The Emerald, Winter 2006 by Sigma Pi Fraternity

EMERALD www.sigmapi.org • The ofﬁcial publication of Sigma Pi Fraternity • Winter 2006

DESIGNS ON FRENCH LICK

Emerald of Sigma Pi Fraternity

LEADERSHIP

MESSAGE

EMERALD

PUBLISHED SINCE 1911

Dear Brothers: To the best of our memory this is the first time the Grand Sage of Sigma Pi Fraternity and the Chairman of the Sigma Pi Educational Foundation have written a joint message in the Emerald. It just seemed natural that we do so at this point since the two organizations have the same basic goals and objectives and are working so well together to promote and achieve the greatest possible fraternal experience for all our brothers. The Fraternity’s purposes are to perpetuate our brotherhood by creating “A New Generation of Leaders” through service to our undergraduates and by providing sup- Kitch Moore port and opportunity for our alumni so that they may continue to enjoy the benefits of membership in our great organization. The purpose of the Educational Foundation is to raise money through donations from our loyal members, to provide scholarships to deserving brothers and to provide grants to the Fraternity for a wide array of educational programs such as the AWARE Program, the Midyear Leadership Conference and Sigma Pi University. The Fraternity and the Foundation are so intertwined in our efforts that it seemed fitting for us to report together on our aspirations for Sigma Pi. What is this “New Generation of Leaders” about which you hear so much? Why have we selected that phrase as our slogan? It’s simple. A major focus of our Fraternity and Foundation is to prepare our undergraduate brothers for success after graduation, and more than just success – for excellence. This begins with the cornerstone of all we do, the Sigma Pi Creed. It is not by accident that the Creed centers on truth, justice, scholarship, chivalry, culture and character, nor is it by chance that we are asked to make these ideals real in our daily lives. But that’s not all. We teach life skills as well. An article titled “The Psychology of Success” in a recent issue of Inc. Magazine discussed what makes the CEOs of some organizations highly successful, more so than their peers. Among the traits found in these leaders were the ability to face adversity with confidence, to manage and mitigate risk, to set goals and do what is necessary to reach them, to think strategically and analytically, and to support those around them through positive communication and encouragement. Much of our joint effort as a Fraternity and Foundation must be to help our undergraduate brothers develop these skills so that when they leave school they are prepared to make a positive mark on the world. We also celebrate and serve our alumni. Another major purpose of our two organizations is to keep our brothers “in the fold” after graduation. This issue of the Emerald has many articles about successful alumni brothers, and we would bet that many of the achievements about which you will read are grounded in lessons learned in these men’s respective chapters. Together we support and help create alumni clubs, both those oriented to support a specific chapter and those for a given region, we host regional alumni events so brothers may gather in fellowship and fun, and we send this magazine to every Sigma Pi brother to share the Fraternity’s good news. Each brother has great value and can be a valuable part of the success story that is Sigma Pi. Our undergraduates provide us with continuity by recruiting new men of quality to perpetuate our Fraternity’s existence and to give us older members a sense of place when we return to visit our colleges and universities. They help provide us with the necessary resources to operate an effective Executive Office, both through their financial support and through becoming exceptional staff members upon graduation. Our alumni brothers volunteer their time and resources to serve as chapter directors, province archons, members of alumni advisory boards, hosts for regional alumni events, hosts for golf tournaments benefiting our undergraduates through scholarships, and as Trustees of the Educational Foundation and members of the Grand Council. They also contribute generously financially, joining the Brotherhood of the Golden Cross at various levels of giving, including the Educational Foundation and Fraternity in their wills, and participating in the Annual Campaign. For each of you, both undergraduate and alumnus, who has helped Sigma Pi reach greatness, thank you. For those who have yet to help, please consider giving of your time, talent and treasure. Sigma Pi has been and is now there for you; be there for Sigma Pi. Please make a contribution today to the Sigma Pi Educational Foundation, and thanks!

Fraternally,

John D. Kitch Grand Sage

Thomas A. Moore Chairman, SPEF

THANKS: Sigma Pi would like to thank Katherine Cofer and the New Smyrna Beach Observer in New Smyrna Beach, Florida, the Echoes-Setinel Newspaper from Stirling, New Jersey, Vincennes University, University of Alabama – Huntsville, New Orleans Convention and Visitors Bureau, and the Arizona Museum Memorial Association for the use of pictures and articles in this issue of the Emerald.

VOLUME 91, NUMBER 1 • WINTER 2006 EDITORIAL STAFF Brian C. Alley (Α, Vincennes ’03) Managing Editor Mark S. Briscoe (ΑΠ, Arkansas ’82) Business Manager VOLUNTEER STAFF Adam Shores (ΔΨ, Troy ’98), Chairman Chris Munschek (ΒΝ, S.Ill.-Carbondale ’97) Larry Rovira (ΕΝ, Cal State - Fullerton ’85) Jeffrey Seay (ΗΕ, Florida State ’91) CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Jeremy Boyd (ΘΛ, Radford ‘05) Jim DiVita (ΖΜ, Michigan State ’04) Douglas Finnan (Α, Vincennes ’01) Robert Kinzler (ΑΜ, NJIT ’49) Alan Moore (ΕΠ, Christopher Newport ’05) Greg Ritchie (ΔΖ, Missouri – St. Louis ‘98) Paul Wydra (ΔΖ, Missouri – St. Louis ‘01)

Sigma Pi Fraternity was founded at Vincennes University, Vincennes, Indiana, on February 26, 1897. Sigma Pi has chartered more than 200 chapters in North America and has initiated more than 84,000 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) Emerald of Sigma Pi Fraternity (ISSN 1074-5289, USPS 011-013) has been published since 1911. Emerald is published quarterly by Sigma Pi Fraternity, P. O. Box 1897, Brentwood, Tennessee, and additional mailing ofﬁces. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to SIGMA PI FRATERNITY, P. O. Box 1897, Brentwood, TN 37024. 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. Submission Deadlines: Spring December 10 Summer March 10 Fall May 10 Winter September 10 Submit Emerald news to: Sigma Pi Fraternity, Attention: Emerald P. O. Box 1897, Brentwood, TN 37204 Telephone: (615) 373-5728 Fax: (615) 373-8949 Email: emerald@sigmapi.org

Member, North-American Interfraternity Conference

Member, College Fraternity Editors Association

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Designs on French Lick Theta-Sigma Chartering Theta-Tau Chartering Moses will deliver McCarty finds weather gems Alumnus leads effort for Pearl Harbor NJIT Alumnus honored for service

departments 2

EXECUTIVE

NEWS FROM OUR

6Epsilon-Kappa brothers Billy Penick and Matt Johnson won 1st place in the schools annual Great Inter-Greek Canoe Race last spring.

6Theta-Sigma Chapter at Ursinus during a workshop with Past Grand Sages John Williams, Frank Fryburg, and Don Cox.

features

[ WINTE R 2 0 06 ]

OFFICE NEWS

CAMPUS

NEWS FROM

ADYTUM

CHAPTERS

EXPANSION ALUMNI

ON HIGH

48th Biennial Convocation August 2-6, 2006 New Orleans Marriott

Winter 2006 â&#x20AC;˘ www.sigmapi.org

Contact: Jonathan Frost, jfrost@sigmapi.org, (800) 332-1897 Convocation Hotel: New Orleans Marriott, 555 Canal Street

Convocation on the Bayou

4FOR MORE INFORMATION, VISIT WWW.SIGMAPI.ORG/CONVOCATION OR CALL (800) 332-1897

Emerald of Sigma Pi Fraternity

2 EXECUTIVE

OFFICE NEWS

Brothers becoming AWARE The Executive Office is always busy looking into new educational programs and ideas that will help our chapters and brothers become better Sigma Pi’s. This past year we were able to reach out to our alumni to help with our newest program: the AWARE Program. The AWARE Program is Sigma Pi’s very own Alcohol Awareness Program that was created through a joint effort between our alumni and the Executive Office. Our goal was to help educate our brothers on some of the dangers associated with alcohol and binge drinking. Through the information gathered from our alumni in the various fields of law and medicine, we were able to help provide our members with a wide range of information. The topics that are included in the three-part program include: alcohol poisoning, legal ramifications and other health complications. One of the workshops discusses the Samantha Spady tragedy at our Eta-Sigma Chapter at Colorado State University that happened in September of 2004. This program also urges our members to distribute the Sam Spady cards which have information on the warning signs to watch for with alcohol poisoning and the steps to take to get help. The other two workshops help provide information on the cost and legal ramifications associated with underage drinking and driving while intoxicated and some of the long term side-effects associated with alcohol and the body. Many Sigma Pi’s have

already conducted these workshops in their chapters, province workshops and for the campus community. The feedback we have received has been amazing and we are thankful for the alumni that helped out: 4 J. David Edwards (ΕΠ, Christopher Newport ‘96), Past Assistant Executive Director 4Matthew Johnson (ΘΒ, Saginaw Valley ‘03), Past Educational Leadership Consultant 4T. Michael Anderton (ΑΔ, Auburn ’74) 4Paxton Fritch (ΗΡ, Carleton ’97) 4Pete Frederick (ΓΠ, Indiana State ’87)

Changes at the Executive Ofﬁce Sigma Pi’s expansion department has slightly changed since the fall. Expansion Consultant, Douglas Finnan (A, Vincennes ’01) and Senior Educational Leadership Consultant, Jim DiVita (ZM, Michigan State ’04) have swapped positions at the conclusion of the fall 2005 semester. Douglas will now be visiting the west region chapters as their new ELC, as Jim will join Paul Wydra, Jeremy Boyd, Greg Ritchie, and Alan Moore in the expansion department. Finnan and DiVita

4Dr. Philip Leake (ΕΙ, Cal State - Northridge ’83) 4Jeremiah S. Anders, M.D. (ΕΓ, Illinois Wesleyan ’98) 4Chris Barnes, M.D. (ΑΝ, Wake Forest ’00) 4James Nee, M.D. (Φ, Illinois ’95)

Thank you Brothers A few months ago we asked for your assistance in a national grassroots campaign of letter writing by all fraternities and sororities in support of the Collegiate Housing and Infrastructure Act of 2005 (H.R. 1548 in the House of Representatives and S.713 in the Senate). If passed, this legislation will fundamentally improve the ability of college fraternities to improve our student housing. Sigma Pi Fraternity was just one of 100 national fraternities and sororities that wrote Congress in support of the bills. During two weeks in September, we were able to collect over 100 letters from undergraduates and alumni in support of this measure. Thanks to everyone who helped in this important cause. Fraternally,

Brian Alley Editor

Lead. Experience. Inspire.

