we purchased paddles for the current 7 active pledge classes in the house to center them in the room. Seeking to honor all pledge classes, an article was printed in our “Beta Bits” newsletter explaining the idea and asking for donations of paddles from previous pledge classes. Our paddles will arrive and proudly be displayed before our Founders’ Day celebration on February 22nd.

Indiana University of Pennsylvania Theta-Epsilon Chapter

32 111 0

The chapter has a big year ahead of it. With a brand new Executive Council, a motivated brotherhood, and a laundry list of problems to fix, we’re most certainly not going to find ourselves with nothing to do in 2014. We just finished signing a lease for a 22-bedroom house that we plan on buying in the future. We hope that the house will help us to have a more definitive and stable presence on campus. The Regional Director gave us lots of great advice for the chapter and we are all excited and ready to start the year.

Iowa State University Sigma Chapter

benefit the campus, which will include a 5K walk/run for Amazing Day! We also are planning on doing new philanthropy and fundraising events, specifically geared towards the campus community and local philanthropies like Kids Food Basket of Grand Rapids.

Hofstra University Eta-Gamma Chapter

25 198 0 At Eta-Gamma Chapter of Sigma Pi and Hofstra University, we have been working hard to improve our chapter. We are starting off the semester strong, while some of our brothers were away learning how to improve our chapter at mid-year, the rest of us were working hard during our recruitment period. We were able to hold multiply events that have helped us in our recruitment process and we have had increasing numbers this semester compared to our recent semesters. We are also working on a new softball tournament that will not only be a fundraiser for the fraternity that we can

host every spring, but it will also serve as a time that different organizations and clubs of Hofstra will all be able to compete in a friendly tournament. Not only are we trying to have different clubs from around Hofstra compete in the tournament, but we are also working with are alumni office to try and get a team of our alumnus back to join in the fun of the tournament. The upcoming semester will be a very packed semester with the different events that we have on our schedule, but we are very excited about the opportunity to help better the Hofstra community and ourselves.

Indiana University Beta Chapter

151 1585 7 Beta Chapter is reigniting a tradition of the house. Many pledge class paddles have gone missing over the years, and we are taking the opportunity of renovating our “Champagne Room” and allowing it to become a room for traditions which will hold all of our past, current, and future pledge

57 455 3

The brothers of Sigma Chapter have had a very busy beginning to the spring semester! We proudly activated 14 new members into Sigma Pi! The chapter looks forward to see them strive towards excellence within the Greek and Iowa State and Ames community. Brothers have also been busy practicing for a talent competition held at Iowa State University called, “Varieties. “ Sigma chapter is paired with Beta Theta Pi Fraternity, Alpha Gamma Delta and Alpha Omicron Pi Sororities. It has been a blast watching the skit start from the ground up. This coming March, Sigma Chapter will be holding an Alumni Dinner, where there will be a celebration of brother’s accomplishments by holding an awards ceremony. This will be a fantastic event where members, old and new, can appreciate what Sigma Pi has and will help us towards the strive for excellence! ...Continued On Next Page SPRING 2014

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CHAPTER & COLONY REPORTS

Iota-Alpha Chapter at Kansas State University

Johnson & Wales University Eta-Omega Chapter

20 142 1

As we have now reached half-way through the academic school year, EtaOmega Chapter of Sigma Pi Fraternity hit the ground rolling and has not looked back since. We have seen substantial improvement in a number of things, such as recruitment and financials, all mean while upholding our solid relationship with the Boys and Girls Club of Cumberland, Rhode Island. Every day that passes, each individual brother strives to better not only himself, but the campus and community around us. This year has also been a very good year for Johnson & Wales University Athletics, which has helped Eta-Omega Chapter work diligently to strengthen Greek unity by getting together with fellow fraternities here on campus and showing school spirit and support for our classmates on sports teams. Eta-Omega Chapter plans to keep moving forward, and better ourselves each and every day.

Kansas State University Iota-Alpha Chapter

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Keene State College Keene State Colony

32 0 0

There is only one thing on the minds of the brothers as they returned from winter break and that is to charter. The brothers of Keene State Colony are all motivated, determined and excited to take the next step and make history nationally and at Keene State. There is a social with the cheerleaders coming up and we look forward to the Valentineâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s theme social. This semester is extremely important for the brothers at Keene State because the only thing we will accept is to be an official chapter when we break for summer.

Lawrence Technological University Zeta-Omicron Chapter

33 229 0

We as a chapter are excited for all the events we have planned for the

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semester, including our philanthropies and brotherhood events. Recruitment is a big focus this semester as well. We have some fun activities planned including paintball that we are all looking forward to participating in with the new guys.

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The Bothers of Zeta-Omicron Chapter at Lawrence Technological University have had a semester with high points and low points. Zeta-Omicron partnered with the

Red Cross and helped them gather 65 total pints of blood including 8 double red donations. We had a memorable bonding experience at our annual winter retreat. The brothers played games like ice football, and we took hikes in the surrounding area. We even had a brotherhood lock in were we discussed the future of the chapter and the direction we wanted to go in regarding pertinent events. At the beginning of the spring semester the brothers participated in a Martin Luther King Peace Walk. Finally, we have seen hardship because one of our brothers is having a struggle with cancer. We are being supportive of him but it has emotionally impacted many of us directly.

Louisiana Tech University Delta-Lambda Chapter

16 299 0 This has been an exciting time for Delta-Lambda Chapter. Last month, the chapter was officially recognized by the Inter Fraternal Council. We initiated four new members. We also helped the international students, who lost their home and belongings due to a fire in an apartment building that burned down, by putting up a collection of necessities. In progress of moving forward, we plan on having a successful spring-quarter recruitment.

Loyola University of Chicago Beta-Chi Chapter

73 671 3 Last semester, Beta-Chi Chapter had one of its most successful semesters in recent years. With a strong twenty-one man pledge class, the chapter grew in multiple areas. Philanthropy was a big improvement as many brothers attended many sorority events, including donating around $800 to Alpha Delta Pi’s “Lion Share Fundraiser.” The chapter continued last semester’s success by pinning eleven young gentlemen this past Friday. We have many exciting upcoming events such as our two ACE Projects “Sigma Pi Valentines” and ‘Donate Life,” and a three day philanthropy event with local sorority Alpha Delta Pi commemorating Pi Day on March 14th. Beta-Chi Chapter here at Loyola is looking forward to another successful semester!

Miami University Eta-Phi Chapter

94 497 0

Our chapter recently held recruitment and we received 35 new members. We have begun our new member education process and will have them actively involved with organizations on-campus shortly.

Michigan State University Zeta-Mu Chapter

98 318 1 Zeta-Mu Chapter at Michigan State University has put a big emphasis on assisting our community, doing everything we can do to give back. We did this during fall semester on a local scale with our ACE Project by cleaning the Red Cedar, and any trash along its banks. Recently the brothers contributed on a much larger scale through our philanthropy event, Miss Greek, in which girls from different sororities compete in what is essentially a beauty pageant. We had a turnout of 300 people, exceeding our expectations, with proceeds going towards the American Cancer Society. The event could not have gone better, and all the sororities are eager to compete next year.

Michigan Technological University Zeta-Epsilon Chapter

25 296 0

Zeta-Epsilon Chapter of Houghton, MI brings some of the most brutal weather

conditions known to any university with a local rescue shelter helped raise campus in the nation. Trudging to campus $100 for the shelter and has become a on days when it’s just a measly 9 degrees mainstay on the MSSU campus. makes it feel like “summer” this time of Missouri State University year. Just because of our 255-plus inches Alpha-Rho Colony of snow, 25 mph wind gusts, and our sub-zero averages doesn’t mean that our 55 1038 4 h chapter is hibernating for this winter. In the fall, we put through four new pledges, Going into the spring semester, the goals and this semester we put through three of Alpha-Rho Colony were focused around more. Our rushing has been as good as maintaining an average cumulative GPA of ever, thanks to our new recruitment head. 2.8 and obtain a total of 55 men to get us We have “Roses For Renovation” coming across the finish line and earn our charter. up for Valentine’s day. This is a joint effort At the beginning of last semester we were between our house and the Theta Chi near the bottom of the list of about 19 Epsilon sorority house to raise money for fraternities when it came to our overall house improvements and allow anyone GPA. By utilizing our scholarship plan we on campus to buy their special someone weren’t just able to reach our goal of 2.8 a nice little gift of affection. but exceed it by averaging a Secondly, we have our annual 2.99 and ranking 5th out of “Pigs n’ Heat” fundraiser the fraternities on campus, coming up where we organize 1st place being a 3.16. One Does your chapter a local hockey tournament of the things we had to have news to share? between the local police and sacrifice somewhat during fire department. This, as usual our mission to raise our GPA Use #sigmapi, is very successful. Aside from was our 1st place ranking in or tag @sigmapi in the tweet. our two big events coming community service hours per up, we are hoping to get the member average. Despite IFC’s award for house risk this, we were still able to management this semester and maintain place 3rd as well as 5th in number of 4.0 an above all-men’s GPA average for the GPA’s, 5th in philanthropic donations, spring semester! and 1st in philanthropic items donated. During spring recruitment of 2013 the Middle Tennessee State University highest number of members accepted at Theta-Omega Chapter any fraternity on campus was 7, so we realized the challenge that we had ahead 39 93 2 h of us. With a new recruitment chair and recruitment plan along with high energy Theta-Omega Chapter has made great and motivation we were able to pin 16 strides this year to make our fraternity quality men and have reached a total of 52 better. First, we were able to get 18 new members. We are all very excited to keep members in the fall pledge class. ThetaOmega was offered the opportunity pushing to toward getting a charter and pushing toward the 90% mark as well as to initiate the pledge class at the new working toward our 1 year, 5 year, and 10 Executive Office of Sigma Pi, the Mitchell House. We gladly accepted. The following year goals. day, we held a joint Executive Council Missouri University of Science and retreat with Gamma-Upsilon Chapter, Technology which also took place at the Executive Alpha-Iota Chapter Office. We are looking forward to our new Executive Council this year and all of 35 838 6 the great things that we plan on doing to improve our brotherhood and continue to Alpha-Iota Chapter is doing better than maintain our campus image. ever. Last semester we finished in the top

Missouri Southern State University Eta-Mu Chapter

18 210 4 In the fall semester, we were very successful with our local philanthropies, including Ronald McDonald House. We helped to raise $15,000. Our rent-a-puppy

five in Greek Week, and our homecoming, alumni and philanthropy events were the biggest we’ve ever held. Our ACE Project lasted a week, with mini events every day and gained campus-wide recognition. The house is growing again after we just initiated a fantastic group of ten guys, and we have three pledges that we hope

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CHAPTER & COLONY REPORTS to initiate in the fall. With a strong push for recruitment we hope to have over 40 members next semester.

Monmouth University Delta-Beta Chapter

48 282 7

As the spring semester commences, Delta-Beta Chapter of Monmouth University reflects on a successful fall semester. Delta-Beta has a very promising group of gentlemen taking seats on the Executive Council and plan on continuing and even increasing community service and involvement as well as furthering our respectable status. The chapter has taken six new members as well during the current semester where the plans are to keep moving forward and continuing to strive for excellence. As for community service event, we volunteered for a local soup kitchen and as we do every year, volunteered with Habitat for Humanity.

Montclair State University Iota-Iota Chapter

21 48 0

Iota-Iota Chapter at Montclair State University

Iota-Iota Chapter is ready to come into this semester and make an impact on the campus. Coming into the spring we have built connections and relationships with many different people and organizations to create more events to help service our community and further better Montclair State as a university. Though we have brothers who our graduating at the end of May our brotherhood has never been stronger. We have set up our team for the Greek basketball league that every brother is always in attendance for whether it’s to play or just support those out on the court. With our new-found relations we have created new events like our biannual Habitat for Humanity house building to add to our older traditions like our annual Powder Puff Football Game and Walk to End Alzheimer’s. This semester is all about growth and improvement of our community and our brotherhood.

Morehead State University Delta-Rho Chapter

24 470 3 After a very successful 2013 fall rush, which doubled our chapters numbers, the men of Delta-Rho have very high hopes for 2014. The chapter started the new year by gaining more new members in the spring semester than we have in the

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SPRING 2014

past three years. Even with our focus on improving numbers we have also been striving toward creating new approaches to move forward in many other categories including academics. Recently the chapter organized a “fantasy draft” of all the brothers into two teams lead by the two men who have the highest GPA in the chapter. This will work as a competition throughout the semester and the team with the highest average GPA will be crowned victors. The entire chapter is very focused and ambitious, and we all see Delta-Rho Chapter doing very big things for our campus and community for the ensuing semester.

celebrating Founders Day on February 26th with many of our chapter alumni at a local restaurant. On March 24th we will be performing our ACE Project. It will be a campus cleanup taking place during the university’s Greek Week. In April, we will be holding our annual Orchid Ball in which all chapter alumni are welcome to attend. We look forward to participating in many of the sororities’ philanthropy/ community service semester events.

Murray State University

This semester we are looking to go above and beyond with a new presence on campus and recent addition of our Greek Village on our NJIT campus. Our chapter is looking to not only maintain our chapter house and thrive with a whole new house in the Greek Village. In addition to these expansions we are looking to set an example on campus with the ACE Project we have planned for this year, containing a week full of events to benefit our campus. Along with our ACE Project we are looking to maintain our reputation as the best fraternity on campus by winning our third Greek week trophy in a row.

Gamma-Upsilon Chapter

38 582 6

Gamma-Upsilon Chapter had an exciting fall and is ready for what the spring semester has to offer. We initiated 14 new brothers into our chapter at the end of November bringing our chapter size to 35 members. During the holidays, we held our Christmas Owls program in which we provided gifts to the local families in need. Our spring recruitment welcomed 3 new members and we are looking to increase that number. We are looking forward to

New Jersey Institute Of Technology Alpha-Mu Chapter

34 841 14

North Carolina State University Rho Chapter

60 713 6 Rho Chapter is off to another great start this semester with the initiation of sixteen new brothers from last fall. With one of our many philanthropy events for the semester fast approaching, our fourth annual Suicide Prevention 5K is off and running. Rush went very smooth this semester for Rho Chapter. It was a productive one in that we improved our risk management abilities to make this rush a safer one for the brotherhood. Brothers of Rho Chapter will also participate in the NCSU Dance Marathon to raise money for Children’s Hospitals. Last weekend, three of our Executive Council members returned from the MYLC in St. Louis with interesting reports about the conferences. Rho Chapter looks forward to another very successful semester ahead.

Oakland University Zeta-Pi Chapter

20 238 3

As Zeta-Pi Chapter finishes another school year we are proud to welcome the newly initiated Beta Iota class to our ranks. The chapters continued growth has been evident in all our endeavors and provide additional opportunities for excellence across the Oakland University campus. The chapter has an exciting summer planned and looks forward to welcoming the upcoming Fall Rush season. We would also like to bid farewell to graduating members Daris Johnson and Jameson Carle.

Ohio University Epsilon Chapter

68 269 0 The brothers of Epsilon Chapter would like to report a successful fall semester. We initiated our Kappa pledge class of seventeen members. We also elected our new Executive Council. This semester we are working on a variety of projects. We started with Spring rush at the end of January and extended bids the first week of February. One of the events we are especially looking forward to is our ACE Project, which will be completed in March. We are looking to improve greatly over the next year with our new EC. All alumni are encouraged to follow our twitter page (@OhioUSigmaPi) or email our Alumni

Relations Chair (md127011@ohio.edu) so we can add you to our records. Looking forward to the future!

Oklahoma State University Iota-Pi Chapter

35 2 0

Pennsylvania College of Technology

Iota-Pi Chapter at Oklahoma State University recently concluded a successful fall semester and we look forward to repeating that this spring. In the fall, we held our annual philanthropy event, Snatch n’ Grab, which has continued to grow and accumulate more participation each year. All the proceeds that we earned from the event directly benefitted DonateLife. This spring, we were grateful to add three new members to our ranks and hope to gain many more through our recruitment efforts in the coming fall. Events that are scheduled for this semester include a Founders’ day event as well as a formal that will take our chapter to Austin, TX. We are all extremely excited to improve as a chapter during the rest of this spring semester.

Old Dominion University Theta-Eta Chapter

55 118 0

Theta-Eta is still coming off a successful Fall semester. Winning various intramural sports, as well as having Brothers win Big Man on Campus and King of Hearts. We are all excited for the new semester. In January, we welcomed 12 new guys to the chapter. We are hoping to build off of our win over Pi Kappa Alpha in the intramural football championship in the fall to win the remaining sports in intramural sports. Firefighter Day is scheduled in April with more information coming. Looking forward to our Formal coming in the last week of February.

Oregon State University Omega Chapter

64 609 3

Dress code: collared shirts, pants. This event is a gathering to celebrate not only the 90th anniversary of Omega chapter but is a celebration of the many generations of Sigma Pi’s. We hope to see many different chapters and generations in attendance.

Omega Chapter will be celebrating its 90th anniversary this year. Come reminisce with generations of Sigma Pi’s. There will be a dinner followed by a keynote speaker. There will also be a silent auction. When: Saturday may 10th at 6pm Where: Nicoli’s Bar and Grill, 17880 SW McEwan RD, Lake Oswego 97035 To RSVP or to ask questions contact: 1C Erik Quintana quintaer@onid.orst.edu, Sage Lanse Macke mackle@onid.orst.edu.

Theta-Phi Chapter

21 58 1 The Fall of 2013 was a monumental semester for Theta-Phi Chapter! Recruitment was put in full force and it paid off. The chapter over doubled in size, initiating 11 new Brothers to add on to the 10 that started off the year. In addition, the Theta-Phi Chapter ranked first overall in academics amongst Fraternities at Penn College with a 3.03! The ThetaPhi Chapter looks forward to taking this momentum into the spring for yet another strong semester.

Pennsylvania State University Theta Chapter

100 1117 5

This year, Theta Chapter has already accomplished great things. In Penn State’s Greek Sing, our chapter placed 3rd amongst the vast competition comprised of the fellow fraternities and sororities at University Park. Only one week later, we placed 1st overall in Penn State’s Holiday Lights competition, which is a fantastic accessory to add along with the reputation of having one of the most beautiful house at Penn State. THON is quickly approaching, with our organization’s fundraising total getting revealed on February 23rd, we are all hopeful of surpassing last year’s monstrous $100,000+ donation. Fraternity rush has just begun, which has the entire brotherhood excited about the addition of new Sigma Pi’s, within the spring semester. The chapter’s spirits are high with the fast start, and it will be a pleasure to see what comes next!

Pennsylvania State UniversityAltoona Theta-Iota Chapter

25 85 1 As the active brothers of Sigma Pi return this spring semester for a relentless effort to strive in both scholarship and chivalry, and recruiting the best of men, the kickoff has been real. As the winter winds begin ...Continued On Next Page SPRING 2014

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CHAPTER & COLONY REPORTS to cease, the brothers here at Theta-Iota chapter did not hesitate to enjoy the icy weather in various ways. Many brothers participated in Penn State Altoona’s Polar Plunge, in which several brothers jumped into below freezing water to raise money for THON. Also, the snow allowed us to have a brotherhood snowball fight, and we went sled riding at our Chapter Advisor’s house.We also participated in this year’s Mountain Lion Backpacking, delivering both canned and nonperishable goods to children in need. Furthermore, formal rush has just began, and we have plans for another great pledge class for this semester.

Purdue University Eta Chapter

40 872 8

This past semester we’ve been hard at work to see a completely different culture in our house. Our new member GPA was the highest it’s been in a long time, we had 229 hours of community service, and we’ve been able to make many capital improvements among other things. We also have the privilege of having Mike Ayalon give a hazing prevention presentation on our campus this coming spring. Currently we are hard at work on recruiting our spring semester goal of a 12 man pledge class, add that to the nine we obtained in the fall and we’ll have 21 on the year. We’re very excited about our potential in the coming year.

Radford University Theta-Lambda Chapter

43 105 0 Theta-Lambda Chapter started off the spring semester with a bang. 19 new members accepted their bids and two deferred to next fall. This class is the largest in the chapter’s history, as well as one of the largest on campus this semester. Our recruitment chair brought back many new and great techniques for recruitment from this year’s Mid Year Leadership Conference in St. Louis, so we hope to have even more prosperous pledge classes in the future. Theta Lambda is also planning many great campus events this semester, ranging from fundraisers for Lou Gehrig’s disease research, to St. Baldricks, where all of our brothers shave their heads to raise money for children’s cancer research. We are also in the process of planning our yearly Orchid Ball trip with destinations being either Myrtle Beach or Gatlinburg, Tennessee this year.

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Theta-Eta Chapter at Old Dominion University

Rowan University Zeta-Chi Chapter

59 265 0 Greetings from Zeta-Chi Chapter at Rowan University. A lot of positive change has occurred within our chapter which we can not wait to share. For starters, we’ve relocated the chapter house to a brand new property that is sitting pretty on over 24,000 sq feet of land which provides ample space for our weekly brotherhood events such as wiffle ball, ultimate frisbee, and some old fashioned tackle football. Also located within the property is an old bakery that we’ve turned into a multipurpose building. The mini basketball hoop, pool table, fooseball, darts, and air hockey table we have all make for good entertainment. But we’ve also used the building as both a study hall and a meeting room on the occasion that the University is closed due to inclement weather. Within the house we have a second living room dubbed the Composite Room. As the name suggests it contains pictures of every single brother that has ever been a part of Zeta-Chi Chapter and when coupled with the dozens and dozens of paddles hung around the house, it is easy to see why our guests are intrigued by the amount of history our chapter has. All in all, the house has become a hub for brothers looking to get away from the stresses that come with our goal of maintaining high GPAs. As well as

the constant fund raising, philanthropy work, rush, and event planning that have allowed us to have arguably the largest presence of any organization on campus! Whether it’s a pep rally for a basketball games or anti-bullying walks, Sigma Pi at Rowan University is known for showing up in numbers to university events. A couple months ago we had our entire chapter scattered throughout the University Student Center handing out condoms and promoting safe-sex amongst our peers. After the big snowstorm that hit us here in New Jersey, our chapter went around town shoveling the front porches and driveways of our neighbors and sorority houses around campus, promoting both good relations and chivalry. We also have a huge ACE Project coming up, in which we are working with Rowan Unified Sports to host athletic events for special needs athletes. Even with everything we have going on right now we are always planning ahead for potential fundraisers and community service projects to better both ourselves and the town around us. As you can see things are looking up and we’re looking forward to adding more quality brothers to our chapters to further establish ourselves as not only the best organization at Rowan, but as one of the leading Sigma Pi chapters in the world. We are looking forward to convocation so we can share more of our experiences and wish every brother out there the best of luck in their future endeavors.

Rutgers State University of New Jersey Gamma-Eta Chapter

85 510 5 In lieu of all the snow and ice hitting NJ, Gamma-Eta Chapter is doing great. We are finishing up Rush and are anticipating to have one of our largest classes ever. Academically, we are ranked 6th overall out of all the fraternities on IFC with a cumulative GPA over 3.2. In addition, our Keller Sports Team is currently ranked 3rd. We are looking forward to having a great spring semester with exciting things to come!

Saginaw Valley State University Theta-Beta Chapter

30 146 2 During the second week of this winter term, we worked with our alumni at our annual workshop in order to determine our chapter goals moving forward and how we can stop being a good chapter and become a great chapter. Theta-Beta also had a successful winter recruitment process “_ we began to utilize a names list & formulated our values-based recruitment checklist. We are currently in the process of setting up our alumni advisory board and creating connections with our alumni in order to have better alumni relations. Finally, we are working on Relay for Life that is scheduled for February 14, in which we are doing a dunk tank to raise money for cancer research. We are looking forward to a healthy, productive rest of the semester.

Saint Joseph’s University Theta-Chi Chapter

45 60 0

Theta-Chi Chapter has been incredibly successful this semester. Three efficacious ACE events, the acceptance of a new pledge class, and successful philanthropic ventures marked the fall of 2013. ACE, having been effective with giveaways, Football with the Jesuits, and area cleanups, is planning a large event for the spring. Seven pledges were pinned and seven new brothers were initiated by the end of the semester forming our Nu class. The Philanthropy committee registered many students for Donate Life and will continue this spring with a large event. This April, Theta-Chi Chapter will host an Alumni Weekend beginning April 12. There will be golf, an awards brunch, and a bar event.