Receive Sigma Pi email messages

We want to be sure you are kept up-to-date with all Sigma Pi communications, and to do this you may need to check your email controls. As many of you know, spam is an increasing problem for email users, thus many of you have set up controls to keep from being inundated with these types of messages. When setting up these email controls, please be sure you have a window to allow Sigma Pi email. We rely heavily on email to send timely information out to our volunteers and chapters in a cost effective manner, and we need to be sure you are receiving the messages. There are also occasions when we need to send important messages to our entire membership. Here are the emails you need to be sure to set up as friendly/accepted emails: 1. sigmapi@sigmapi.org This is the address many of our emails will be coming from using our html email system. 2. sigmapihq@sigmapi.org This

is another address that many of our emails will be coming from using our html email system. 3. edfound@sigmapi.org This is an additional address that many of the Education Foundation emails will be coming from using the same html email system. 4. Any email address ending in sigmapi.org. Our staff will often send emails from their own email accounts and you will need to “friendly accept” these email addresses. The ﬁrst three email addresses come from a separate server, and depending on how your spam control is set, they may not be listed separately in your friend/accepted email list. The way you set these preferences varies, depending on who you use as an email provider and what types of spam control you have added to your computer. Check with your email services, and they will be able to help you get your controls set properly for you to receive the emails you want.

News from the Communications Department This is the second issue of The Emerald produced by our new Communications staff. We hope you enjoy the changes we are making to make your magazine more enjoyable and easier to read. We plan to use this same space in every issue to let you know the stories we are working on and how you can help us. We welcome your suggestions. Stories we are working on include:

How to submit photos: 4Traditional ﬁlm photos or digital images printed on professional photo paper work best. We cannot use digital pictures printed on your home printer or color copier. 4We can accept high-resolution

4We can always use great photos of members wearing the Sigma Pi badge and letters. Keep your background as uncluttered as possible. Remember, we do not print any photographs that show members holding alcoholic beverages or making inappropriate gestures. Send your story ideas, pictures, and suggestions to: Sigma Pi Fraternity Attn: Emerald Post Ofﬁce Box 1897 Brentwood, TN 37024 emerald@sigmapi.org

Do any of these words jump out at you?

If so, then you should consider applying to become an Educational Leadership Consultant (ELC) for the 2006-2007 academic year.

The role of an ELC is to lead undergraduate ofﬁcers and members in creating the ﬁnest and most rewarding college chapter experience. ELCs travel to Sigma Pi chapters across the United States and Canada, teaching, training, educating, and inspiring the men they come in contact with.

ELCs begin their traveling year at the beginning of July and travel through the end of April. During an extensive training period in July and early August, they learn to create and lead workshops, facilitate small and large group discussions, teach problem-solving techniques, assimilate to different environments quickly, and communicate with collegians and volunteers on a regular basis. ELCs also meet and network with numerous alumni while traveling for the Fraternity.

Becoming and ELC is a wonderful opportunity. If you are a graduating senior and are looking for an exciting job that will teach you a number of skills and help you grow and develop as an individual, apply to the educational leadership consultant program. Applications and additional information on the program is available in the Executive Ofﬁce section of www.sigmapi.org. Applications are also being accepted for Colony Development Consultants and Expansion Consultants.

Winter 2006 • www.sigmapi.org

4Diversity within Sigma Pi 4Sigma Pi’s in politics/government 4Sigma Pi’s in sports 4Sigma Pi’s in entertainment

digital images (above 300dpi) by email. These must be a .tif or .jpg ﬁles in PC (IBM) format. For best results, use a camera with at least 4.0 mega pixels set on its highest resolution setting (usually “for enlargements”).

Experience Travel. Educate. Encourage Travel Grow. Teach. Learn. Develop. Learn

Applications/supporting materials must be received no later than March 15, 2006. Questions may be addressed to Jonathan Frost, jfrost@sigmapi.org, or (800) 332-1897.

Emerald of Sigma Pi Fraternity

4 NEWS FROM OUR

CHAPTERS Chapter News Editorial Policy Submitted news should be 100-150 words long and contain information about positive chapter events, community service efforts, ACE Projects, gatherings and other notable happenings. Other news items are accepted but will be judged on their level of interest to the entire brotherhood. Electronic submissions are given the highest priority and should be filled out online or emailed directly to emerald@sigmapi.org. Digital photos should be at least 300dpi in resolution. Hard copies can be sent to The Emerald, Post Office Box 1897, Brentwood, TN 37024. High-quality 4” x 6” or larger photos are preferred. Photos should not contain alcohol or other unsuitable content, and not all photos will be printed. Hard-copy photos will not be returned, but will be placed in the chapter archives at the Executive Office.

Epsilon-Beta (Kentucky) during a retreat and workshop earlier this fall.

Alabama Theta-Omicron Chapter The fall semester went very well. We were very successful in recruiting a promising pledge class. Our brothers have also been very busy both on campus and out in the community. Several of our brothers have been volunteering with the Red Cross. Many others have been, donating blood, and giving toys to the Salvation Army. We can only hope that our spring semester can be as rewarding as the fall. David May, Herald, thetaomicron@sigmapi.org

Arizona Theta-Pi Chapter As Theta-Pi Chapter began their ﬁrst semester as a chartered chapter, it is growing in numbers at a very steady rate and is very excited about the brand new Alpha Pledge Class of 30. The Alpha Pledge Class is also looking forward to participating in Greek Life here at the U of A and Sigma Pi was deﬁnitely the right direc-

tion to take because of the reputation on campus as gentlemen who treat every sorority woman with respect. The Chapter House is just being ﬁnished with renovations that have been taking place since last spring. There will be a working kitchen with a cook preparing meals for actives and pledges Monday through Friday. Theta-Pi is also actively taking part in the relief towards victims of Hurricane Katrina by making wristbands that read “WildKats for Katrina” and selling them on campus and to local businesses for two dollars and are looking to make a $5,000 donation to the relief effort. Rick Michlig, Herald, thetapi@sigmapi.org

Arizona State Beta-Kappa Chapter Beta-Kappa Chapter is ready for a great start and is ready to pick up where it left off last semester. We have a great schedule set up for rush, and we are ready to pick up the best guys on campus. The guys are excited for

the socials we have planned, and are ready to give back to the community in our community service events. We look forward to concentrating on getting more alumni support than we have in the past, forming a better bond between the past and present Sigma Pi’s. Adam Velazco, Herald, betakappa@sigmapi.org

Arkansas State Alpha-Pi Chapter Alpha-Pi chapter inducted 17 men Sept. 9 into the ranks of pledge ship in our Fraternity. This great class has rekindled the ﬁre for Sigma Pi in our brother’s hearts and we are looking forward to our best year ever at Arkansas State University. Brother Mathew Deramus accepted the role of pledge educator and is currently molding leaders on our campus. Brother Andrew Valentine has been hard at work as our new

Epsilon-Rho brothers show their pride during Greek week at Drury University.4

philanthropy chair and plans for an even larger and more successful ACE Project next semester. Raymond Whiteside, Herald, alphapi@sigmapi.org

Chapter reports are those submitted by the September 1st deadline

Auburn Alpha-Delta Chapter Fall 2005 for the Alpha-Delta chapter started off with a successful rush. We were able to recruit 19 ﬁne young gentlemen for the semester. All of which have tremendous potential to brighten the chapter. Sigma Pi of Auburn University is also proud and thrilled to have found such a wonderful new house mother to watch over us. Miss. J. Garrett has already found her place in the Fraternity. We are especially thankful for her help with rush and other events so early on in her position. We are looking forward to having her for years to come. In other news, the house continues to prosper. A$100,000 restoration has taken place which started in early September. The restoration includes a new roof, new carpet for the kitchen and halls, painting on lower and upper levels, a restoration to our house mother’s room, as well as other small improvements. Brian Whitehouse, Herald, alphadelta@sigmapi.org

Bridgewater State Eta-Eta Chapter Eta-Eta welcomes back Michael Scarlett from service in Iraq. This semester has been a busy one for us. Over 200 Philanthropy hours were made just over the summer alone working for the Red Sox Foundation. The chapter works Patriots football every home game. The chapter is bigger than ever before with 10 more pledges this semester. The chapter won “Best Theme” for their homecoming ﬂoat this year. Also we would like to thank Michael Courville for dedicating 2 full years as Sage. Eli Buguey, Herald, etaeta@sigmapi.org

California

Ryan Rudnitsky, Herald, iota@sigmapi.org

Cal State – Chico Theta-Mu Chapter This year, we look to even further improve our chapter. It was difﬁcult but well rewarding task since we have already had such tremendous accomplishments last year. Last year, we had Brother Nick Hollingsworth installed as the IFC President, taking the place of Brother Nick Miller. We can proudly say that we have the head position on IFC for two years straight now. Hoi Cheng, Herald, thetamu@sigmapi.org

Cal State – Dominguez Hills Eta-Iota Chapter The brothers of Eta-Iota Chapter are looking forward to a promising semester towards increasing our chapter numbers. This semester we are doubling our efforts during rush. We plan on taking our rush interests to some of the Southern California Chapters in order to show the rushes that Sigma Pi is truly everywhere. All in all this semester is promising to bring us great success. Jorge A. Flores, Herald, etaiota@sigmapi.org

Cal State – Long Beach Beta-Omicron Chapter School is back in session and we have a whole line up of rush events. We are expecting to rush a very large pledge class with the tactics our brothers learned at Sigma Pi University. After rush, our calendar is loaded with a ton of events. Until next time, good luck in everyone’s endeavors and here’s to another semester of Sigma Pi superiority at Cal State Long Beach. Ross McKee, Herald, betaomicron@sigmapi.org

Cal State – Sacramento Eta-Alpha Chapter Over the past year the Eta-Alpha chapter has undergone several changes

and improvements. The chapter has been taking in a new direction with a new executive council and the brothers are all happy to finally be off of suspension after three years. Among the changes to the executive council the chapter’s previous sage is now the president of the IFC here at CSUS. For the ACE Project our chapter chose to help out the women’s center by passing out flyers for rape awareness. While the Greek system at CSUS does not have fraternity houses our chapter was lucky enough to have two brothers purchase houses near campus during summer, finally giving our chapter a central location and better locations for events. With all of these recent changes, and several perspective members on the horizon, the EtaAlpha chapter is looking forward to a great semester. Jason Farrell, Herald, etakappa@sigmapi.org

Central Michigan Delta-Alpha Chapter Delta-Alpha chapter has been very busy this month. The chapter has started renovations on their house and recruitment is on the verge of being one of the best turnouts in the chapter’s history. The Chapter held a Credit Card fundraiser through campus fundraiser and rasied near $800.00. Delta-Alpha Chapter is donating some of the money to the Hurrican Katrina fund. Jared Chauvin, Herald, deltaalpha@sigmapi.org

Central Missouri State Gamma-Gamma Chapter The men Gamma-Gamma chapter are excited for the start of the new spring semester. We just recently moved to the Fraternity Complex, and with that move we are looking forward to a large rush. We have also begun to form and improve new relations throughout the Greek system. We would like to thank alumni Blair Pierce for his substantial contribution that made our fall rush possible and Jacob Cummings for all of the work that he did to the inside of our new house. Bradley Jaudon, Herald, gammagamma@sigmapi.org

Brothers from Epsilon-Kappa Chapter at Southern Arkansas compete in the annual bed race during family weekend last spring, where they ﬁnished in 2nd place.

Clayton State Colony The Clayton State Colony is back for another exciting year of fraternity action after a loss of a couple of members and a replacement of an ofﬁcer. On Friday, September 9, our colony got together at the local Seriﬁno’s italian restaraunt for our Brotherhood dinner. The dinner was put together by our Brotherhood chairman, Peter Gadja. We had local alumni that included Zach Crosby, Will Rogers, and ‘Sparky’. Also, we had our academic advisor, Jeff Jacobs, included with it. Jason Redd, Historian, clayton@sigmapi.org

Colorado Zeta-Delta Chapter It has been a very productive summer for the brothers of Zeta Delta. Our house has been remodeled in several places including new sod, a horseshoe pit. Also the interior has been completely renovated. Brothers have put in new windows and doors where needed, and have completely re-painted the entire house. Lastly, the entire Zeta-Delta Chapter gives their deepest feelings to the family of Justin Morris who recently passed away. The Chapter’s hearts are with him. Sean Jendry, Herald, zetadelta@sigmapi.org

Winter 2006 • www.sigmapi.org

Iota Chapter This past spring and summer have been ideal. We had a great rushing season. The pledges have all contributed one way or another to the increasing success of Sigma Pi. Our brotherhood trips to Lake Tahoe, The Delta, and Tijuana were memories that will not soon be forgotten. The annual Blizzard

event was a tremendous sensation. Our alumni support also has increased signiﬁcantly, each of them eager to see what new ideas will develop. We are all excited for the upcoming semester and hope that we can top the previous.

Christopher Newport Epsilon-Pi Chapter Epsilon-Pi has started off their 25th anniversary on a great note with an excellent rush program that brought in a total of 8 new pledges, to add to our active chapter of 19 brothcontinued on next page

Emerald of Sigma Pi Fraternity

6 3 Newly chartered Theta-Sigma Chapter (Ursinus) proudly show their ACE Banner after completing their ACE Project last spring where they did a campus wide recycling program.

carry on the name of the Fraternity. At the start of a new semester the Eta-Kappa chapter hopes to develop a strong foundation of brothers to take Sigma Pi into the new school year. Dan Pierce, Herald, etakappa@sigmapi.org

ers. We have been keeping busy as always with over 600 philanthropy hours to include: Hampton Roads’ Bay Days, the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society’s Light the Night, and the Mayﬂower Marathon. With this year marking our 25th anniversary were hoping to have a record setting Founders Day celebration held on April 8, 2006, at the Norfolk Sheraton Waterside Hotel, and would appreciate anyone’s support in making this a special year for all of us. We are encouraging all alumni and Brothers from other chapters to attend, and show their support for our chapter. For more information check out our website at http://groups.yahoo. com/group/Epsilon-Pi-Chapter or contact Dave Edwards at (757) 303-0516. We plan on making this year and the years to come even more memorable then our ﬁrst 25. Matthew Clark, Herald, epsilonpi@sigmapi.org

Detroit Mercy Gamma-Alpha Chapter The Gamma-Alpha Chapter has had a productive summer and a promising kickoff to the new school year. During the break, the chapter put countless hours into renovations at the house including acomplete remodeling of the bathrooms. Though the Gamma-Alpha Chapter has just begun the ﬁrst term with a deferred rush at Detroit Mercy, there are already plenty of new faces around the house who aspire to become Pi’s. The Brothers are taking new steps to build a larger and more positive inﬂuence on campus such as the creation of Safe Ride which provides Greeks with reliable transportation in emergencies. All the effort and enthusiasm brought about by the new year is pointing toward another successful year for the Sigma Pi’s of Detroit Mercy. Patrick Brechting, Herald, gammaalpha@sigmapi.org

Drury Epsilon-Rho Chapter Our rush fun was capped off with another fantastic bid day. However we are looking forward to the semester with even more exciting things. This semester we kicked things off by starting off with one of the most important activities we will do. We started a relief effort for the victims of hurricane Katrina which included collecting toiletries and essentials that other American’s needed. We have also started to take care of our adopt-a-street on a more regular basis. Several brothers also participated in the local MS-150 over one weekend. Brothers are also looking to continue our domination of the Drury Intramurals by competing in softball, ﬂag football, and volleyball this semester. We are also proud to say that we took home the best G.P.A for fraternity’s here at Drury for the 2004-2005 school years. Eric Rhodes, Herald, epsilonrho@sigmapi.org

East Carolina Eta-Kappa Chapter A year ago Sigma Pi was nothing but a whisper spoken around the campus of ECU. At the last semester of the 2004-2005 school year, Sigma Pi’s national headquarters rounded up a new group of guys to rekindle the fraternity’s dying name. The Eta-Kappa chapter of Sigma Pi introduced the Alpha-Beta class to

Eastern Illinois Beta-Gamma Chapter Beta-Gamma is humbled to say that we only took second place in our homecoming ﬂoat this fall, and we were only able to take third overall in Homecoming. We are happy to report that we are still in the running for winning our fourth IM championship in ﬁve years!

on campus, but made Sigma Pi the largest Greek organization at Eastern Kentucky this semester, period. We are keeping our heads high and getting geared up for what is surely to be yet another successful year for Sigma Pi at EKU. Jason Pitcher, Herald, epsilonlambda@sigmapi.org

Eastern Illinois Beta-Gamma Chapter Here at Beta-Gamma we aren’t just looking to win at sports, but we also just came off a great spring with our grades, ﬁnishing second in overall chapter GPA and we are looking to take ﬁrst this year!

Robert Wolff, Herald, betagamma@sigmapi.org

East Stroudsburg

Embry-Riddle (AZ) Epsilon-Phi Chapter This semester is deﬁnitely starting off on the right foot. The brothers at the Epsilon-Phi chapter are working hard on rush and the work is paying off. We’re looking at pledging a third generation legacy along with a new member class of 15- 20 members this semester. The brothers have come back this semester with a list of philanthropies we’d like to contribute to. Some of these are ones that we’ve done in the past and others are new. A number of brothers are still volunteering as big brothers in the Big Brothers/Big Sisters program. We’ll also be doing another blood drive with the Silver Wings organization for the Red Cross.

Beta-Psi Chapter With the newly installed executive board, and a handful of new brothers living in the house the year seems to look extremely optimistic. We just recently decided to purchase four new windows to replace the old fragile ones in place now. There are also plans for some new carpeting throughout the house. In hopes of increased brotherly bonding, we received a miniature digital basketball set, getting a new foosball table, and increased brother poker tournaments. Aside from the great brother gatherings, we are also looking to really step up a notch in our community service/fundraising area. Our chair has a ample amount of positive ideas to help the community and also we have great interest in running something for Hurricane Katrina. Daniel Bracht, Herald, betapsi@sigmapi.org

Eastern Kentucky Epsilon-Lambda Chapter Epsilon-Lambda Chapter has kicked off the 2005-2006 school year with the motivation and drive that should ensure Sigma Pi stays on top here at Eastern Kentucky University. Coming out of fall recruitment, Epsilon-Lambda took 37 new members. That number was not only the largest pledge class on campus, and did not only make us the largest fraternity

Joshua Neptune, Herald, epsilonphi@sigmapi.org

Embry-Riddle (FL) Zeta-Beta Chapter Since our return to school we have been doing many things to make Sigma Pi a well known name on campus. We helped move the freshman into their dorms and also participated in freshman orientation. Zeta-Beta held a hurricane Katrina relief fundraiser in which we collected money to be donated to the Red Cross. Lance Lorah, Herald, zetabeta@sigmapi.org

Emporia State Epsilon-Epsilon Chapter Everything is going well this se-

mester. So far we have done six major community services, including a blood drive with the American Red Cross for Hurricane Katrina relief efforts. We have done two ACE Projects this semester. We have a very promising pledge class with many guys eager to step up to responsibilities to the needs of the chapter. All in all the semester has been a good one.

participating in our planned events. The chapter is looking forward to a new semester and has begun planning events for our community and the hurricane relief. The ﬁrst week of school our chapter raised $1,050 for the relief fund and is continuing to set up plans to raise more money. We have many plans for the semester to beneﬁt our community and school.

Brian Runge, Herald, epsilonepsilon@sigmapi.org

Ken Tolley, Herald, etatau@sigmapi.org

Fairleigh Dickinson

Franklin & Marshall

Epsilon-Xi Colony After the re-colonization of Epsilon-Xi at Fairleigh Dickinson University on January 30, 2005, our colony has been winning the up hill battle to be known. After months of persuading the school to even be recognized by the school, we are on our way to doing great things. We have hosted a local community food drive, hosted a local comedian for the entertainment of the students, hosted an alumni appreciation dinner and have a lot more planned for the future. We plan on hosting our ﬁrst formal this year and have a goal of chartering ﬁrst thing spring semester.

Nu Chapter With the spring semester underway, the Nu chapter at F&M is looking forward to many new experiences and challenges. Comprised of mainly football players, pledges customarily join the Fraternity each spring as we turn our attention towards a winning season each fall. We are currently confronted with no other option but to educate new members and defend our conference championship during the same semester. This will be challenging, but the incoming class of 17 is looking good thus far.

Joseph Sabanos, Secretary, epsilonxi@sigmapi.org

Ferris State

Mike Manning, Herald, thetatheta@sigmapi.org

Fitchburg State Eta-Tau Chapter School has started and rushing has begun, we have 10-15 rushes CONTINUED PAGE 8 4

We are also eagerly looking forward to the spring events including Orchid Ball formal and Founder’s Day, in addition to several philanthropies. Go dawgs! Jon Michael Thomas, Herald, alphaphi@sigmapi.org

Hofstra Eta-Gamma Chapter Our main goal is to sustain healthy growth for our chapter. In order to ensure we started the fall semester on the right track, we organized a rush workshop hosted by Tom Kessler (ΓΞ, W. Virginia Tech ’80) who drove in from New Jersey and helped us focus our efforts to ﬁnd the future brothers of Eta-Gamma. The workshop was attended by all of the active brothers including some of our alumni who also yielded insight and helpful advice. Lastly, the brothers of Eta-Gamma would like to say our thoughts and prayers go out to the all the families on the Gulf Coast and to any of our brothers who may have been affected in anyway by this terrible tragedy. Dan Bennett, Herald, etagamma@sigmapi.org

Since the last Emerald publication, Nu chapter has completed its annual “Big Bounce” fundraiser, raising over $1,300 for the Schreiber Pediatrics. Jeff Pawlikowski, Herald, nu_@sigmapi.org

Georgia Alpha-Phi Chapter This fall 2005 semester is one that will go down in history for AlphaPhi. Foremost, the purchase of a permanent residence for the chapter has been a cause of celebration for the Alpha-Phi brothers. Another huge accomplishment this past semester was obtaining one of the largest new member classes ever for Alpha-Phi. This great success was due to the overwhelming motivation, dedication, and unity of the brothers at this critical time in our chapter history. As new members, these ﬁne gentlemen coordinated a rafﬂe and car wash to raise money for the victims of hurricane Katrina. In addition, we were very proud to have raised the necessary funds for Dance Marathon and the second annual Doug Henderson Memorial

Zeta-Omicron Chapter (Lawrence Tech) and prospective members during a recruitment event earlier this fall.