Salisbury University Theta-Xi Chapter

52 95 0 Theta-Xi Chapter began the new school year exceptionally well with a strong fall semester. Rush was very successful with a large number of new members who are all eager to help improve the chapter. In September, John Williams, the chapter’s Province Archon, gave a “Know Your Rights” speech as a part of Theta-Xi’s ACE Project. The speech was extremely well received by all who were at the event. Brothers of the chapter attended the Virginia Province Workshop, Salisbury Leadership Retreat, and the Sigma Pi National Conference in St. Louis. Everyone learned many valuable ideas and techniques from these conventions that will used to better the chapter as well as better each member as a man. This semester, Theta-Xi looks to continue to grow in size and contribute in whatever ways possible to the school and local community.

San Jose State University Beta-Eta Chapter

19 449 7 The Fall 2013 semester was a great success for Beta-Eta Chapter. We added seven new brothers and increased our presence on campus. We participated in several events, including Greek Week and Delta Gamma’s Anchor Splash competition where our team won first place for our synchronized swimming routine. We hosted a table on campus for Donate Life which proved to be even more successful than anticipated. Finally, we arranged a hugely successful fundraiser selling tamales and hot chocolate toward the end of the semester. We have great momentum going into spring with our new Executive Council settling in and hope to make this semester even better than the last.

Santa Clara University Zeta-Eta Chapter

89 583 2 No report was submitted for the February 10th deadline.

Seton Hall University Delta-Epsilon Chapter

56 328 3 This past month, Delta-Epsilon Chapter has been preparing for the much anticipated spring semester. At the

beginning of the semester we had Meet the Greeks, an event on campus where people can come out and meet some of the brothers. We had a great time and got over 70 people to fill out our interest form. For the Super Bowl this year, we had a Brotherhood event for the chapter. We ordered a bunch of food and were able to hang out together for the game.

Southern Arkansas University Epsilon-Kappa Chapter

39 343 1 So far this spring semester, we’ve gained 11 great new guys and have been focusing on the future of the fraternity as well as adding more brotherhood events and improving our recruitment. We also have a few projects in consideration to give back to the community. We’re just coming off a semester of winning favorite fraternity and are looking to defend that title and prove why we earned it. This whole semester is about progress.

Southern Illinois UniversityCarbondale Beta-Nu Chapter

36 907 3

Since chartering last year we went through a decent first semester. The men of Beta-Nu Chapter are excited to make the spring semester better than the fall. With the start of the semester we are glad to see our Alpha class go through the pledge process and be initiated. Also helping is the new installation of officers that are setting the chapter’s goals and expectations higher to strive for excellence on campus. We are also excited for the upcoming rush week to acquire more fine young men to become pledges. In addition, the chapter is ready for the semester ahead, with Province Workshop, Mid-Year, and Founders day. The biggest event the chapter is looking forward to is our ACE Project that will take place in May, supported by the Wounded Warrior’s project and veteran services on here on campus.

Southern Illinois UniversityEdwardsville Delta-Omega Chapter

32 373 2

Delta-Omega is very excited for this semester. We just had a great visit with ...Continued On Next Page SPRING 2014

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CHAPTER & COLONY REPORTS

Delta-Epsilon Chapter at Seton Hall University

our Regional Director and are ready to move forward with the plans we discussed with him. We have big events planned for this semester including a Dog Day with the help of the local Humane Society as well as our second annual Greek Olympics. We will also be competing in the first ever fraternity soccer tournament at SIUE later this semester. We recently won our annual “Toilet Bowl” against Sigma Phi Epsilon 14-12; this is the first time we have won in the last 6 years. We are currently going through our recruitment process with events that include bowling, basketball, and a poker night. We hope all our brothers have a successful recruitment and hope to see some of you in Panama City Beach for spring break.

Southern Polytechnic State University Epsilon-Alpha Chapter

17 369 3

We have had a good semester thus far. The new members seem enthusiastic and very eager to learn. We have competed in all athletic events that have been held and won softball last semester and third in flag football (we teamed up with NSBE). We have had two social events with Gamma Phi. In philanthropy we hosted two blood drives, which both had better turnouts than expected. Looking forward to an awesome semester and getting out on campus more.

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St. John’s University St. John’s Colony

35 0 0 The St. John’s Colony was established with 35 founding fathers on February 23rd!

The College Of New Jersey Theta-Delta Chapter

46 253 0

The men of the Theta-Delta Chapter have had a very successful fall semester. We have been heavily focused on recruitment and this spring we are looking to bring in the largest class in our history. We have also been hard at work redesigning our week-long ACE Project, which we plan to implement next Semester. Our new community service chair is very motivated and has a lot of good ideas moving forward. For example, over winter break some of our brothers will be traveling to New Orleans to volunteer with Habitat for Humanity for a week. Overall, the chapter is doing very well and we are looking forward to having a great spring semester.

The Ohio State University Gamma Chapter

52 658 9

Screams could be heard from the bottom of the driveway as patrons nervously awaited admittance to the Sigma Pi

Haunted House. Held on October 29, 2013, this philanthropy event generated $850 in donations for Sean Feliciano’s Amazing Day Foundation. This highly praised event was the brain-child of now alumni Bryan Rosenthal and the chapter’s philanthropy committee supported by an outstanding effort from the entire chapter. When asked about his inspiration for the event, Bryan replied “I wanted to do something that would leave a legacy on my chapter; not only for personal gain, but to better my community and to help facilitate an event that our chapter can operate and build upon down the road.” Gamma Chapter hopes to build upon Bryan’s legacy with goals of the spreading the event across multiple dates and exceeding $2000 in donations as we progress with preparations for this now annual event.

University at Buffalo Epsilon-Omicron Chapter

28 277 6

This semester at SUNY-Buffalo has just begun and Epsilon-Omicron couldn’t be off to a better start. After finishing last semester crossing 12 new pledges, one of the largest in our chapter’s history, we’re ready to kick off our Spring Rush. Gaining notoriety on campus, we’re hoping to get an even larger class this semester. We are also in the works setting up our ACE Project which we have hopes to be an

awesome event on campus. Expect to be hearing great things from us here at SUNY-Buffalo!

University of Alabama Theta-Omicron Chapter

96 141 0 No report was submitted for the February 10th deadline.

University of Arkansas-Fayetteville Alpha-Sigma Chapter

30 433 12

No report was submitted for the February 10th deadline.

University of California-Berkeley Iota Chapter

32 585 1

This semester has been quite exciting so far for Iota Chapter, and it seems as though the trend is set to continue. Our numbers continue to grow with the Alpha-Zeta pledge class, consisting of 8 promising men that will soon make their mark on our chapter. Our big projects at the moment consist of refinancing the chapter house, as well as working out the logistics for our upcoming brotherhood trip to Lake Tahoe and our muchanticipated ‘Galaxy’ party. This semester is shaping up to be one of the best in terms of community and campus involvement: already, our social chairman has lined up a number of open events and exchanges with other sororities on campus, and our philanthropy chair is working hard on the plans for our upcoming philanthropy event as well as getting the rest of the house involved in events put on by other houses in the Greek community.

University of California-Irvine Eta-Upsilon Chapter

61 329 3 The Fall Quarter was a stellar quarter for Eta-Upsilon Chapter at UC-Irvine. The quarter started with a strong rush that produced one of the largest pledge classes on campus and would eventually initiate a great new class of brothers. The Eta-Upsilon chapter also participated in a day of service at the Arroyo Vista Greek Housing community. Sigma Pi had over five times the amount of members participating compared to any other fraternity or sorority here at UC-Irvine. The day was a massive success and over

120 new trees were planted that will, twenty years from now, provide shade for a park for future Greeks members to study, socialize, and rest in. The EtaUpsilon Chapter is extremely proud of our fall quarter, and we look forward to continuing to show UC-Irvine that Sigma Pi is the house to strive to be like.

University of California-Los Angeles Upsilon Chapter

92 1122 20 Upsilon Chapter is growing stronger and stronger each quarter. Our fall pledge class crossed 16 top quality men, and our current winter pledge class consists of nothing but the best. Our physical house has also been seeing multiple improvements and renovations. New concrete and fencing has been put up in our backyard, along with wood floors in our chapter room and finger print scanning doors on the way. These improvements have caused an influx of brothers moving into the house, and should lead to an eventful spring quarter and help our brotherhood grow tighter.

University of California-Santa Barbara Alpha-Omicron Chapter

88 320 12

This past fall, Alpha-Omicron enjoyed one of its most successful quarters yet. With the brothers settled into our new house, rush was the only thing on our minds. The chapter saw great success and initiated twenty-five gentlemen into the fraternity, the biggest class in Alpha-Omicron history. Sigma Pi Rodeo was an amazing time and allowed the brothers to raise $2000 for the Sean Feliciano Amazing Day Foundation. The chapter also continues its work in the community, volunteering at the local DAWG animal shelter, cleaning up the streets of Isla Vista, and various other individual ventures by brothers. Academics still remain top priority and over 50% of our brothers achieved a 3.0 GPA or better. With the success of Fall the brothers are only hungry for more, and we look forward to continued excellence throughout the year.

University of California-Santa Cruz Iota-Eta Chapter

102 31 0

Iota-Eta Chapter has the honor of having the seventeen new members of Mu class

join our brotherhood at the end of the Fall 2013 quarter. These seventeen young men have proven themselves to be find gentlemen worthy of representing Sigma Pi and Iota-Eta Chapter for the rest of their lives. During the Fall 2013 quarter, our chapter had the opportunity to work with the Boys and Girls’ Club in Santa Cruz in their annual triathlon. We were able to give back to our local community by encouraging the children to stay motivated and to keep being active. In the future, we plan to continue working with Boys and Girls’ club so we can introduce the values of a Sigma Pi gentleman to the youth of Santa Cruz.

University of Central Florida Iota-Kappa Chapter

106 47 1 Iota-Kappa Chapter has gotten off to a great start this spring! We just wrapped up a brotherhood event in Tampa with the USF colony and also recently completed our ACE Project, raising over 1000 lbs. of canned food and $300 for Children’s Miracle Network. Recruitment has come to an end and we have pinned our largest spring class in chapter history of 17 pledges. We are also currently in first place for the UCF’s fraternity-wide intramural sports Greek Cup.

University of Central Missouri Gamma-Gamma Chapter

37 594 3

During the fall semester, members of the Gamma-Gamma Chapter worked exceptionally hard to get our name out for rush. Our rush was very successful. We ended up getting fourteen signed bids, with nine of those going active on February 7th, 2014. This past semester we ranked first in grades, setting the bar at 3.09. This beats out the all Greek average of 3.06, all fraternity of 2.79, and all undergrad of 2.82. We are very ecstatic about this! We also acquired some really nice furniture pieces for our wing in the complex. We bought a nice kitchen table, three new couches, a flat screen TV, and our supportive alumni bought us a brand new ping pong table which we use regularly. Through this, and many other opportunities through the Brotherhood Cup, and other random events our fraternal bond knits us closer and closer. ...Continued On Next Page SPRING 2014

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CHAPTER & COLONY REPORTS One of our biggest highlights of the fall semester was us winning first place in the cheer competition during homecoming. We have not achieved this for many years, so we are very proud of that. We have one signed bid for the spring semester as of now, but two more are on the fence. We have been blessed, and are very excited to move forward. We strive daily to make real our goals and aspirations to better Gamma-Gamma Chapter of Sigma Pi.

University of Colorado-Boulder Zeta-Delta Chapter

34 422 0 After returning to Boulder, Colorado after the holidays, Zeta-Delta Chapter has taken on a new direction heading into the spring semester. The main focus of the fraternity is now rebuilding through member education and dynamic recruitment. The chapter underwent a membership review in November, losing more than half of its members and they are currently in the midst of a 4 stage renaissance program. This program will set the building blocks for bringing a healthy chapter back to Boulder. The future looks bright for the men in Zeta-Delta as they recently signed a five-year lease with the landlord of the fraternity house that Sigma Pi has resided in since 2003. Year round recruitment and new recruitment strategies have given way to a large prospective pledge class in the spring. The membership is excited for the future of the fraternity and is looking forward to rebuilding a foundation that will last for years to come at the University of Colorado.

University of Delaware Iota-Beta Chapter

71 83 0 Iota-Beta Chapter here at the University of Delaware is excited and focused for the start of the spring. The upcoming months will hopefully be one of the best with 19 new initiates starting their first full semester as a brother. The rush process is under full swing as we look to come out strong again with one of the biggest and best pledge classes on campus. In terms of philanthropy, we have one main event to prepare for: UDance. This is a campus wide 12-hour dance marathon to benefit the B+ Foundation. In addition, the spring semester brings back our ACE Project, in cooperation with our chapter advisor and former Grand Sage John Williams, “Know You Rights.” On top of all this, we will continue to have

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a very involved social schedule, hoping to upkeep our well-respected name here at the University of Delaware. We wish all Sigma Pi’s out there the best of luck and to have a great spring semester.

University of Detroit-Mercy Gamma-Alpha Chapter

32 482 8 In the past few months, we have gotten 10 new members in our chapter. We have put the finishing touches on our kitchen that was rebuilt over the summer with a custom sigma pi backsplash made by one of the active brothers. We participated in intramural dodgeball and finished second behind a dental school team. We recently attended the all greek conference here at our school, which promotes greek unity and provides guidance to a safer environment on campus. We are still doing fundraising events at Calihan Hall for basketball games, and we are in the process of setting up a philanthropy event for an alumni of a sorority on campus who was recently diagnosed with leukemia, in hopes to help pay for her medical bills. Our plans for the rest of the semester and the summer include throwing our Orchid Ball, doing our ACE Project, participating in UDM’s greek week, getting an intramural floor hockey team and we plan to do a complete refurnishing of the house.

University of Georgia Alpha-Phi Chapter

78 731 11 The fall semester of 2013 was another strong year for Alpha-Phi Chapter. Summer Rush gave the fraternity a fall pledge class of 20 members, and their 3.18 GPA was the tenth highest new member GPA on campus. The chapter roster is now up to 83 active brothers, who have an average GPA of 3.01. The brothers stayed active in the community by volunteering at the Extra Special People 5K relay on October 5th. The brothers combined with Alpha Gamma Delta sorority to earn over $3500 at our Bingo for Breast Cancer Philanthropy event. The brothers had a great semester and look forward to continue growing and getting better.

University of Houston Theta-Nu Chapter

24 77 1 The brothers of Theta-Nu Chapter at the University of Houston are proud to be back

on campus. Theta-Nu Chapter started out rush strong by having barbeques, indoor soccer and broomball. We are excited to meet new potentials and introduce them to our brotherhood. The Brothers of Theta-Nu Chapter are proud to say that we have been informed that we had the highest GPA of all the Fraternities at the University of Houston. We look forward to another successful semester at Theta-Nu Chapter.

University of IllinoisUrbana-Champaign Phi Chapter

18 924 12 In the past few months, Phi has made many exciting improvements. At the end of the fall semester, 7 new members were initiated to increase membership to 20 active brothers. Additionally, Phi moved up to the 3rd overall GPA out of 49 fraternities on campus, with an average GPA of 3.32. Furthermore, the chapter has implemented a new valuesbased recruiting strategy and hopes to initiate 10-20 new members in the spring. One more improvement we have made is creating a “brotherhood chairman” that will plan and manage brotherhood retreats and events of a similar nature. Lastly, brothers accrued over 100 hours over community service in the fall semester. With these improvements to the chapter, Phi hopes to continue building its reputation as a quality fraternity at the University of Illinois.

University of Iowa Xi Chapter

95 600 2 Xi Chapter here at the University of Iowa is getting stronger every year! We just initiated an 18 man class that we hope can bring a big boost in recruitment. Even though the number was not as large as the past fall rush, the brothers that were initiated will be very helpful in the growth of this chapter. They were a big help in recruitment this spring by helping the chapter get 9 new men to sign into Sigma Pi! This past fall semester we participated in Donate Life, an organization that promotes organ donations to help save lives! We participated in Homecoming Week paired with Chi Omega. We hosted a parent weekend in November at the Sheraton Hotel, then the following day we attended the football game against Wisconsin. We

15 pledges this semester. We are also optimistic about the direction of our house due to the fact that we were in the top third for GPA in the Greek community last semester at the University of Minnesota, have completed numerous community service events this semester, and currently have an undefeated broomball team. Overall, every man in the chapter is excited about where we have been in the last few months, and even more thrilled about where we will go in the near future.

University of Mississippi Beta-Mu Chapter

107 234 1 Beta-Mu Chapter started strong this semester initiating 31 new members. We will have a strong spring semester with our philanthropy event and ACE Project which are currently being planned. We also just installed our new officers who will take our chapter forward into the coming year.

University of Missouri Gamma-Sigma Chapter

131 443 3

Eta-Upsilon Chapter at University of California- Irvine

started off this semester strong by having a brotherhood event to watch the Super Bowl. We look forward to everything we have planned this year coming off a great time last semester! Roll Xi!

spring semester, we recruited nine new members, which is the largest number we’ve ever had in a spring RUSH. This semester we look forward to holding our first ever official Orchard Ball.

University of Kansas

University of Michigan

Beta-Delta Colony

54 70 0

Alpha-Beta Chapter

18 138 1

No report was submitted for the February 10th deadline

No report was submitted for the February 10th deadline.

University of Louisville

University of Minnesota

Iota-Omicron Chapter

33 12 0 The men of Iota-Omicron finished the fall semester off with a bang. We held a Donate Life event at a local restaurant on campus and had over 30 people sign up to be an organ donor or reaffirm. We also decided to visit the Murray State chapter last fall and look forward to them visiting us this spring. To start off the

Iota-Zeta Chapter

33 51 0 The gentlemen of Iota-Zeta Chapter are enjoying a solid start to the spring semester and are currently thriving in spring semi-formal rush. The chapter has many hardworking and driven young men who are interested in joining our brotherhood, and we are optimistic about the possibility of reaching our goal of

The hard-work of Gamma-Sigma in the summer and fall months paid off with a successful recruitment ultimately culminating in the initiation of 25 men. Most recently, the chapter ranked 15th out of 35 fraternities at Mizzou, beating the all fraternity average of 2.979 and our new pledge class placed 12th out of 29 fraternities reporting new members. We had a successful spring rush and recruited 15 fine young men. We made many improvements to our house this year including replacing tile flooring throughout the main floor of our house. This couldn’t have been accomplished without the continued support of a great group of alumni. Additionally, we won ‘Risk Management Chapter of the Year’ at Mizzou. We look forward to expanding in the future and improving even more.

University of Missouri-St. Louis Delta-Zeta Chapter

33 404 11

Last semester, Delta-Zeta initiated more new members than we have in five years. We also led Greek life with the highest GPA on campus as well as leading for community service hours. Third Counselor Matthew Lazarus gave the keynote speech at the campus New ...Continued On Next Page SPRING 2014

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CHAPTER & COLONY REPORTS Member Institute as well as sitting on a panel with former Herald and current Student Government Association President Bennett Felton. In October, the chapter once again participated in the St. Louis Walk for Autism. This year we teamed up with Kurt’s Krew (Kurt is the brother of an active from another chapter). Kurt’s Krew collected over $4000 dollars this year and his family was ecstatic about the chapters help. Our ACE Project for this semester will be a Student Awareness week focused on topics affecting college students such as alcohol, drugs, tobacco, and sex.

University of Oregon Iota-Epsilon Chapter

83 71 1 TIota-Epsilon Chapter kicked off winter term by initiating 16 amazing new Brothers from our fall Zeta class. Our new Brothers have hit the ground running by participating in our intramural and accepting chairmen positions. We were very proud to bring two of our newly initiated Brothers to Mid Year, where everyone had a great time. All of the Brothers are currently excited for the many upcoming philanthropy events on campus. These include “Kappa Dodgeball”, the annual dodgeball event hosted by the lovely ladies of Kappa Kappa Gamma, and “Shamrock Cup”, Kappa Delta’s annual basketball tournament. Preparation is also beginning for our own philanthropy, the annual “Pig Skin Classic,” which will take place during spring term. We are also very excited to begin our spring rush in the upcoming months. Our goal is to pin at least 18 new members and continue to grow our chapter.

University of Rhode Island Alpha-Upsilon Chapter

Alpha-Upsilon Chapter has made an incredible amount of progress this past semester. We have welcomed 11 new members into our brotherhood in the fall semester, and so far have been a great asset to our fraternity. We recently sent two representatives to the MidYear Leadership Conference in St. Louis accompanied by our chapter director and house father Jay August. Spring 2014 was very successful for us. We are bringing another 11 new members to the fraternity, which is a very high number for spring rush at URI. We have been involved in brotherhood events such as EMERALD.SIGMAPI.ORG

weekly bowling nights, paintball outings, snowboarding/skiing trips and more. For philanthropy events, we have planned such things as a blood drive in the spring, raising money for Habitat for Humanity, and raising funds for breast cancer. Our goals for the upcoming semester are of the highest standard and we will strive to keep pushing ourselves forward.

University of Southern Indiana

University of San Diego

Gamma-Theta Chapter

Epsilon-Chi Colony

58 779 7

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45 370 0 Epsilon-Chi Colony was established on March 1st with 45 founding fathers!

University of South Florida South Florida Colony

54 0 0

Our colony has had an eventful beginning. We are now up to 53 members. We have had one social, 3 brotherhood events, done community service, hosted our first formal recruitment, and started intramurals. We are excited to have a great upcoming semester as our goal is to charter this fall.

Theta-Psi Chapter

23 45 0

Our intramural team came in first for battleship. We went undefeated in sinking all of the other team’s canoes.

University of Texas at Austin 35 293 1 This past semester, has marked a period of great changes to our chapter. This fall, we initiated our biggest pledge class in the past 8 years, while upholding the standards for outstanding brothers. Leaving our chapter size the biggest it has been for a while. We made many changes to our recruitment and new member education program, all geared in a direction of more organization and professionalism. We are happy to share that our chapter has expanded the number of current chairmen positions to meet the growing needs of work distribution. This semester we participated in the Caring

University of West Alabama Theta-Gamma Chapter

20 122 0

Our chapter ended the fall semester by initiating 9 new members into our brotherhood. Many of these new members have already started having a positive impact on the chapter. We started this semester out strong by taking the initiative to continue painting the Tiger Paws which are painted around our campus, but have begun to fade. The Theta Gamma chapter is currently working towards our third straight Homer Award, which is awarded each year to the top fraternity on the campus of West Alabama.

University of Wisconsin-Madison Tau Chapter

32 102 0

for Camo event, where we prepared care packages for troops overseas, along doing other community service events. Here at Gamma-Theta Chapter, we are excited for this incoming semesters as we see ourselves continue to recruit outstanding members to our organization.

calendar is packed and the brothers are looking forward to making sure this semester and each one after it will be the best semester we’ve ever had.

University of Texas-San Antonio

7 155 1

Iota-Delta Chapter

68 61 2

Iota-Delta Chapter hit the ground running with the beginning of this semester. With bright and resourceful brothers on recruitment we easily had some of the best events on our campus, such as taking the brothers and the potential new members to the San Antonio Spurs vs Oklahoma City Thunder basketball game. We also came out in force for our city’s Martin Luther King, Jr. Day march, which is among the largest in the nation, along with other great philanthropic events in the works. We’re looking forward to an amazing semester socially as well, starting off with a mixer with the beautiful women of Gamma Phi Beta. All in all, our entire

University of Toronto Eta-Omicron Chapter h

Over the past few months, the Eta Omicron chapter has placed new importance and focus on recruitment. We would like to thank Josh Orendi from Phired Up for his help and instruction as well as Ontario Province Archon Rob Spender and our chapter alumni for providing the opportunities to learn.

University of Virginia Beta-Pi Chapter

45 799 3 No report was submitted for the February 10th deadline.