Illinois Phi Chapter Phi started the fall semester with a recruitment retreat, where brothers came together to plan and discuss ideas for a successful recruitment semester. New windows were installed in the chapter house and are looking great. We would like to thank our alumni association for working so hard at improving the chapter house. We would also like to recognize Brother Alec Danaher for presenting the colors with the Air Force ROTC at the Illinois football game. Phi chapter is hard at work to improve in every aspect as we approach our 100th anniversary in the 2007-2008 school year.

Winter 2006 • www.sigmapi.org

Theta-Theta Chapter The brothers of Theta-Theta Chapter have been steadfast in regaining our place as the premier fraternity on the Ferris State University campus. With a strong showing of both our chapter’s brotherhood and compassion, it is apparent that when the ﬁnal checks roll in our Annual Teeter-Totter-A-Thon will surpass our initial goal of $3,000. On other fronts, the brothers of Theta-Theta look forward to welcoming back all of our visiting Alumni, both new and old, with an entirely new image. The brothers of Theta-Theta Chapter, aided by fresh ideas and some new faces are ﬁghting to make our image the ideal face of what a college fraternity should be.

Scholarship.

Christopher Cody, Herald, phi@sigmapi.org

Illinois Wesleyan Epsilon-Gamma Chapter We kicked off fall semester with a three-day retreat to center ourselves as brothers and as individuals. Thanks to our combined work we are accomplishing continued on next page

Emerald of Sigma Pi Fraternity

8 C H APTER NEWS more to better our chapter, our house and our selves in less time than ever before. We are also pleased to congratulate our recently graduated seniors - Matt Apger, Daniel Strang, Brian Caster, Zach Clow, Victor Carrasco, Tanner Hughes, Kurt Zimmerman, Scott Brombosz, Andrew Kapral, Chris Boswell, Trevor Sierra - and wish them luck with their new careers and graduate studies! Andrew Miller, Herald, epsilongamma@sigmapi.org

Indiana Beta Chapter The Beta Chapter is excited about embarking on a new school year. We continue to thrive on campus and look forward to further our chapter. At a recent house retreat, we revamped our recruitment structure and will soon be starting in the early spring. Congratulations to Sage Danny Gantzer and Treasurer Jon Volta on receiving scholarships from the Educational Foundation. They are the standard which we all use to model our own academic pursuits. We look forward to continuing our chapter’s progress in the current school year. Ryan Schweet, Herald, beta@sigmapi.org

Indiana of Pennsylvania Theta-Epsilon Chapter Our house is looking great for the spring. Thanks to all the brothers who helped transform the first floor and basement. The hardwood floors look incredible. With a remodeled house comes a new semester and a new rush. A lot of quality guys have already showned interest these first few weeks and we are looking into another huge pledge class. Shawn Goodling, Herald, thetaepsilon@sigmapi.org

Indiana Tech Gamma-Kappa Chapter Happy 40th Anniversary GammaKappa! We recently just got all new windows installed in our house thanks to donations by alumni. The new windows will help lower heating cost, and allow us to do more renovations. A new door has also been installed, and our basement is currently being re-done. New drywall is being put up, and we are working to ﬁx a foundation leak in the house. Our chapter will also be working concession stands at a local venue in order to raise money for the house fund, and our upcoming alumni banquet. We will be celebrating our 40th anniversary here at Gamma-Kappa chapter, and hope to have as good of a turnout for this year’s banquet as last years. Ryan McGuire, Herald, gammakappa@sigmapi.org

Iowa State Sigma Chapter Sigma chapter has gotten off to a great start this school year and is looking forward to a great semester. A successful rush period led the chapter

to taking 18 pledges, and we look forward to watching them unfold a bright new future. In light of the Hurricane Katrina disaster brothers raised over $500 for the American Red Cross to help those in need of aid. Finally, Sigma chapter would like to thank all of our alumni for their continued support. We would not be where we are now without you. David Carroll, Herald, sigma@sigmapi.org

Jacksonville State Colony The Jacksonville State colony of Sigma Pi is working very hard for our charter. Rush has just taken place here at JSU and bids were extended to 10 great guys who will provide even more strength in the future of Sigma Pi at JSU. Many of the men extended bids are freshmen which add more youth to the Fraternity which will help us in the future. These men took a big step in passing up the traditions of the established fraternities on campus to be a part of their own tradition. This semester we have many events planned and we hope to make all the brothers of Sigma Pi proud. Michael Miller, Historian, jacksonville@sigmapi.org

Johnson & Wales Eta-Omega Chapter Since Eta-Omega’s re-organization on March 14, 2005, the Brothers of the chapter have been taking Greek Life at Johnson & Wales University to a new level. The chapter was re-organized with 13 founding fathers, with each man reading and willing to live up to the ideals of Sigma Pi. After a long and eventful summer, the chapter is back and ready to continue upholding our prestigious reputation. Eta-Omega has made some great strides on campus including working with Sigma Delta Tau Sorority on a Greek Community Hurricane Katrina Relief Effort.

Brothers from Theta-Beta Chapter at Saginaw Valley State during SPU this past summer in Nashville, Tenn.

Finally, the chapter is greatly anticipating our ﬁrst pledge class. The buzz around campus has put Sigma Pi at the top of most men’s lists for rush. Paul R. Shea, Herald, etaomega@sigmapi.org

Kentucky Epsilon-Beta Chapter The brothers of Epsilon-Beta have started the new school year with newfound energy. This years rush yielded a fall pledge class of 27 pledges. The brothers then participated in a weekend retreat to set their goals for the new school year. Since the retreat the brothers have been active in Greek philanthropy events associated with UK’s Greek Week. Other events included a faculty breakfast, yard work for elderly neighbors and a car wash the Chi Omega to raise money for victims of hurricane Katrina. Clay McGufﬁn, Herald, epsilonbeta@sigmapi.org

Lawrence Tech Zeta-Omicron Chapter This fall we have started with a lot of momentum hoping to get a large pledge class. Mike Grant, our province archon, presented a rush workshop for us a week before new students moved in. In March, we will once again have Orchid Ball and our ACE Project. We also had a fun weekend at Michigan International Speedway where we held a fundraiser during the Batman Begins 500. All in all, we are hoping to have an amazing year where we can grow in numbers as well as grow together as brothers. Jason Green, Herald, zetaomicron@sigmapi.org

Loyola – Chicago

We have been working hard to contact our alumni and let them know what is going on in the chapter. We have set up an alumni email address where they can reach us and deliver their contact information. The email address is sigmapibetachi@hotmail.

Michael Sullivan, Herald, betachi@sigmapi.org

Michigan State Zeta-Mu Chapter Zeta-Mu Chapter had a great finish to an already amazing spring semester in 05. We won Greek Week, with amazing performances in each of the categories. We won first place in Songfest, second place in Battle of the Bands, and raised almost $20,000 for the American Cancer Society. This years Greek Week was the first our first win in 4 years, dating back to when we won back-to-back in 2000 and 2001. Fall semester went great with 21 bids being given out, and almost all 21 prospects accepted and were pinned. Alan Regan, Herald, zetamu@sigmapi.org

Millersville Zeta-Gamma Chapter Our two main focuses this past semester at Millersville were new member education and homecoming. We had a successful rush/recruitment and a good pledge program. For our alumni, we look forward to hearing from you soon. Thomas Lupackino, Herald, zetagamma@sigmapi.org

Missouri Gamma-Sigma Chapter The men of Gamma-Sigma worked all summer to complete the renovation of our ﬁrst ﬂoor and we are very excited with the results. We started the year off by welcoming 13 new members to the chapter. We had a very strong formal rush and are still looking to add a few more new members. For our ACE Project this year we are bringing in a speaker to discuss the consequences of drinking and driving. We have also started to raise money for the children’s miracle network; our goal is $3,600 by next October. Kyle Fitzgerald, Herald, gammasigma@sigmapi.org

Missouri – Rolla Alpha-Iota Chapter After 4 years of our house being

Brothers from Eta-Gamma Chapter at Hofstra enjoy themselves during Orchid Ball last spring.

identiﬁed by only a ﬂag, we received and installed new granite greeks in front of our house. The men of Alpha-Iota would like to thank our Building Association and Alumni for making this project possible. We would like to congratulate the following two alumni on their marriages this summer: Chapter Director and alumnus of 2005, Kendrick Latham, and Michelle Vomund were wed on Saturday June 11th in Martinsburg, Missouri. Alumnus of 2002, Kevin Massman, and Monica were wed on Saturday August 20th in St. James, Missouri. Matthew O’dell, Herald, alphaiota@sigmapi.org

Missouri – St. Louis Delta-Zeta Chapter Delta-Zeta chapter has had a successful fall semester. We got off to a strong start with the addition of many quality new members. Sigma Pi has also been actively involved in the community this semester. Many brothers participated in our Habitat for Humanity philanthropy in early October to assist the less fortunate in building a home. As always, Sigma Pi remains a great name on campus and we will strive to make it even greater. Also, due to the huge success of last year, Delta-Zeta Chapter will once again be having a Founder’s Day Celebration on Saturday, February 25th at Casa Loma Ballroom in St. Louis. More information will be posted on the website, but please mark that date on your calendar. For more information, please contact Paul Wydra at paulwydra@yahoo.com. We look forward to seeing you there! Mike Nelson, Herald, deltazeta@sigmapi.org

Monmouth Delta-Beta Chapter It’s great to be back here at Monmouth University with the brothers of DeltaBeta. We are actively rushing and with the work of some of the new members from last spring, this might be a record breaking semester! This past summer brothers got together and played on a softball team, went on a canoe trip, and made various trips to Atlantic City. We intend to increase membership of DeltaBeta by 50% and it is well in reach with the enthusiasm, it feels good to be a brother here! We wish all a very great semester nationally.

Winter 2006 • www.sigmapi.org

Beta-Chi Chapter We, the Beta-Chi chapter of Sigma Pi Fraternity at Loyola University Chicago, are coming together to make this a year to remember. We are currently looking forward to many planned philanthropy, brotherhood, and rush events that will take place this semester. The chapter was present in an organization fair in which the whole campus was invited.

com. Our chapter has great goals and ambitions for the year. We are looking forward to the future of our chapter.