Tau Chapter has had a whirlwind fall in Madison, Wis. Four new members joined the house this fall, bringing new personalities and skills to the house. The chapter’s team for Humorology, a large Greek philanthropy on campus, was selected for the spring musical show, returning to the show after receiving the honor in 2011. The house participated in the Brittany Zimmerman 5K Run/Walk in late-September, marking another year assisting the management of the event. The chapter has rewritten the house’s risk management policy, so as to adjust to events that have faced the chapter throughout the fall. Tau is excited to see what 2014 will bring the chapter!

University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh Gamma-Mu Chapter

22 449 2

Gamma-Mu Chapter is excited to continue to build on its recent successes. This semester, the chapter is eager to focus on areas of recruitment, retention, membership development and scholarship. Five of our members retained valuable information from the annual Mid Year Leadership Conference to contribute to these goals. We look forward to seeing where our newly installed Executive Council and newly initiated brothers excel and guide our chapter!

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CHAPTER & COLONY REPORTS University of Wisconsin-Platteville Delta-Iota Chapter

26 467 1

Here in Platteville, Wisconsin we are preparing ourselves for another great semester. Our chapter has been reformulating its recruitment process in the hopes of attracting more bright young minds to Sigma Pi. Last semester was a great success for our chapter. We hosted out first annual Amazing Day Foundation 5K that helped raise just under $1000 and we also met our predetermined chapter GPA goal.

Ursinus College Theta-Sigma Chapter

31 54 1

Theta-Sigma Chapter initiated 14 new brothers this past semester to replace the 14 men who graduated last year. After a disappointing loss in the championship game last year, our intramural football team won the championship this year over our top rival, the rugby team. We are planning to have our first Orchid Ball this spring at the Golden Nugget in Atlantic City and are excited for the reunion between the current members of the chapter and alumni that will be attending. The fundraising committee has embraced the frequent snowstorms this winter by clearing snow off of student and faculty cars and has generated a nice profit. Our ACE Project to build an outdoor classroom on campus is developing nicely with the architects plans and location approved by the administration of the school. We are looking forward to another semester of strong recruitment and brotherhood.

Valparaiso University Beta-Tau Chapter

25 551 5 Beta-Tau Chapter of Sigma Pi is looking to start the New Year off strong after a great finish to the semester. Our Chapter was greatly involved in many community service and philanthropy events as we totaled over 200 community service hours as a chapter. We finished in second place in our Student Senate’s campus wide food drive. In addition to that as a chapter we raised over $500 for Dance Marathon and had the majority of our brotherhood participate in Relay for Life. The Beta-Tau Chapter is also in the process of planning a Music Fest for the start of the 2014 school year in support of the Amazing Day Foundation. We are hoping to make

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this a 5 star event that will bring not only the campus community and Valparaiso, but bring together people from all over the state.

Vincennes University Alpha Chapter

33 906 1 At Alpha Chapter, We have been looking forward to the new semester for the new pledge class coming in this spring semester after a two week rush week we have initiated 8 Perspective members. We have also just activated six members as active brothers and plan on activating another 3 before the year is over. We also have a lot of philanthropy projects prepared for this semester, one of them being the annual Alpha April. Alpha April is where we hold sports tournaments and the money cost to enter goes to a charity. On Martin Luther King Jr. Day we partnered with the 21st Century Scholars Leadership Program and went to the local elementary school and read to the 5th grade classes and mad bracelets to show diversity. We also getting ready for our annual Founders’ formal on March 1st and our second biannual Road Rally.

Wake Forest University Alpha-Nu Chapter

60 1060 12

Alpha-Nu is off to a great start with the spring semester. We are pleased to welcome our new pledge class after a successful rush week. We also have an eventful semester planned with multiple philanthropy events, including a shared event with Chi Omega Sorority to support children’s cancer research in honor of a member of our newest pledge class who has battled with cancer throughout his life. Alpha-Nu is looking forward to a successful semester participating in campus-wide events as well, such as the annual Wake ‘n Shake fundraiser for the Brian Piccolo foundation. Overall, AlphaNu chapter is looking forward to a busy semester full of social and philanthropy events.

Washington State University Iota-Nu Chapter

45 33 0 Iotu-Nu Chapter at Washington State has hit the ground running this semester! We returned from our annual brotherhood retreat refreshed and focused on the challenges and opportunities that this year

will bring. The chapter has been on top of spring recruitment, with various young men interested in joining our prestigious chapter. Iotu-Nu remains active in intermural sports this semester by fielding a 4 on 4 football team, a basketball team, and an indoor soccer team and we know that all these teams will be competitive all year long. As always we remain dedicated to our studies, with this semester seeing us implement a new scholarship plan that we are sure will boost our GPA into the top tier chapters. The future is bright here in Pullman and we can’t wait for the semester to really get rolling. As always, GO COUGS!

Wayne State University Gamma-Omega Chapter

31 324 1

Gamma-Omega received most improved chapter last year and continues to grow everyday. We have brought our membership up to 32 members and now have the budgets to create fun and productive events for brotherhood, social, and rush. Our winter recruitment has brought us 6 new members and we continue to network through our University and other social organizations on campus.

West Chester University Zeta-Alpha Chapter

84 269 2 Now is an exciting time for the brothers of Zeta-Alpha Chapter. With West Chester’s Rush period right around the corner, Rush Chair Brother Richie Schafer has both his committee and the fraternity as a whole busy preparing Power Point presentations and rush events. In between attending the school’s Involvement fair early in the month, and recently beginning to interview rush candidates, the brothers found time to collect 15 bags of clothing to donate to the poor, attend multiple “Wing Wednesday” brotherhood events, plan and execute a Super Bowl viewing party, and were even able to compete in a fun Super Smash Brothers video game tournament. The brothers are all excited for the bids to go out to new members on the 17th of the month and expect a great program out of new member education head Brother Carmen Guarino.

Beta-Tau Chapter at Valparaiso University

West Virginia University Institute of Technology Gamma-Xi Chapter

17 461 1 Gamma-Xi Chapter is proud to announce a spike in membership. In the past year, we went from a mere five active brothers to 18 members, including new members. One of our newest members, Rocco, is a rescue dog. We plan on holding more fundraisers, along with other social events. Improvements to our house will soon go under way. This includes a new stereo system, roof, and more. GammaXi, anxiously awaiting WV Tech’s annual Greek Week, plans on taking home the gold. We had a great time at Mid-Year and look forward to applying the skills we were taught. Our chapter is eager to express ourselves in the attempt to raise awareness of who we really are.

Western Illinois University Epsilon-Zeta Chapter

22 619 5 Here at Western Illinois University, Epsilon-Zeta Chapter has taken great strides to improvement this year. With the collective group of great guys we

have surpassed the all men’s GPA average for the first time in four years with a cumulative GPA of 2.924. We have also added 9 new members to our chapter, 4 joining in the fall semester, and 5 this spring. We completed our ACE Project raising money and toys for the WIU daycare on campus. We are planning a philanthropy for late April where we will be hosting a suicide awareness event. This is something that means a lot to us as a chapter since we lost a brother to suicide last spring.

currently have 25 members undergoing the pledging process. Our GPA has shown steady improvement and rose to a 3.30 from a 3.27 last term. We had our main philanthropy event, the Tri-Wizard Tournament, with Alpha Xi Delta and although it was a lot of work it was a huge success. We also established a new Web Committee to revamp our website and so far their progress has been remarkable. a

William Paterson College Theta-Tau Chapter

30 66 0

During Fall, our brothers at ThetaTau Chapter of Sigma Pi international participated in the schools breast cancer walk alongside children in William Paterson’s daycare program.

Worcester Polytechnic Institute Gamma-Iota Chapter

58 601 5

The new Executive Council has recently transitioned and appears to be making great progress in pushing the house forward. We had an amazing rush and SPRING 2014

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AN AUSSIE ABROAD By Aaron Perera (AI, Missouri S&T ‘12), contributing writer

I Believe.

These two words run through the core of what it means to be a brother of Sigma Pi; and yet they mean something different to everyone who comes through our hallowed ranks. They would change my life forever in ways I could not possibly imagine. I stepped off the flight in St. Louis, Missouri in 2012 after nearly 24 hours of travel from Sydney, Australia to become a university exchange student. It was a bitter and unforgiving cold I was not prepared for. I pondered how anyone could live in such extreme and furiously cold weather, it was 38 degrees. I was picked up by some brothers and taken to their house for the night. I had never met them before, but this was, as I have now truly come to realize, the first sign of the classic mid-western friendliness coupled with genuine brotherhood. The manner in which I came to pledge Sigma Pi was anything but ordinary. I met an American girl while studying in Australia, and she put me in contact with a friend at the Sigma Pi chapter at Missouri University of Science & Technology. A few emails back and forth and I was offered a bid. I never toured the house or met the brothers, and they never met me. The risk taken by myself and the chapter was definitely a fruitful one. Fraternities at a collegiate level are non-existent in Australia, the only image we have of Fraternities are what we see on television and movies; so as you can imagine it was quite the culture shock to actually be living in a real fraternal environment. The Hollywood interpretation of Fraternities definitely failed to emphasize that sense of belonging, philanthropy and acceptance. I can honestly say with one hundred percent certainty that all the best experiences in America have in some way indirectly or directly been as a result of my membership in Sigma Pi. The guys gave me about a week before they started to poke fun at my accent and the way I pronounced words; I’ve accepted it as jealousy. I have since stopped trying to order Mountain Dew at restaurants in America or as they describe my pronunciation “mewntin dew”, I just stick with the safe line “I’ll have what he’s having”. That is honestly one of my favorite things about being

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in a Fraternity, the brotherly give-and-take; we’re allowed to joke around with each other but anyone would drop what they were doing to lend a helping hand to someone in need. That sense of developing character is instilled in the early days of a pledging program, at Alpha-Iota Chapter, new member’s move into the house in their first semester. These are young men straight out of high school, finding their feet out on their own; and Sigma Pi gives them that protection, education and foundation to become better men. I also appreciated the focus on scholarship; I achieved the best marks of my college career in America. My Australian university only required I pass subjects while in America, but I far exceeded that for the simple reason that I did not want to let my brothers down. The overall house GPA was determined through the actions of each member, a constant reminder that you are no longer alone in your academic endeavours. If there is one thing that Alpha-Iota did exceptionally well for me it was diffusing culture. Sigma Pi not only gave me the true understanding of brotherhood, but also introduced me to a plethora of things I had not experienced before. As I shared these new experiences with my brothers, they saw my enthusiastic reactions to new situations time and time again. They got to see me learn how to walk (or fall) in snow, drive on the right side of the road, and have my first free refills. I was also introduced to baseball, which is by far my favorite sport. They shared their slang with me, I shared my slang with them; together I learnt what it truly means to diffuse culture. I have brothers from all across the country and the lessons you learn through this are undeniable. No one has lived the same life, each person brings a unique understanding to the brotherhood, and this in essence is what it means to be part of Sigma Pi.

Through Sigma Pi, I came to know my brothers better than my own family, because they were my family. I knew their strengths and weaknesses just as they knew mine. While the good times at Alpha-Iota are the times I cherish the most, it was the difficult times that build character. Whether it be internal Fraternity difficulties or external issues, these circumstances are necessary to develop a well-rounded character. The things that have stuck with me the most, have in fact been the tragedies that another fraternity on our campus experienced in the span of a few weeks. Said fraternity had one member who crashed and passed away in a drunk-driving accident after a night of drinking with his brothers, followed a few weeks later by the death of another member who fell off their balcony in a drunken mishap. Why bring these topics up? Because it put things into perspective; it showed me what could have been if I had not joined Sigma Pi. It makes me proud to know our national body has our interests in mind; it gives me pride to know that no one in my chapter would ever let someone drive drunk. Above all it emphasizes the connection I have to each of my Brothers: we may not all get along and we certainly do not agree on everything

Aaron (middle) with his chapter brothers Michael Little (AI, Missouri S&T ’14) & Kevin Ponder (AI, Missouri S&T ’12)

but they are still my family and the devastation of losing a brother like that is not something I would ever want to experience. I relish the memories I have had at Sigma Pi, as they have enriched my life. They gave a naïve Australian a family in a foreign country, the support and brotherhood which enabled me to experience everything I did. We had our parties, we had brotherhood events, we competed in sports together and we conducted philanthropic work. But the greatest moments that will stick with me are of true brotherhood, they are those ‘average’ moments of everyday living that become special because you shared them with your friends and brothers. These are the times that movies and television do not show, but they are memories that most of us hold dear. The values and ideals I learnt at Alpha-Iota have continued to influence my assimilation back in to life in Australia, the obligations can genuinely be applied to all aspects of our lives.

The first time that Aaron experienced snow

As I prepare to graduate and begin law school, being a member of Sigma Pi is a constant reminder of what it means to at all times be a gentleman. As our lives drift further away from college; we must not forgot the lessons we were once taught. It is for these reasons, that I Believe in Sigma Pi.

photo courtesy of creative commons SPRING 2014

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BOTTOM LINE

Hilton Orlando Bonnet Creek August 6th through August 10th, 2014

WHY A CONVOCATION?

HOW OFTEN ARE CONVOCATIONS HELD?

The Constitution and Bylaws of the Fraternity stipulate that the supreme governing body of the Fraternity shall be the Grand Chapter consisting of one delegate and one alternate elected by each active chapter; one delegate from each chartered alumni club, and all Grand, Past Grand, and Honorary Grand Officers assembled in Convocation.

Convocation is held every two years, and is hosted in a different geographic region. The first regular Convocation was held in 1909 in Columbus, Ohio. Convocation is held every even year, and is supplemented in odd years with a summer leadership conference.

The purpose of the Convocation is to consider and transact all matters of business that are brought before the Grand Chapter. These can include matters of government and amendments to the Constitution and Bylaws.

WHEN IS CONVOCATION? Convocation will be held August 6th through August 10th, 2014.

WHERE IS CONVOCATION? Convocation will be at the Hilton Orlando Bonnet Creek, Orlando, Florida.

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WHO ATTENDS CONVOCATION? Each active chapter of the Fraternity is entitled to representation by one delegate and one alternate delegate, exclusive of any alumni club delegates, Grand Officers, Past Grand Officers, or Honorary Grand Officers, provided that the chapter is in good standing with the Fraternity. Colonies also send one delegate and one alternate delegate who may participate in discussions, but are not allowed to vote. In addition, other interested brothers and pledges are encouraged to attend. A chapter or colony may bring as many members as they please. By-Law 12, Section 12: Representation at Convocation and Sigma Pi University by all Chapters and Colonies of the Fraternity is deemed to be in the best interest of both the Grand Chapter and the local Chapters, and therefore, representation is mandatory. Failure to send at least one (1) Chapter/Colony representative to Sigma Pi University and/or Convocation will result in a fine. b) Failure to send at least one Chapter/Colony representative to Convocation will result in a fine of one thousand dollars ($1,000.00) for the first absence and one thousand five hundred dollars ($1,500.00) for all consecutive absences thereafter. Chapter/Colony fine for consecutive Convocation absences shall not exceed one thousand five hundred dollars ($1,500.00) per occurrence. c) The Grand Council shall consider any reasonable explanation before levying these fines and may waive any such fine in its sole discretion.

HOW MUCH IS THE REGISTRATION FEE? Below are the rates for the 2012 convocation, expect the 51st Convocation rates to be similar or a nominal increase in rates: •

Chapter Delegate-$275: Registration Includes half room, registration materials, all assigned meals, Closing banquet and Thursday night activity.

•

Colony Delegate-$275: Registration Includes half room, registration materials, all assigned meals, Closing banquet and Thursday night activity.

•

Alumni Volunteer (CD/PA)-$325: Registration Includes half room, registration materials, all assigned meals, Closing banquet and Thursday night activity.

•

Alternate Delegate-$375: Registration Fee includes registration materials, all assigned meals, Closing banquet and Thursday night activity, no lodging

•

Other Registrants/Guests: $375: Registration Fee includes registration materials, all assigned meals, Closing banquet and Thursday night activity, no lodging

HOW IS FRATERNITY BUSINESS CONDUCTED? There will be formal business sessions, during which time; decisions will be made on such Fraternity questions that may come before the Convocation. It is extremely helpful to the Grand Chapter and beneficial to the individual to be familiar with Roberts Rules of Order.

WHO CAN ATTEND THE CONVOCATION BUSINESS SESSION? Admission to the business sessions of the Convocation shall be granted to duly initiated members of the Fraternity who can establish their identity. Colony members, recording secretaries, and guest speakers may be admitted at the invitation of the Grand Sage; all others may be admitted only by a majority vote of the delegates and officers present.

WHO IS ENTITLED A VOTE? Each chapter represented at the Convocation by a delegate shall be entitled to two (2) votes, provided that such chapter is in good standing with the Grand Chapter (i.e. all Grand Chapter balances are current and no outstanding membership issues) and a credentials form has been filed stating that said person has been elected/appointed to vote on behalf of the chapter. Each chartered alumni club in good standing (i.e. alumni club dues have been paid) shall be entitled to one (1) vote. Each member of the Grand Council is entitled to one (1) vote. Past Grand Officers, Honorary Grand Officers and Founders’ Award Recipients in good standing with the Grand Chapter will be entitled to one (1) vote, unless the Past or Honorary Grand Officer or Founders’ Award Recipient is serving as a delegate for a chapter or alumni club, or he is not present to cast his vote.

For more information, please visit the link below: sigmapi.org/

HOW ARE GRAND OFFICERS ELECTED? The Nominating Committee will make its report as the last item of business at the morning session on the second business day of the Convocation. The report will be received, but the nominations will not be closed nor elections held until the expiration of nine (9) hours, but within twenty-four (24) hours. All Grand Officers will be elected by ballot, unless there is but one candidate, in which case the election may be made by acclamation. No votes will be counted except those cast for regular nominees. A majority of all votes cast is necessary for election. If there are more than two candidates and no one candidate receives a majority of the votes, another ballot will be taken between the two nominees with the highest ballot totals on the first ballot.

You must purchase a registration package to receive your voting rights.

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Alumni

NOTEBOOK

ALUMNI CLUB REPORTS

Alpha-Phi Chapter alumni, undergraduates, pledges and sweetheart at the Founder’s Day celebration at the University of Georgia fraternity house on March 1, 2014.

Gamma-Tau Chapter Alumni

Gamma Tau Chapter of Sigma Pi (inactive) at Georgia Southern University, Statesboro, Georgia was chartered on April 20, 1968. A Forty-fifth Anniversary Reunion was held on Saturday, July 20, 2013, at River Oak Swim and Racquet Club in Lawrenceville, GA. update your information

mysigmapi.com

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. That ensures you will continue to get important information and communications from Sigma Pi.

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Kentucky Thoroughbred Alumni Club Summer Reunion is always the third weekend in July. We look forward to seeing a lot of brothers in Murray on the weekend of July 18th – 20th. Special thanks go to Peter Dirks and Adam David. Peter has volunteered to pay for this year’s tent at Homecoming and Adam has joined our Chapter Advisory Board. Jess Thompson was thanked by the Franklin County (KY) Sheriff’s Office for risking his life to help a deputy pull a woman out of a burning house in February. Scott Harris appeared on WBKO-TV in December to promote the Snowman Splash which benefits programs to keep children off drugs. Clint Darden qualified for the Pan Am Games in weightlifting. John Simanowitz was interviewed by KSDK-TV about technology jobs in St. Louis. Dr. Rick Hudson spoke at the Kentucky Science Center in February. Our Chapter Educational Fund gave away two scholarships at Homecoming to Andy Urquhart and Nick Barron. This makes five scholarships we have awarded and we would like to thank all of our donors.

Rho Chapter Alumni Association

Rho’s first alumni association was formed in September 1929 and we have had periods of activity and inactivity since then. However, in February 2009, the current alumni association was reactivated at our Founder’s Day meeting. We elected seven officers for the board of directors including: president, secretary, treasurer, and 4 directors, all of whom serve on rotating terms. The current officers are: president, Brent Brewbaker; secretary, Jack Daniels; treasurer, Steele Hall; and directors Terry Allen, Speedy Mitchell, Tommy Rodwell and Grady Sykes. We meet monthly throughout the year with a few of the meetings being teleconference calls. The active brotherhood has representation at many of our meetings. Our association is simply to support the active chapter at North Carolina State in any way we can, and to promote the brotherhood of Sigma Pi among our alumni. The active chapter at North Carolina State now has a membership in excess of 75 brothers and pledges. This year we had 60 dues- paying members of our association. In the fall of last year we provided financial support to the active chapter

for rush functions. The brothers are very appreciative of this and had a successful rush resulting in 17 pledges. At homecoming all alumni were invited to return to the chapter house to renew old acquaintances and to meet the active members. This was a very successful event with a large group of alumni attending. The Alumni Association helped to pay for the food and mixers. Those attending had a good time looking over scrapbooks, photos, composites, and other memorabilia.

Upsilon Chapter Alumni Association

Our next event will be Founder’s Day on February 22. All alumni are invited to this meeting, which will include reports from our Alumni Association president, treasurer and directors. We will also elect new officers to replace those rotating off. Representatives of the active chapter will provide updates on their activities, pledges and scholastics. After the meeting the brothers and alumni will watch the televised basketball game between North Carolina State and Virginia Tech.

Gold Crosses were presented to James Webb, Past Sage Don Buchanan (who journeyed from South Carolina), and Craig Owens (who journeyed from Florida and brought the Beach Boys to the house back in 1962).

We also have an annual social for alumni during the summer. In the past it has been an outing to a Durham Bulls baseball game. The turnouts have been good and those in attendance have enjoyed hot dogs, beer and good Sigma Pi fellowship. More about the summer outing will be in a later issue of The Emerald. Meanwhile we continue to reach out to alumni who have not joined our alumni association. We need all alumni to assist us in keeping Rho a strong and active chapter. Our annual membership dues are $50. Please make a check to Alumni Rho Chapter of Sigma Pi Inc. and mail to Steele Hall, 1046 Brighthurst Drive, Raleigh, NC 27605. Please include your address, phone number and email address. Alumni can also go the website at ncsusigmapi.com to catch up on the latest Alumni newsletters as well as pay dues via PayPal.

Our 91st Founders’ Day was celebrated on Feb. 22 with 120 our alumni, our largest event ever under the auspices of new Executive Director Pablo Rivas (U, UCLA ’02). PGS Larry Rovira (EN, CSU-Fullerton ’85) attended and donated two sports plaques to the chapter, which now hang in the weight room. Brad Reichard (U, UCLA ’90), who helps the Grand Council with marketing, journeyed from Washington, DC (longest distance traveled).

A large group of late 1970s alumni returned to the Upsilon Manor for the first time in 30 years to receive their Silver Crosses, including: John Snodgrass (founder of Moonshiner), Phil Thompson, Mike McNutt, Larry Serraino, Jay Mercado (an artist in San Francisco), David DeLuce, Mike Dykstra (UCLA volleyball player in 1975), Dave Pulaski, Tom Concannon, Bruce Thompson, and Craig Connerty.

Sanchez (WWII veteran), Don Kemp (Korean War veteran), Walt Wiewiora (Veteran War veteran), Buckley Martin (high school teacher and coach for 50 years), Alan Hanson (a mountaineer) and Garni Arakalian, a young alumnus who died too young (his childhood friend and Upsilon brother Armen Matsovyan led a poignant tribute). Award winners include Sasan Amini, Sage Malcolm Galligan, and Jason Carpenter (Perpetual Scholarships), Ryan Hendler (Campus/Community Service), Roy Arguello and Daniel Adelpour (Academic), and Ted Ulin and Daniel Adelpour (Pledge Scholarships). Robert Webster has joined the Order of Emerald with a very generous donation, joining David Finkel, Carl Moroney, Joseph Marsalek, Bill Meyer, and Ray Carlisle. Webster received his Silver Cross at Founders Day. Rick Owens also donated a large amount for renovation of the dungeon library. Rich Henrich, an independent Film Producer, and Kasper Teichman and Eric Thomasian of YP.com, spoke to the actives this year at our Career Nights. a

1st Councilor Chris Scogna led the Memorial Ritual, which honored Dario

Upper Canada Alumni Association

The Upper Canada Alumni Association is now in its second calendar year serving brothers who attended Carleton University, University of Toronto or Western Ontario. Membership has climbed from 64 chartering members to 84 alumni brothers. Alumni who haven’t joined are encouraged to reach out to herald@ ucaasigmapi.com for details. 2013 saw the official chartering of the UCAA, as well as a series of social events and an annual survey. 2014 will kick-off with a Founder’s Day dinner on Friday, February 28.