Alec Gutierrez, Herald, deltabeta@sigmapi.org

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Emerald of Sigma Pi Fraternity

Brothers from Zeta-Beta Chapter at Embry-Riddle (FL) during a philanthropy event to raise money for the Hurricane Katrina Relief Fund with the American Red Cross.4

C H APTER NEWS Morehead State Delta-Rho Chapter The brothers of Delta-Rho have had another great fall rush, welcoming 13 new pledges, as well as a new sweetheart. Several improvements to the house were made over the summer, including Hollywood style letters on the hillside, making Sigma Pi even more appealing to new members. Our chapter website has been updated with current photos, be sure to check it out at http://people.moreheadstate. edu/orgs/sigmapi/roster.htm. We invite alumni to visit our alumni page at www.deltarhoalumni.org/ and sign the guestbook as a good way to update contact information. Lloyd VanHoose, Herald, deltarho@sigmapi.org

NJIT Alpha-Mu Chapter Earlier in the fall semester there was a workshop at Fairleigh Dickenson University, and we had ﬁve brothers attend in addition to alumni. The workshop was informative and helpful, and several other chapters were there from northern New Jersey. Using the tools we have and knowledge we get, we are planning a big push for not only this semester but the rest to come. Thanks to the comprehensive help of our committees, ofﬁcers, and all the brothers, the house is looking aesthetically better and is operating more and more successful events every day. John Kazlauskas, Herald, alphamu@sigmapi.org

North Carolina State Rho Chapter The brothers returned in great anticipation of the new school year. The brothers also attended an event presented by the Sam Spady Foundation; Rho chapter wishes to play an intricate role in the university’s contribution to the foundation’s struggles to curb the negative impact of alcohol abuse found on college campuses across the country. An additional goal this semester is recruiting another class of quality Sigma Pi initiates. The chapter has already begun with three outstanding, young men; however, Rho has

planned a second rush that focuses on the top twenty-ﬁve campus leaders of the Freshman and Sophomore classes. The brothers are proud to continue their ever-growing presence within the Interfraternity Council by continuing to take new positions on committees. They also wish to extend their gratitude to those Alumni that have helped the brothers in their aspirations to create a stellar intramural ﬂag football team this semester. Travis Ballenger, Herald, rho@sigmapi.org

Northern Colorado Zeta-Tau Chapter Keeping true to dedication and domination, our brothers are still pumped for an amazing last semester after winning Greek Week and Greek Cup, and ready to win again for the ninth time. Not only are we doing some great things around the university, but have we all helped and pitched in for some remolding to our chapter house. With a brand new kitchen and new carpeting, we’re bound to catch some attention during rush. Thanks to a great rush we were able to pledge eight new guys and hopefully some more late bids. All the brothers are excited to see what these young gentlemen can do for Sigma Pi. Jamie French, Herald, zetatau@sigmapi.org

Oakland Zeta-Pi Chapter The Zeta-Pi Chapter had an awesome summer, starting with the brotherhood retreat which occurred just after school let out. Power-sessions while camping in the wilderness really helped us get moving for an early rush when we were able to take ﬁve new members. We look forward to a great spring semester. Mike Long, Sage, zetapi@sigmapi.org

Ohio Northern Zeta Chapter Fall quarter has begun and Zeta Chapter could not be happier. The summer events have already jump started the year. First, we had our annual golf outing, an event where it is always nice to see the alumni come

together in support of our chapter. In the near future, we are planning to update our plumbing and put a new roof on. We are also currently in the process of planning a philanthropic concert in which we will donate the money to the Red Cross. Garett Foley, Herald, zeta@sigmapi.org

Oregon State Omega Chapter Some of our members participated in the OSU summer blood drive. We are encouraging our members, as well as everyone, to help with hurricane Katrina relief efforts.Our rush chairmen have been doing a great job this semester and we are looking forward to another excellent year. Ryan Sweeney, Herald, omega@sigmapi.org

Penn State Theta Chapter The fall semester at Theta Chapter has been exciting yet productive with 32 members living in the house. Philanthropy is another area of heavy focus for us this fall. For the first time, Theta Chapter has completed an ACE Project to benefit the university. A booth was set up downtown during the first week of school where newcomers or anyone else who was lost could stop and ask a Sigma Pi for directions. We are also getting ready to start raising money for THON, where we hope to beat the $40,000 we raised last year. Additionally we are working hard on planning other philanthropies that will be carried out later in the year. Conor Rogers, Herald, theta@sigmapi.org

Penn State – Altoona Theta-Iota Chapter This fall our chapter has hosted many philanthropy events including a blood drive for the American Red Cross and working in a kitchen at a local ﬁrehouse to serve breakfast to a nearby town. Our ACE Project, cleaning the creek on campus, went extremely well with all brothers in attendence. We had a brotherhood event around thanksgiving where we all went to Kennywood Park for Frightfest and stayed in Pittsburgh for

the night. We are well on our way to having a spectacular year in making real the Fraternities ideals. Ryan Brown, Herald, thetaiota@sigmapi.org

Radford Theta-Lambda Chapter Our ACE Project was the weekend of the October 7th and 8th. Brothers and pledges from Theta-Lambda braved the cold weather, rain and early wake up times to help Radford set up another successful Highlander Festival. One of Theta-Lambda’s biggest achievements was reached this semester as Radford University’s IFC voted to ﬁnally recognize Sigma Pi and to invite them to join the IFC at the start of the spring semester. Lastly, Theta-Lambda will be looking to establish the Radford Alumni Association for Theta-Lambda and local Radford area alumni. Once the chapter has enough alumni to establish the organization, progress will begin. We hope that by this summer the Radford Alumni Association will be off the ground. For more information on this new alumni club, please contact Matthew Hughes at (703)282-2741. Travis Hoge, Herald, thetalambda@sigmapi.org

Rhode Island Alpha-Upsilon Chapter Sigma Pi’s Alpha-Upsilon chapter had a very successful summer. For philanthropy the brothers raised over $2,000 doing a credit card sign up all over the Rhode Island campus. We also continued our very successful fundraising job of working a Gillette Stadium concession stand. Also over the summer there was an executive board retreat that was very successful. The members went camping for three days and worked on plans and goals for the upcoming fall semester. Chapter Director Dennis

Danville gave a great recruitment seminar for all brothers so we can have a more successful time. Finally, our new website is up and running for all to take a look at. The address is www.sigmapiuri.com. Diego White, Herald, alphaupsilon@sigmapi.org

Saginaw Valley State Theta-Beta Chapter The summer of 2005 was very eventful for the brothers of Theta-Beta chapter. We had our retreat in July in which we laid some productive groundwork pertaining to our plans for the fall. We also had the highest attendance of all chapters at Sigma Pi University. We also received an award from Salvation Army for our philanthropic efforts in helping out in their time of need. Theta-Beta chapter is very proud of alumnus Wayne Hofmann (‘05) for his recent volunteer efforts during the hurricane in New Orleans. We are very excited for our up coming ACE Project dubbed Pi Stock. This event is the headline event at Saginaw Valley’s Street fest in which many local bands perform for the student body. Pat Nowak, Herald, thetabeta@sigmapi.org

San Diego State Alpha-Omega Chapter Starting off the fall semester, Alpha-Omega has continued to raise the standards of what a fraternity at San Diego State should be. We continue to prosper over all the houses and we remain number one socially as well as climbing the grade point average charts to the top. Rush went exceptionally well with the biggest turnout of guys we have seen in quite some time. Alpha-Omega can not be stopped and we will continue to shine in every way possible. Kevin Marco, Herald, alphaomega@sigmapi.org

San Jose State Beta-Eta Chapter The Beta-Eta chapter has had a great semester full of growth and expansion. Due to the help of all the brothers and donations from Theo Abel, Mark Crumpacker and Adan Rivera Jr. we were able to completely renovate the outside of the house. The Brothers of Beta-Eta are currently planning a beneﬁt to raise money for those devastated by Hurricane Katrina. The chapter’s hope is to involve the campus of San Jose State in realizing and unifying to help those

in need. The chapter also is coordinating a fundraising plan to work with the San Jose Sharks to raise money for the house. We are looking forward to another great semester, as we have many prospects that have attended our rush events. Eric Feldman, Herald, betaeta@sigmapi.org

Santa Clara Zeta-Eta Chapter Congratulations to Zeta-Eta’s 17 seniors who graduated last June! The end of the year was a great time to relive old memories as Sigma Pis gathered for graduation parties, an alumni lunch, and our annual Senior Roast. Good luck! The end of the year also saw Sigma Pi stand out as the top fraternity at Santa Clara. At Greek Awards, Sigma Pi was awarded the Best New Member Period. Freshman Matt Ambauen was recognized as Sigma Pi’s Rising Leader, and Senior Andrew Strockis was recognized as our Outstanding Senior. Finally, Sigma Pi stands out at Santa Clara as the only fraternity moving into a completely renovated fraternity house - the largest at Santa Clara. Patrick Mowrer, Herald, zetaeta@sigmapi.org

Seton Hall Delta-Epsilon Chapter With the ball in our court, and our campus involvement at an all time high, Delta-Epsilon is creating a new and improved stance to new member education and rush. With much help from Sigma Pi University and the brother involvement for on campus and off campus events, this year is looking more promising then our previous “break-through year” in new member education and rush. We will be continuing the “looking-out” Philanthropy and are coming up with great ideas for our 1st Annual ACE Project. Just recently the chapter attended the Sigma Pi workshop for all New Jersey chapters and has taken a new stance at improving chapter and campus image, risk management, and new member education. Joe Mazza, Herald, deltaepsilon@sigmapi.org

Southern Arkansas Epsilon-Kappa Chapter Epsilon-Kappa worked very hard on recruitment and our efforts look to be paying off, seeing that this could be one of the largest classes in many years. Many of our brotherhood events consist of tailgating before football games, cookouts, and sand volleyball matches on Sunday afternoons. The chapter is having a drive for the victims of Hurricane Katrina collecting cosmetics, food, and clothes. We are also planning on having a blood drive this semester. Epsilon-Kappa is involved all around campus with our annual Family Day, Great Greek Canoe Race, Move-in Day, Intramurals, and leadership positions. The chapter is looking forward to this semester and always looking for improvements. Brad White, Herald, epsilonkappa@sigmapi.org

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Winter 2006 • www.sigmapi.org

Brothers from the Alpha-Iota Chapter at Missouri-Rolla with their new granite Greek letters.

Southern Illinois – Edwardsville Delta-Omega Chapter Delta-Omega Chapter came out of the gate strong this year by holding its third annual Pig Roast and Luau, serving free food to over 500 students and providing free entertainment to the campus with 3 live bands and a DJ. The chapter would like to remember our two fallen brothers from this sum-

Emerald of Sigma Pi Fraternity

12 C H APTER NEWS mer, Brother Martin Sutherland and Brother Ryan Fark. It’s going to be a big semester for the gentlemen of Delta-Omega with the 2nd annual Run/Walk for Breast Cancer and the many other events coming up but the brothers are prepared for the challenge and proud to be Sigma Pi’s. Jason Clark, Fourth Counselor, deltaomega@sigmapi.org

SUNY – Buffalo Epsilon-Omicron Chapter Greetings, from the Epsilon-Omicron chapter of Buffalo, NY! We had a great summer where we held our annual Camp Out event in Cairo, NY where 30-35 active brothers and alumni came. We are very excited for the upcoming year. During the summer we also held a chapter wide brother hood event for departing brother, Daniel Jacobson, who has found his dream job and has left his mark on Sigma Pi in only a way he could. We are now in a new house, and are excited to see the growing interest that our chapter is receiving on campus. This upcoming year should be a great success. Andrew Braten, Herald, epsilonomicron@sigmapi.org

TCNJ Theta-Delta Chapter This summer, the brothers of Theta-Delta spent most of their time working hard and earning money for the upcoming year. With 10 brothers

living at the house, and several others still at nearby houses, our brotherhood remained socially strong throughout the summer months. One particular highlight was the return of brother PJ Spigner from Iraq, where he served our country as a Seargent in a transportation division. The 13 new members of our chapter deﬁnitely display the ideals of Sigma Pi, and we look forward to continuing the tradition of service and excellence Theta-Delta has strived for since its inception a little over 5 years ago. Progress, man’s distinctive mark alone. Kevin Croissant, Herald, thetadelta@sigmapi.org

Texas Tech Theta-Kappa Chapter We have started off the semester with the addition of our ﬁrst chapter house located three block from our campus. The house has also proved to be a valuable resource in helping us welcome new brothers and pledges for the fall semester. Our chapter did well in the intramural’s last fall and are ready to continue in the spring. We have also had several successful philanthropy event including helping the evacuees from New Orleans. We are looking forward to the spring semester and growth of our chapter Thomas Palisin, Herald, thetakappa@sigmapi.org

Toronto Eta-Omicron Chapter The brothers of Eta-Omicron, held the words of the Creed close to heart during the summer months. In the service of God and Man, the brothers took on various occupations from training with the Canadian Forces, to working in hospitals, and interning with International Non-Governmental Organizations. The active chapter bids a fond farewell to the brothers who have now gone alumni: Andrew Parkes, Dave MacLean, Derek Isber, Jacob Pelechaty, Rob Carmona, Matt Sanders, and Eric Davis. We wish them success in their future endeavors. The EtaOmicron chapter has been revitalized. In the future we will be a dominant ﬁgure among the Greek community, and are looking forward to a successful spring rush. Aaron Veerasingham, Herald, etaomicron@sigmapi.org

Towson Eta-Nu Chapter The fall semester started off really well for the brothers of Eta-Nu. Fundraisers have already been set with Towson University Athletics as well as socials with many of the sororities on Campus. Recruitment for EtaNu has been going exceptionally well and the brothers plan to have a great semester with a great pledge class. This summer at SPU, Eta-Nu past Sage Christian J Miele received the NIC Iron man award for all his accomplishments during his terms as Herald, Second Counselor, Sage, IFC Vice President and IFC President. We congratulate him and wish him the best. Brothers Jason Elan and Alex Trakhtman were proud to accept the Breyer-Fryburg award for the fourth year in a row and the ACE Project award. James Macfarlane, Herald, etanu@sigmapi.org

Ursinus

Brothers from Eta-Theta Chapter at York enjoy the bonds of brotherhood during a formal dinner and dance.

Theta-Sigma Chapter The Ursinus Colony was very happy with the developments made this summer in preparation for the upcoming semester. After ﬁnishing up the year of

2004-2005, our colony was looking at four intramural championships and a great completion in our year long ACE Project of implementing and maintaining the recycling program of the Ursinus community. In addition, we are now living in our very own fraternity house which we signed a lease for at the end of the semester. With all the great things to come for the Ursinus Colony, needless to say we are very excited about the future and plan on having an incredible 2005-2006 year. Patrick Waldron, Herald, thetasigma@sigmapi.org

Valparaiso Beta-Tau Chapter The men of Beta-Tau have been busy this summer. Having initiated eight new members last spring, we have been working to improve the state of our houses and our community. At the beginning of this semester, Beta-Tau spearheaded the Hurricane Katrina relief effort in Valparaiso with our annual Tighty Whitey volleyball tournament. This fall our chapter is celebrating its 45th Anniversary. We hope to see many of our hundreds of alumni at that event. We remain the longest continuously charted fraternity at Valparaiso University. The brothers of Beta-Tau have also been working hard in academics. We have lofty goals, but the we know we can achieve them and become the best fraternity on campus. Pete Schmid, Herald, betatau@sigmapi.org

Vincennes Alpha Chapter Alpha chapter has made a huge improvement over last year. We now have 10 brothers living in the house and two brothers that live off campus. Fall rush went great. We’ve managed to pull 20 rushees. Our new Executive Council including myself are highly motivated to get Alpha running successfully for 2005-2006 school year. I’m very proud to say that the mother chapter of Sigma Pi Fraternity is making strong progress and is looking forward to a very successful future. The annual Founders’ Day

Celebration will be held on Saturday, February 25th at the Executive Inn in Vincennes. All alumni are invited to attend. Please contact Ryan Waldroup at (812) 887-2485 or via email at waldroup@hotmail.com for more details. Travis Tobin, Herald, alpha@sigmapi.org

Virginia Beta-Pi Chapter Beta-Pi is truly on a roll at Virginia. We have just ﬁnished fall rush, and are proud to add 5 new members to the chapter. At the end of last semester, our chapter won both Intramural Sports and Community Service Jefferson Cups at the annual University of Virginia Greek Awards Ceremony. Continuing with our trend of academic excellence, we recently had 3 brothers win researching grant awards totaling over $10,000. The future looks bright for our house in the warm sun of Virginia.

Brothers from the Epsilon-Phi Chapter at Embry-Riddle (AZ) enjoy a barbeque outside of their chapter house this past fall.

Ryan Hendrixson, Herald, betapi@sigmapi.org

Wake Forest Alpha-Nu Chapter The early weeks of the fall 2005 semester has been fun and exciting for the brothers of the Alpha-Nu chapter at Wake Forest University. While the brothers that recently graduated are greatly missed about the chapter, we have all taken a strong liking to the most recent pledge class as this is their ﬁrst full semester with the brotherhood.

Court Hill, Herald, alphanu@sigmapi.org

Gamma-Omega Chapter The Gamma-Omega chapter has been very busy this past summer in preparation for the fall semester. We have done numerous projects to better the chapter and the appearance of our house. In the light of the disaster of Hurricane Katrina, the GammaOmega chapter worked very quickly, along with the Red Cross, to set up a fundraiser for the victims. For the fundraiser, we reserved a table in the student center to collect donations for the victims. We had the table reserved everyday for the first week of school. After three days of collections we raised over $2,100! With the fall semester upon us we are very busy planning the numerous projects that we are going to be doing this semester. We will be bringing a comedian to the dorms, to entertain those that live on campus. But our major event this semester is going to be our AIDS awareness week. The Gamma-Omega chapter also has a new official website! You can find us online at www.sigmapi-wsu.com. We have worked really hard on the website and our very proud of it. We

also have a Gamma-Omega Brothers and Alumni section. This section, which is password protected, is a way for the brothers to express and discuss the goings-on and of the chapter in an online forum. If you are an alumni of the Gamma-Omega chapter and would like to become a member of the website contact webmaster@sigmapi-wsu.com, with your name and year that you pledged, and he will contact you with further information. With the current school year upon us the Gamma-Omega chapter is looking forward to being not only the number one Greek letter society, but also the number one student organization at Wayne State. Joshua Intemann, Herald, gammaomega@sigmapi.org

West Alabama Theta-Gamma Chapter Theta-Gamma chapter has started the year well, and we are all glad to back. Brothers have put in many hours at the hurricane shelter here on campus, and we would like to thank all those that helped out during this time. We will also be doing a canned food drive and a clothing give away. Also, this falls rush went very well.

West Chester Zeta-Alpha Chapter The chapter is looking at a huge year right now. We were going through rough times the last couple years, and just came back on campus last year. But events held over the summer brought our brotherhood back together and improved alumni relations greatly. Chris Picariello, Fourth Counselor, zetaalpha@sigmapi.org

West Virginia Tech Gamma-Xi Chapter Gamma-Xi welcomed 15 actives back for the fall 2005 semester. Fall began with rush events and the planning of an ACE Project that will implement major clean-up of a unique two-mile hiking trail on the mountain behind our campus. Our chapter is extremely fortunate to have an active and involved alumni group. Their advice and counsel is very important to our success. WV Tech is pleased to have a new university President, Charles Bayless, who is a Sigma Pi alumnus from our chapter. Brian Giles, Herald, gammaxi@sigmapi.org

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As we are always looking to improve the chapter, a successful fall rush has brought us 3 new pledges that we look forward to admitting as brothers at the conclusion of the pledge process. Alpha-Nu is also proud to be planning a semester of charity and campus/ community related events. In the light of the recent disaster of Katrina, we are promptly organizing a beneﬁt concert featuring a live Reggae band to raise money for the Red Cross disaster relief effort. Indeed, it will be a very busy semester for the brothers of Alpha-Nu, but the energy of being back together and the zeal of the newer member will certainly make for a positive and productive semester.

Wayne State

Josh Kerrigan, Herald, thetagamma@sigmapi.org

continued on page 33

Emerald of Sigma Pi Fraternity

14 CAMPUS

EXPANSION

Sigma Pi adds multiple groups

University of Houston - Downtown colonizes

Sigma Pi Fraternity has colonized several groups in the ﬁrst semester of the 2005-06 academic school year.

On September 18th, 2005, twenty men were ofﬁcially established as a colony of Sigma Pi at the University of Houston – Downtown. Sigma Pi is the ﬁrst and only NIC fraternity on the downtown campus. The colonization was the result of twenty men taking the pledge to work towards chartering and becoming initiated members. The formal colonization ceremony took place in the Theta-Nu chapter house at the University of Houston.

Colonies have been opened at the University of Houston – Downtown campus, Texas State University – San Marcos campus, Pennsylvania College of Technology, University of Southern Indiana, and Middle Tennessee State University. Also, Sigma Pi re-colonized at Illinois State University. The 2005-06 school year will prove to be a record breaking year for Sigma Pi expansion as its newly aggressive approach continues to be very successful. In the spring semester, Sigma Pi plans to colonize many more of its strong interest groups including West Virginia University, California University of Pennsylvania, Cleveland State University, and the University of California - Santa Cruz. In addition to these new colonies, Sigma Pi has plans to do cold start expansion visits at the University of Oregon, New Mexico State University, California Polytechnic State University and the University of Washington. Sigma Pi also hopes to put new groups on the ground at Florida Atlantic University, Montana State University, and Mississippi State University. As Sigma Pi grows, it will continue to strive to recruit the best new members across North America for all of its new groups for years to come. For further information or any questions, please contact Senior Expansion Consultant Jeremy Boyd at (800) 332-1897 or via email at jboyd@sigmapi.org.

by Douglas Finnan, Expansion Consultant

UHD has 11,000 undergrads. There are six multicultural fraternities and ﬁve multicultural sororities already on campus. All the groups were very supportive about a new fraternity coming on to campus. The Sigma Pi colony will be governed by the multicultural Greek Council. The group that colonized is a very diverse group assembled after only a week of recruiting on campus. This type of expansion is referred to as a cold start. The university was very helpful in securing meeting space and re-

Epsilon-Eta returns by Jeremy Boyd, Sr. Expansion Consultant

On Sunday, October 9, 2005, in Normal, Ill., 20 men were brought into Sigma Pi as future re-founding fathers of EpsilonEta chapter at Illinois State University. The ceremony took place in Manchester Hall on campus. These men have established a strong foundation to build on for years to come. The colony consists of a majority of freshmen, which will ensure success in rising

cruitment tables for the expansion staff during our visit on campus. The university was very excited to have an NIC fraternity on campus. Eighty-ﬁve men signed a contact list showing interest and 35 men showed up to informational sessions.