Alumni from Upsilon Chapter at University of California-Los Angeles. From left to right: Don Buchanan (BO, Cal State-Long Beach ’63), James Webb (U, UCLA ’67), Craig Owens (U, UCLA ’63), and Jay Ross (U, UCLA ’92) SPRING 2014

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Alumni

FLASHBACK STORY

Flashback: Upsilon Chapter at University of California-Los Angeles

Alumni from Upsilon Chapter at University of California-Los Angeles. From left to right: Mack Ott (U, UCLA ’65), Craig Owens (U, UCLA ’63), Michael Huttenspiller (U, UCLA ’64), James Cochran (U, UCLA ’65), Ed Cox (U, UCLA ’65), and David Wyland (U, UCLA ’63).

Upsilon Manor hosted a houseload of surfers and Kelps in the early 1960s, and a natural disposition against the University of Southern California. Craig Owens (U, UCLA ’63), remembers when his girlfriend at USC inadvertently told him that a neighboring fraternity house had a huge Trojan banner hung up. Owens gathered a crew for a late-night incursion onto the USC campus, and they had to evade police by hiding in Exposition Park for two hours. The interlopers successfully returned to Westwood with the banner in tow, and hung it upside-down from the Upsilon Manor front balcony. Many Upsilon brothers were members of the Kelps, the “official unofficial spirit disorganization for UCLA athletics.” It was a secretive spirit squad of politically-incorrect men that followed the sports teams at home and on the road with a tap in hand. John Wooden founded the group to provide support at away games with loud fans. Often, it seemed like an extension of Upsilon with keg parties and college fun, wearing their signature blue and gold caps every Friday instead of lavender and gold. “The KELPs are history now, but they were definitely a factor at 612 during the 60’s. Somehow, most of us managed to graduate,” said Owens, who now lives in Clearwater, Florida. “If Wooden had ever dreamt how we would turn out…” Owens was recruited to the fraternity by Chuck Bader (U, UCLA ’62), who was also a distance runner for Coach Elvin “Ducky” Drake (U, UCLA ’27). Drake spent most of his time coaching Rafer Johnson and C.K. Yang for the Olympics, but Bruin freshman coach Greg Dixon was one of the best, too, and Owens lettered in freshman cross country and track. Sigma Pi was actually a good academic decision for Owens, and the older brothers like Sage Mike Peterson (U, UCLA ’62) were stabilizing influences who helped him with his studies and ensured he stayed in school. The backyard surfer band parties are now legendary with the Beach Boys and Bruce Johnston, who recorded his Surfer Stomp album at Upsilon during a party. 50 years later, there is still a connection. “Bruce has been a big part of the Beach Boys for some time. I usually see him, Mike (Love), Al (Jardine) and the group once a year when they perform in Florida,” Owens said. In the 1960s, brothers used to sneak under the railroad tracks into

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the famed Trestles surfing beach to hit that spot. The Marines at Camp Pendleton didn’t like surfers on their turf but the brothers usually made it home safely. Now the beach part of San Onofre State Park and open to the public, where Scott Good (U, UCLA ’95) can still be found on his longboard. Poker games were big, too, and a quiet brother named Tom Miller (U, UCLA ’61) who later became Sage often took home the winnings. “I still think he’s a card shark.” Rick Owens’ rememberances on 1960s “Pajamareno” parties: I don’t think any brother will ever forget the Pajamarenos. Yes, Jim Cochran (U, UCLA ’65) and Ed Cox (U, UCLA ’65) got it half-right about the Beach Boys. In 1962, I was Rush Chair, and our next door friends Phi Kapp had AnneMargaret perform at one of their notorious Rush pool parties. I told Chuck Bader and Mike Peterson that I may be able to get Mike Love and the Beach Boys to play the same night. I ran track with Mike at Dorsey H.S. in south L.A. Although they had just released their first song, “Surfin’”, I knew their dance card was not full. The Beach Boys showed up 1 hour late in a ’49 Chevy and hustled their equipment in. It was the original crew: Mike Love, Brian Wilson, Dennis Wilson, Carl Wilson and Al Jardin, and we paid them $50. Only 8 guys were doing the surfers’ stomp in our backyard, and Phi Kapp had a line out the door for Anne-Margaret. Mike Peterson, the Sage, said, “Owens, these guys suck,” and instead watched Anne-Margaret over the fence. Prologue: Two weeks later, “Surfin’” broke into the Top-10, and it’s been history ever since. Later that night, someone threw yellow dye into the Phi Kapp pool. The perpetrators have never been found. Past Sage Mike Peterson died too young, after earning a Ph.D. in biochemistry. He worked for the pharmaceutical company Pfizer, serving God and man trying to find cures for the common cold and cancer. Bruce Johnston was a fixture at UCLA afternoon beer busts jamming in the backyard during the 1960s. Because of his popularity, he was an honorary inductee into the Kelps. Owens attended Mike Love’s recent wedding in Nevada. Mike Love, Al Jardin, Brian Wilson and Bruce Johnston still play together as the Beach Boys. a

Michigan Technological University

alumniservices

Brothers,

The Executive Office is currently searching for candidates for several alumni volunteer positions. We are in need of more Chapter Directors and Province Archons. If you, or someone you know, is interested in helping our undergraduate chapters grow stronger by volunteering your time and energy in filling one of these positions, please contact Jason Beck, Director of Alumni Services at jbeck@sigmapi.org. He will provide you with the official application form to begin the process.

Province Archons Needed: • Northern California Province Covers chapters at Cal-Berkeley, San Jose State, Chico State, Santa Clara, and Santa Cruz • Southern California Province Covers chapters at UCLA, Cal Poly, Santa Barbara, Cal State Dominguez Hills, Cal State Long Beach, and Irvine

Chapter Directors Needed: • St. Joseph’s University (Theta-Chi Chapter) • Ursinus Collge (Theta-Sigma Chapter) • Elon University (Espilon-Theta Chapter) • Southern Arkansas University (Espilon-Kappa Chapter) • Michigan Technological University (Zeta-Epsilon Chapter)

• North Carolina Province Covers chapters at North Carolina State, Duke, Wake Forest, and Elon

• University of Wisconsin – Oshkosh (Gamma-Mu Chapter)

• Missouri Province Missouri S&T, Drury, Missouri Southern State, and Missouri State

• Penn College (Theta-Phi Chapter)

• Arkansas Province Southern Arkansas, Louisiana Tech, Arkansas, Arkansas Tech, and Arkansas State

• University of Central Missouri (Gamma-Gamma Chapter) • Carleton University (Eta-Rho Chapter) • University of California - Santa Cruz (Iota-Eta Chapter) • University of California – Berkeley (Iota Chapter) • Southern Illinois University - Carbondale (Beta-Nu Chapter) • University of Arkansas (Alpha-Sigma Chapter)

Colony Directors Needed: • California State University - Fullerton • Colorado State University

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Alumni

NOTEBOOK PHOTO FLASHBACK Do you know which chapter this is from, or any of the brothers pictured? If so, email us at emerald@sigmapi.org

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Obituaries

ADYTUM ON HIGH Arkansas State University Alpha-Pi Chapter Thomas E. Allen ‘65 Francis J. Gregson ‘65 Lad B. Logan ‘56 Charles D. Watson ‘50 Robert H. Wilmoth ‘49 Ball State University Delta-Nu Chapter Michael T. McAlister ‘95 Beloit College Alpha-Theta Chapter Geoffrey G. Stoddart ‘66 California State University-Fullerton Epsilon-Nu Chapter Joseph W. Conway ‘80 Dennis V. Varela ‘86 John M. Metzcus ‘95 Central Michigan University Delta-Alpha Chapter John W. Tucker ‘89 Clemson University Eta-Psi Chapter George M. Hermiston ‘00 Drexel University Beta-Theta Chapter Joseph E. Fisher ‘70 Donald C. Stouffer ‘61 Fairleigh Dickinson University-Madison Epsilon-Xi Chapter Geoffrey J. Lambert ‘85 Indiana University Beta Chapter William E. Anderson ‘60 Michael S. Bische ‘98 Robert J. Parrish ‘38 William H. Steinhagen ‘68 Louisiana Tech University Delta-Lambda Chapter Ronald H. Thompson ‘61 Missouri State University Alpha-Rho Chapter William F. Cain ‘55 Monmouth University Delta-Beta Chapter Jerome C. Messana ‘10 Francis J. Schmidt ‘69 Morehead State University Delta-Rho Chapter Charles E. Tackett ‘73

North Carolina State University Rho Chapter William W. Halsey ‘52

University of California-Berkeley Iota Chapter Serapio R. Zalba ‘50

North Carolina Wesleyan College Zeta-Sigma Chapter John W. Fentress ‘93

University of Central Missouri Gamma-Gamma Chapter James Ulchinsky ‘68

Northern Arizona University Beta-Iota Chapter Dean S. Stout ‘56

University of Georgia Alpha-Phi Chapter Hoyle B. Puckett ‘48

Ohio Northern University Zeta Chapter Daniel H. Aultman ‘62

University of Maryland - College Park Alpha-Chi Chapter James L. Hills ‘54

Ohio Northern University Zeta Chapter Clarence E. Calli ‘55 Lem McManness ‘43

University of Rhode Island Alpha-Upsilon Chapter Joseph A. Carano ‘52 William G. Pimental ‘65 Issac Volkmar ‘13

Ohio State University Gamma Chapter Thomas E. Fletcher ‘11 Mark W. Gogel ‘88 Robert A. Pinter Oregon State University Omega Chapter Richard A. Hill ‘56 Pennsylvania State University Theta Chapter Alec D. Azarian ‘00 Carl W. Sherman ‘48

University of Southern California Zeta-Lambda Chapter Thomas L. Bruner ‘92 University of Utah Pi Chapter John B. Giles ‘51 Edward H. Tuttle ‘52 University of Virginia Beta-Pi Chapter Allen R. Cross ‘62

Rochester Institute of Technology Beta-Phi Chapter David C. Adams ‘61

University of Washington Alpha-Gamma Chapter George J. Carter ‘54 Franklin M. Kilpatrick ‘56

Rutgers State University of New Jersey Gamma-Eta Chapter Jeffrey M. Daly ‘68

University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh Gamma-Mu Chapter Frank W. Unger ‘75

Salem-Teikyo University Delta-Mu Chapter Raymon A. Shields

Valparaiso University Beta-Tau Chapter Wolfram H. Enseleit ‘73

San Diego State University Alpha-Omega Chapter Randolph W. Raycroft ‘66

Wake Forest University Alpha-Nu Chapter Wray E. Bradley ‘44

Southern Illinois University At Carbondale Beta-Nu Chapter Jonathan A. Spencer ‘97

West Chester University Zeta-Alpha Chapter Travis L. Jackson ‘09

St. Lawrence University Alpha-Zeta Chapter Lawrence C. Macrow ‘69

Worcester Polytechnic Institute Gamma-Iota Chapter Van F. Bluemel Terrance F. Bulger ‘70

Temple University Kappa Chapter Raymond Zekas ‘56

York College of Pennsylvania Eta-Theta Chapter Patrick E. Ryan ‘94

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Fraternity Expansion

CHAPTER CHARTERING COLONIZATIONS

COLONY ST. JOHN’S UNIVERSITY

Start

spreading the news! On February 23rd, 2014 the St. John’s University colony of Sigma Pi colonized with 35 members. Through tabling, student organization presentations, sorority outreach, hosting interest sessions, and developing a thorough names list the expansion team were able to pinpoint leaders within student government, honorary societies, resident assistants, as well as key members in multiple student organizations. Michael Davis (IK, Central Florida ’13), Expansion Consultant and Manager for the project, will be working with the colony throughout the semester to train the colony members and acclimate them into what it truly means to be a Sigma Pi. The colony has a notable group of alumni and volunteers dedicated to fostering the growth of the colony while pushing the members to reach their goals. These alumni include Derick Rheaume, Colony Director, Maggie Bach, the former Greek life advisor for St John’s, and multiple alumni involved in the New York City alumni club. These individuals will bring an interdisciplinary