Houston chapter also offered to help the new group recruit and has offered them use of their chapter house. Theta-Nu pledged they will continue to offer their support and guidance to the downtown colony throughout their road to chartering.

Theta-Nu chapter graciously assisted in starting the colony. They let us bring the prospective members to events that they were having for the University of Houston formal rush and let us use their chapter house for the colonization ceremony. They even held a meeting for the new colony so that they could nominate and elect the new ofﬁcers. The

An alumni advisory board is also in the works for the group. Alumni in the area have already begun to show an interest in assisting the men. Alumni interested in serving on the board can contact Director of Expansion Paul Wydra at (800) 332-1897 or via email at pwydra@sigmapi.org.

numbers as the group will not lose any brothers to graduation for over three years.

The Epsilon-Eta colony hopes to be one of Sigma Pi’s biggest chartered groups when the time arrives.

This will be Sigma Pi’s ninth chapter in Illinois. Epsilon-Gamma chapter at Illinois Wesleyan University is less than two miles away, so these new members will have full access to a well

established group of Sigma Pi’s for support in addition to assistance from the Executive Ofﬁce.

Epsilon-Eta chapter was originally established March 19, 1977, and has been inactive since 2002. Colony Development Consultant, Alan Moore will provide guidance as they pursue their ultimate goal of chartering. Sigma Pi is very excited to bring back one of its top chapters at such a great institution.

Sigma Pi colonizes at Penn College by Alan Moore, Colony Development Consultant

Texas State – San Marcos colonizes by Jim DiVita, Senior Educational Leadership Consultant

One Thursday night during the summer of 2004, two friends from Laredo, Texas, founding father Amador Juarez (ΘΚ, Texas Tech ’06) and David Villela began to discuss Viellela’s interest in joining a college fraternity. Since Sigma Pi was not at Texas State, Juarez suggested Villela start his own chapter of Sigma Pi in turn becoming a founding father just like him. Juarez spoke to Viellela about the benefits, adventures, challenges, and most of all the brotherhood that could be gained through Sigma Pi. Soon Viellela contacted the Sigma Pi Executive Office and after receiving an immediate response, he was introduced to Texas Province Archon and founding father Jay Vaden (ΘΚ, Texas Tech ’03). After Vaden’s arrival the ten-member interest group quickly spread to 20 members. A semester later the interest group now named “1897” petitioned the Interfraternity Council for recognition. Falling short of the numbers needed to colonize last spring, Senior Expansion Consultant, Jeremy Boyd and Senior ELC Jim DiVita, were sent to San Marcos to expand and officially colonize the interest group. The group would soon grow larger after meeting Nicholas “Blake” York and his friends, all freshman eager to start a brand new fraternity on campus. On September 23, 2005, Sigma Pi officially colonized with 43 men. These men are considered to be the gentlemen on campus, among the best and most diverse, taking part in many campus activities, clubs, organizations and varsity sports. The colony has plans to set the record for membership and charter this spring.

On October 21, 2005, a group of motivated men of the highest character from Penn College in Williamsport, Penn., officially colonized as members of Sigma Pi. An interest group since the summer, these men were extremely excited to officially begin membership in a lifelong experience. Province Archons Frank Fryburg (Θ, Penn State ’49), Kevin Stone (ΒΩ, Lock Haven ’72) and Assistant Province Archon George Sigle (ΒΩ, Lock Haven ’03) were on hand to put these 34 men through the formal colonization ceremony. The first executive board in the history of the colony is well prepared and ready to lead these gentlemen to their charter and beyond. With Greek organizations not being officially recognized by the school until 2007, this new colony will be a chartered chapter of Sigma Pi and ready to make

an impressive impact on their school and community. They already have sparked curiosity in the Greek community with other interest groups starting to take form. Furthermore, they are off to a great start, becoming very close with a group interested in becoming a sorority in the near future. The rest of the semester, the colony plans on recruiting, gaining temporary recognition from the school and start functioning as an effective colony. They have already started planning their ACE Project and are excited to give back to their school and community. As president Ryan Sokoloski said, “We are all very excited that we chose Sigma Pi Fraternity, their enthusiasm and willingness to help us has certainly made this an unforgettable learning experience.”

Expansion to the University of Southern Indiana When Jeff Lavery (A, Vincennes ’05) graduated from Vincennes University after two years and started at the University of Southern Indiana, he did not want his Sigma Pi career to be over. Lavery, a former sage, contacted the Executive Office about his desire to start a new chapter. After Lavery’s hard work with the assistance of the Executive Office, a group of 15-20 men were recruited. On Thursday, October 20th, 21 men became the first group of founding fathers at the University of Southern Indiana.

If you would like to offer support or to congratulate them, please email the colony at: usi@sigmapi.org.

Sigma Pi’s newest colony just happens to be really close to home. Sigma Pi recently established a colony at Middle Tennessee State University, and this was not your normal expansion visit. Numerous directors, including the Director of Finance and the Assistant Executive Director, were on campus recruiting to establish “A New Generation of Leaders” on the MTSU campus. The results were positive and the staff was able to recruit a very strong group of men that have a desire to become initiated members of Sigma Pi. The men in the colony are already very active on campus. They are involved in several organizations, in which many of them hold leadership positions, and some are afﬁliated with the professional fraternities on campus as well. The group is very motivated and they have set a goal of chartering by the end of April.

Winter 2006 • www.sigmapi.org

The group has been focused on recruitment and getting their name out on campus, while participating in intramurals and campus activities, and making a positive name for themselves. The men of Sigma Pi were featured in an article in the school newspaper on the positive programs that they will be bringing to campus. They have had area chapter support and have had strong alumni support, which the colony greatly appreciates.

First colony in TN since Executive Ofﬁce move

Emerald of Sigma Pi Fraternity

16 C O VER STORY

DESIGNS ON FRENCH LICK

B Y B R I A N C . A L L E Y, ( A , V I N C E N N E S ’ 0 3 )

Frank Lloyd Wright is quoted as saying “A great architect is not made by way of a brain nearly so much as he is made by way of a cultivated, enriched heart. George Ridgway (Α, Vincennes ’68) truly has a cultivated, enriched heart. He has set himself apart from others in his ﬁeld by being involved in projects that showcase his true love for design of new buildings and restoration and renovation of historic structures.

George Ridgway is recognized as one of the leading architects in the Midwest, and perhaps North America. He has designed a number of Sigma Pi buildings including the Alpha Chapter house in Vincennes, the Gamma-Upsilon house at Murray State and the Sigma Pi Centennial Clock Tower.

After graduating from Vincennes University and transferring to Indiana State, Ridgeway returned back to his VU roots to teach in 1968 where he became an assistant professor. It was at this time when Brad Grass (A, Vincennes ‘69), sage of the Alpha Chapter and an old high school classmate of Ridgway’s, asked him if he would be interested in becoming the chapter’s faculty advisor. Ridgway, at 23 years old and an assistant professor, accepted the invitation and was initiated into the Fraternity. During Ridgway’s time at Vincennes, he designed the university’s

architectural drafting program and taught architecture and surveying from 1968 to 1983. Several buildings on the VU campus are also Ridgway’s designs. In 1999, Vincennes University showed appreciation for his dedication by awarding him a Faculty Citation Award as an outstaying alumnus, and was recently nominated for the American Association of Community Colleges Outstanding Alumnus Award. In 1982, Ridgway founded G.S. Ridgway and Associates, Inc. Today his ﬁrm operates in Indiana, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Pennsylvania, Florida, and with

global projects in Ireland, England, Canada, and Australia. Historic restoration has become a large part of his corporation’s activities. Perhaps one of his most renowned projects is one that is almost in his backyard. West Baden and French Lick, Indiana are two small towns in southern Indiana, about two hours south of Indianapolis. After a ﬁre destroyed the original wood structure in 1901, the owners of the West Baden Springs Hotel rebuilt and reopened the facility within one year. It took 277 days to complete the construction with up to 500 men working each day. West Baden Springs Hotel had once been acclaimed as the Eighth Wonder of the World, featuring a six-story domed atrium with over 500 guest rooms. It stood as the world’s largest clear-span dome until construction of Houston’s Astrodome in 1965. From 1902 until 1934, the hotel reigned as a grand resort area, but the Great Depression took its toll on business in the mid-thirties. In 1934, the hotel was sold to the Jesuits for one dollar and was converted into a seminary. The Jesuits kept the building for 33 years before selling it to the Northwood Institute, a four-year culinary arts college, in 1967. The college determined the facilities were not meeting their needs and in 1983 sold the hotel to Grand Casinos. The chain purchased the structures hoping the Indiana legislature would legalize gambling. The legislature did change the law, but only permitted riverboat gambling, no help for the landlocked West Baden. In 1991, 104 feet of the perimeter collapsed, sending all six-ﬂoors crashing to the ground on one side of the building. The building sat unattended until 1996 when Historic Landmarks Foundation of Indiana purchased the hotel and the surrounding 250 acres for $250,000.

West Baden Springs Hotel

One of the ﬁrst hurdles faced in the restoration work was to ﬁnd the original designs, and the West Baden plans were never found. Ridgway said, “It was just an awesome undertaking. It took six months to get all the dimensions we needed to draw all of the buildings.” Not all the discoveries in the restoration were unpleasant ones. At the top of the hotel is a drum, a cylinder where the 24 steel support girders meet. Through a shed and down a ladder, are breathtaking frescos of angels on the walls and ceiling of the drum.

When the public understood they planned to restore the old hotel, they thought the project would be overwhelming. Even Mr. Cook asked “Where do we start?” Ridgway responded, “Mr. Cook, that’s not our problem. It’s where are we going to stop?”

When asked about his favorite memory of the restoration at West Baden, Ridgway replied, “I think it was probably seeing the look in Mr. Cook’s face in October of 1997 at a black tie gala affair when

After completing his first project for $5 million, Ridgway thought he was starting at the top with no place to go but down. He then joined Cook to work on the Fountain Square Mall in Bloomington, Indiana for $11 million. Ridgway thought that was the biggest project that he would ever tackle. He had that same thought again after designing another Cook facility in Europe for $14 million. Ridgway then designed a pharmaceutical plant for Cook in Bloomington for $17 million; restored West Baden Springs Hotel for $37 million; and Cook World Headquarters in Bloomington for $120 million. After each project, Ridgway had the same thought, that the project would be the biggest project he would ever complete. Now he sits on the front porch at French Lick Springs Resort & Spa, a $300 million plus project, confident that this project will be the biggest in his career. The Springs Valley area, which consists of the small towns of French Lick and West Baden, have long enjoyed the reputation of a grand resort area. Since the early 1900’s, travelers have flocked to these neighboring towns to enjoy the area’s mineral springs, casinos and two of the grandest hotels

Winter 2006 • www.sigmapi.org

Historic Landmarks and Cook Group Inc. of Bloomington, Indiana worked on a partial restoration of the building. Cook Group, Inc. owners, Bill and Gayle Cook, sought a ﬁrm to perform complete measurement of the old hotel. The Cooks asked Ridgway to serve as lead architect for the restoration. Ridgway looks at his involvement in the restoration as a oncein-a-lifetime project. Since 1987, Ridgeway and his ﬁrm have spearheaded all architectural work for the Cook Groups 70 corporations around the world.