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perspective, along with a multitude of experiences, to assist a group of gentlemen loyal to our values and best practices. The diverse group of student leaders will work alongside each other as founding fathers towards the goal of chartering while sparking a positive impact at St. John’s and the surrounding community. With the Executive Council and chairmen already chosen, the colony has hit the ground running with an unstoppable momentum. Executive Officers are: Jason Pawlikowski, President; Tyler DeFranco, Vice President; Michael Guttentag, Treasurer; Yougnand Paul, Secretary; Sergeant-at-Arms, Andrew Calvano; and Jeremy Ashton, Historian. The group has continued to recruit and grow larger in size throughout the semester and is already making a large impact on the campus by creating relationships with administrators, sororities, fraternities, and other student organizations. Let’s welcome these gentlemen to their Quest for Excellence in the city that never sleeps. a

COLONY UNIVERSITY OF SAN DIEGO

March, 1st, 2014, forty-five men took their oath to become Founding Fathers of the recolonized Epsilon-Chi Colony at the University of San Diego. The recolonization of Epsilon-Chi marks the return of Sigma Pi to one of the most prestigious Universities in California, a University Sigma Pi has not been at for 20 years. The members are already excited about creating a new image for fraternity life at University of San Diego, and are dedicated to creating a stronger and positive presence for Sigma Pi at USD. Many alumni, faculty members, and student leaders attended the colonization ceremony to congratulate the men on this momentous act. A group of EpsilonChi Founding Fathers who were an integral part in the chapter’s founding in 1983, were in attendance including Steve Gauvin and Founding Sage Mike McGuire. PGS John Merino (BO, CSU-Long Beach ’58) and PGS Larry Rovira (EN, CSU-Fullerton ’85) along with Grand 3rd Counselor Brian Devot (BO, CSU-Long Beach ’00) were also in attendance. PGS Merino and PGS Rovira helped charter the original group in 1983, thus it was a symbolic moment for them to be part of the recolonization of Epsilon-Chi. Alpha Phi and Alpha Delta Pi leaders as well as the Inter-Fraternity Council President Spencer Montoya and Pan Hellenic President Katelyn McCullough were in attendance to congratulate the men and express their excitement to welcome Sigma Pi into the Greek Community at USD.

After colonization, officers were chosen by Senior Expansion Consultants Nick Lorenzini (IE, Oregon ’12) and Ryan Armstrong (X, Iowa ’12). The Executive Council will consist of President Michael Muna, Vice President Patrick Vogt, Treasurer Sean Curran, Secretary Andrew Torre, Sergeant at Arms Nick Baker, and Historian Blake Busby. The colony left for Spring Break and when they return to school on March 17th will begin operating as a colony and participating in University events. They are paired with Alpha Phi and Sigma Theta Psi for Greek Week and have a representative already chosen for Kappa Alpha Theta’s Mr. University. Epsilon-Chi is excited to return from Spring Break and display to the University and community the positive impact they are striving to have on campus. The men are already beginning to create the events they wish to hold and actions they wish to take that will enable Sigma Pi to leave a lasting and positive impact for all to experience. The return of Sigma Pi to University of San Diego represents the many positive accomplishments coming from our fraternity in the state of California and across the country. a

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Fraternity Expansion

CHAPTER CHARTERING FUTURE

ANNOUNCEMENT OF EXPANSION EFFORTS The Sigma Pi Executive Office is proud to announce our slate of expansion for the 2014-2015 academic year!

FALL 2014 EXPANSIONS University of Kentucky - Epsilon-Beta (re-colonization) This expansion marks a return to the University of Kentucky, where Sigma Pi originally chartered on October 20, 1973. The chapter had a previous history that included winning a Grand Council Award as a top 12 chapter of Sigma Pi in 1986 and 2000. The return of Epsilon-Beta will give the largest concentration of chapters (5) within the state of Kentucky that Sigma Pi has ever seen. For more information on the upcoming expansion at the University of Kentucky please visit the Epsilon-Beta Expansion page of our website. You can also follow the expansion and recolonization on Facebook. In addition, Sigma Pi would like to announce that Ryan Khuri (IO, Louisville â&#x20AC;&#x2122;12) has been selected as the Colony Director for the Epsilon-Beta Colony. Ryan Khuri is a graduate of the University of Louisville and a founding father of the Iota-Omicron Chapter.

After graduating, Ryan worked for the Sigma Pi Executive Office as an expansion consultant. In that position, he completed expansions to recolonize at Central Michigan University (Delta-Alpha Colony) and Missouri State University (Alpha-Rho Colony). Additionally, he helped support many other chapters across the country. Ryan is currently completing his first year at the University of Kentucky Ryan Khuri College Of Law. To reach Ryan, please (IO, Louisville â&#x20AC;&#x2122;12) contact him at epsilonbetacd@sigmapi.org.

Colorado State University - Eta-Sigma (re-colonization) The Sigma Pi Executive Office is excited to announce the return to Colorado State University in the fall semester of 2014. Originally chartered on April 24, 1993, the Eta-Sigma chapter won the Grand Council Award as a top 12 chapter of Sigma Pi in 1986. This expansion and re-colonization will mark the return of a second chapter in the state of Colorado and will allow for a friendly rivalry to be renewed with the chapter at the University of ColoradoBoulder (Zeta-Delta). For more information on the upcoming expansion at Colorado State please visit

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the Eta-Sigma Expansion page of our website. You can also follow the expansion and re-colonization on Facebook. The Sigma Pi Executive Office will be making a visit to Ft Collins March 31-April 2 to meet with the university and area alumni to prepare for the upcoming expansion. If you are interested in getting involved in the alumni advisory board at CSU please contact the Colorado Province Archon Kyle Koelbel at COPA@sigmapi.org.

FOR 2014-2015 ACADEMIC YEAR SPRING 2015 EXPANSIONS Arizona State University - Beta-Kappa (re-colonization) A return to Beta-Kappa represents a return to the state of Arizona for Sigma Pi, where we have not had a presence since the spring of 2012. Originally chartered April 20, 1951 this re-colonization effort will serve as a rebirthing for Sigma Pi in the state; with the reformation of the Arizona Alumni club, Sigma Pi hopes to strengthen the organized presence in the Phoenix area, this will allow for members of Sigma Pi in Arizona to continue their experience as members of our organization and will also allow for the consideration of future expansion in the state. For more information on the upcoming expansion at Arizona State University please visit the Beta-Kappa Expansion page of our website. You can also follow the expansion and re-colonization on Facebook. Additionally, Sigma Pi is proud to announce that Adrian Rodgers (Beta-Kappa, Arizona State ‘10) has been selected as the Colony Director for the re- colonization of Beta-Kappa at Arizona State. Originally from Gilbert, Arizona, he received his BS in Finance from the W.P. Carey School of Business at Arizona State in 2010. Adrian served first as treasurer of Beta-Kappa, where he was recognized as Greek Life Junior of the Year, and later as president.

Upon graduation, he was selected to serve on the staff of the Executive Office as an Expansion Consultant where he conducted on-site recruitment efforts at the University of Missouri, Southern Illinois – Carbondale, and Duke University. He was elevated to the role of Director of Expansion in 2011. He left the Executive Office team in 2012 to join a franchise group of Ameriprise Financial in Mesa, Adrian Rodgers Arizona where he worked as an investment (BK, Arizona State ’10) associate. He has recently moved to the J.P. Morgan Private Bank in Scottsdale, Arizona where he works as a part of a team that services ultra-high net worth clients. Adrian has participated as both an undergraduate and Executive Office staff member at Sigma Pi University, the Mid-Year Leadership Conference, and UIFI. To reach Adrian, please contact him at betakappacd@sigmapi.org.

To get more information on these and other expansion/re-colonization efforts, please visit the Sigma Pi Expansion page of our international website by clicking here. From there, please click on the university logo you are interested in learning more about.

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Fraternity Expansion

CHAPTER CHARTERING

ALPHA-RHO COLONY AT MISSOURI STATE UNIVERSITY APPROVED FOR CHARTERING ANNOUNCEMENT: The Grand Council has approved the petition to charter from Alpha-Rho Colony at Missouri State University. The founding fathers at Missouri State have worked tirelessly since their colonization towards the goal of chartering, and they are now prepared to move forward as a chapter of Sigma Pi! Alpha-Rho Chapter of Sigma Pi Fraternity, International will be installed and the 54 founding fathers will be initiated on Saturday, April 5th, 2014. All initiated undergraduate and alumni members of Sigma Pi are encouraged to attend the initiation. All initiated brothers and new members of Sigma Pi, Missouri State faculty and staff - as well as parents and friends of the members of Alpha-Rho Chapter are encouraged to attend the banquet.

Please RSVP on or before Monday, March 31st. You can do so by CLICKING HERE or by going to the joinsigmapi.com page and clicking on the Missouri State logo. This link also includes details regarding the initiation and banquet, including time, date, location, RSVP information, and directions. Any further questions should be directed to Zach Spillner, Director of Expansion, at zspillner@sigmapi.org. Congratulations to our newest brothers of the soonto-be Alpha-Rho Chapter of Sigma Pi Fraternity! a

KEENE STATE COLLEGE COLONY APPROVED FOR CHARTERING ANNOUNCEMENT: The Grand Council has approved the petition to charter from the Keene State Colony at Keene State College. The founding fathers have worked very hard towards the goal of chartering, and they are now prepared to move forward as a chapter of Sigma Pi!

Iota-Rho Chapter of Sigma Pi Fraternity, International will be installed and the 38 founding fathers at Keene State will be initiated on Saturday, April 26th, 2014. More details regarding the initiation and chartering

will be available soon by CLICKING HERE or by going to the joinsigmapi.com page and clicking on the Keene State logo.

Any further questions should be directed to Ryan Armstrong, Senior Expansion Consultant, at rarmstrong@sigmapi.org. Congratulations to our newest brothers of the soonto-be Iota-Rho Chapter of Sigma Pi Fraternity! a

DELTA-ALPHA COLONY AT CENTRAL MICHIGAN UNIVERSITY APPROVED FOR CHARTERING ANNOUNCEMENT: The Grand Council has approved the petition to charter from the DeltaAlpha Colony at Central Michigan University. The founding fathers at Delta-Alpha have exceeded all expectations and after only 12 months as a colony they are now prepared to move forward as a chapter of Sigma Pi! Delta-Alpha Chapter of Sigma Pi Fraternity, International will be installed and the 58 founding fathers at Central Michigan will be initiated on Saturday, April 12th, 2014. More details regarding the initiation and chartering

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SPRING 2014

will be available soon by CLICKING HERE or by going to the joinsigmapi.com page and clicking on the Central Michigan logo.

Any further questions should be directed to Zach Spillner, Director of Expansion at Zspillner@sigmapi.org. Congratulations to our newest brothers of the soonto-be Delta-Alpha Chapter of Sigma Pi Fraternity! a

The Emerald

PHOTO FINISH “At Sigma Pi, our creed stresses ‘United in Brotherhood.’ At Florida State, we strive every day to live up to that statement. Everything we do promotes brotherhood within the chapter. To further that bond we decided to try something a little different. At the beginning of the spring 2014 semester, we embarked on a new type of brotherhood bonding experience: a paintball tournament. After a long day, and countless welts later, we made it safely back to the fraternity house, bringing with us new stories and experiences that deepened the bond we all share. With how well we enjoyed this event, we decided to commemorate it as the Sigma Pi Semiannual Brotherhood Paintball Tournament.” - Sage Berger (HE, Florida State ’16)

Photo Finish is an opportunity to feature unique, high quality photographs of Sigma Pi in the lives our brothers. Clear, high resolution photos may be submitted to emerald@sigmapi.org. SPRING 2014

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