Historic Landmarks immediately assumed that the Jesuits painted them, but they were not certain. “We think because of the dates, that sometime between 1917 and 1924, these religious ﬁgures were painted,” said Bill Cook. “Now I like to speculate that the craftsman that did the mosaic ﬂoor and the craftsman that came to do the wall tile and marble, could have been the same people who did the paintings up there. It’s really just a mystery who painted them,” added Cook.

we opened it. Just seeing the look of pride on his face was worth every bit of the work.”

Emerald of Sigma Pi Fraternity

Editor Brian Alley sat down with Brother Ridgeway after touring West Baden and French Lick . . .

How did you get into this type of work? I grew up on a family farm with two brothers. After high school I thought “Well I was in FFA. I wanted to be a farmer.” Mom and Dad sat me down at the kitchen table and said, “This farm’s not big enough to raise two families. You need to go to college. How about Vincennes University?” I said, “Okay, well what do I take?” My mom said, “Well, you like to draw. How about drafting?” I said, “Okay, I’ll do drafting.” So I went to VU and finished drafting. In the first semester I found out was academic probation was. You know, I was a B+ student in high school. I took physics and engineering and didn’t really have to crack the books too much. In college you had to study and I learned that the first semester. I learned academic probation is a real thing. So, I cracked the books and graduated with a 3.5. I went to Indiana State and became a teacher. I started the architectural drafting program at Vincennes University. I got my architect license and became a department chairman at the university and a division chairman, and an academic dean and suddenly I realized I wasn’t working with students. I was pushing paper and I said, “This is no damn fun anymore. I’m an architect. That’s what I want to do. So, I gave my resignation and started my own practice. I was fortunate my first project was a $5 million job. It had a good fee so I set up my office and the rest, as they say, is history. What has been your most challenging project? I think we’re sitting on the porch of it right now (French Lick Springs Resort Hotel). There are so many unknowns in the French Lick Hotel. When we start work on West Baden, it will be easy. We already know the problems. There’s 432,000 square feet in this building (French Lick) and virtually every 10 square feet there is a surprise. Something you didn’t know, something you thought was built one way and find it another. French Lick is probably the biggest challenge. How has any other previous experiences helped you in what you’re under going here at French Lick? French Lick is architecture restoration mode and I’ve done a lot of restoration of old buildings: the William Henry Harrison mansion in Vincennes, home of the former US president, the St. Francis Xavier School and alot of other buildings that are 100+ years old. As you go through each project, you learn a little bit of how the building was built and you actually try to get inside the head of the craftsman and designer. Sometimes that’s a pleasant experience and sometimes it’s not. But you have to look through the eyes of the guy that did the work before you so that you create what was created once before. Now, hopefully in the process, you can make it better. You give a building a lot longer life, a much sounder structure, new heating and air, safe electrical, but at the same time you have to be sensitive to what was done before. If you did not take the career path that you did, what would you have chosen? Well, I had two affinities in high school, one was the art of drafting and drawing and one was chemistry. I’d probably be a mad rocket scientist! What would be a dream project in the future for you? The first architect that I worked for was Lester W. Route. My Indiana registration number is 3,594, so I’m the 3,594th architect to come through Indiana. Lester Route’s number was 5. I then went to work in Terre Haute for Ewing Miller and worked with his grandfather, Warren D. Miller, and his

in the world, one of which was home to ﬁve Sigma Pi National Convocations (1938, 1954, 1958, 1962, and 1972). For many years, Hoosiers have loved the idea of the French Lick Springs Resort & Spa. A vast, outof-the-way historic hotel, with a vintage lobby, and a wide veranda complete with rocking chairs and an ice cream shop. Restoration of the long

this joint venture. Ofﬁcials from all three entities broke ground on August 9, 2005 on the Blue Sky Casino Project, thus making the dream a reality. “I’m sure someone would argue there are better charities,” said Bill Cook, “but I can’t even think of anything better than going after history and trying to preserve it.” While the Blue Sky Casino, projected to open in December

French Lick as work begins

neglected, but architecturally magniﬁcent hotel has begun. In April of 2005, a $300 million plus project was announced, that unites the ownership of the French Lick Springs Resort & Spa, the West Baden Springs Hotel and a planned casino and convention center to revive both the fabled resorts and the economy.

of 2006, is the economic engine powering the development, the heart of the venture lies in the ambitious restoration of the grand but creaking French Lick Springs Resort & Spa and the continued renovation of the West Baden Springs Hotel, re-introducing hotel rooms there for the ﬁrst time since 1934.

The deal sends an experienced team of visionaries, builders and managers led by Cook Group, Inc. to create a premier destination resort, casino and conference facility. Lauth Property Group of Indianapolis is Cook Groups partner in

With the oldest part of the French Lick structure dating back to 1902, the sprawling yellow brick hotel with its inviting veranda hearkens to an era of luxurious and unhurried vacationing. According to Ridgway, “The interior public areas of French Lick; the lobby, the ballroom, and the corridors will be restored to original period style.” During construction, Ridgway and Cook were thrilled to ﬁnd a stained-glass ceiling long hidden above the dropped acoustical tile. “There’s

West Baden most thrilling awe inspiring was the

and

project I’ve done in my

year career.

– George Ridgway

Winter 2006 • www.sigmapi.org

Once construction and restoration of the West Baden Springs Hotel was complete, four 18,000-pound towers were put in place by a 10-ton helicopter. Ridgway used old photographs to re-create the towers which were deteriorated and removed in the late 1940’s. Ridgway called the four towers Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. “We ﬁgured we needed all the help we could get,” said Ridgway. When the towers were in place, Ridgway commented, “She’s a grand old domed lady, and now she’s got her crown jewels again.”

Emerald of Sigma Pi Fraternity

432,000 square feet in this building and virtually every ten square feet there is a surprise,” added Ridgway. “Something you don’t know, something you thought was built one way and find it another.” Ridgway has plans to replace the canvas awning over the main grand entrance steps with a glass canopy similar to the elegant entrance seen in historic postcards and early photographs of the hotel. “Even in the hotel’s 1920’s heyday, the guestrooms were modestly appointed,” says Ridgway. “People did not spend their time in rooms in those pre-TV, pre-laptop days. The rooms have very high ceilings, ornate plaster crown moldings, six- and seven-panel wood doors, very 1972 Sigma Pi Convention appropriate for the era. Not so fitting for the modern era are the bathrooms, where dated tile and fixtures (none original) will be replaced.” Of the exterior, Ridgway says, “Anything in public view will be restored. There used to be two domes on the east end of the building, atop turrets. There’s talk of replacing those two to get it back to the 1902 era.” “When you look at it now, it’s a nice old brick hotel,” added Ridgway. “But a lot of the gingerbread and design elements over the past 100 years have been taken away, and the building is pretty austere. When the work is complete, you’ll find a beautiful old hotel with modern amenities.” As renovations began on the hotel, its remodelers have also turned into treasurer hunters. The normal quiet lobby now clangs with the noise of workers who are removing years of paint and wallpaper and finding the original beauty of the space. Work has begun in the hotel’s grand lobby, nearest to the entrance. The eggshell white paint is being removed on the columns to reveal scagliola, a faux marble finish made of plaster and silk that has been dyed. Each column takes almost a week to complete, with most of the restoration work being done by Conrad Schmitt Studios of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Scagliola is an ancient technique used to imitate marble that originated in the 1500’s. “The actual finish is only about 3/32 of an inch thick,” said Ridgway, “There are probably less than five people in the

registration number was 1. When they started the Vern statutes in 1929 there were five guys and they decided to take the first five numbers. This is a long story but Ewing Miller was kind of a role model for me in how he conducted business, worked with people, how he put his clients at ease and when he retired from architecture some five or six years ago, he had two projects to finish. One was the Washington Memorial in D.C. and the other one was the Jefferson Memorial. That was the last work he did before retirement and since then he’s passed away. I think I would like to do a restoration project on a significant national monument where I can commit all my time, 100%, to making the project absolutely perfect. And the federal government has the money to make it happen. What are your plans for years to come? Is there life after French Lick? Well, we have a new medical device company building in Brisbane, Australia for Cook Medical Group. There’s probably going to be a third addition to the factory in Ireland. Expanding on to Cook’s world headquarters which is right now 875,000 square feet. When we get done with that it will bring it up to 1.2 million square feet. I’m the architect for Vincennes University. And there’s a $7 million advance manufacturing project there. Who knows after that. What would you like to do after you retire? My wife asked me one time “what would you like to be when you grow up?” This was about three years ago. I said, “That’s easy. I’d like to be a kid.” I don’t think I’ll ever retire. I’ll slow down and enjoy the fruits of the labor. Travel Europe. If I’d ever retire in a foreign country, it would be a real toss up between the west coast of Australia and south western Ireland. I just love those places. Good people, good community. Retire, I don’t think that’s in my genes. My dad worked until the day he died and he was 79. I’m 60, or will be in two months. There’s just too many things, too much to do to retire.

What do you like to do in your spare time? I love flying my airplane. I’ve got a Piper Cherokee that I keep there where my office is at home. I’ve got a grass runway. When the punishers of business or just life in general get in the way, I just take that airplane up and bore holes in the sky. Are you married? Yes, to Janice. . . next Monday [November 7th] will be a dozen years. Do you have any children? I’ve got two daughters from a former marriage, Carmen and Susan. Susan is a radiologist at Bedford Hospital in Bloomington (Indiana). Carmen is a purchasing agent for Toyota in Princeton, Indiana. What’s been your greatest accomplishment thus far? Probably my two daughters. They’re good girls. They’re intelligent. That’s my legacy. The buildings, yeah, they’re major accomplishments. The porch we’re sitting on is going to be a world class facility. But a thousand years from now it could be a heap of rubble. How did you get involved with Sigma Pi? A high school classmate of mine had returned from Vietnam and joined Sigma Pi and became the sage. His name is Brad Grass. They were looking for a faculty advisor. Now you’ve got to remember, I was 23 years old and an assistant professor. Brad came to me and said, “We need a faculty advisor. You and I are best buddies. Come join Sigma Pi.” I thought, “Well, I’d never been in a fraternity. I’d never been involved in anything like that in college, I was too busy. Now I’ve got a little time. Sure.” I was initiated and met a lot of good people including [Mark] Briscoe, yourself [Alley], Jim Hills. It’s been a really great experience. I’ve been to the national convention several times. I worked with a lot of chapters in designing their houses. I’m glad to be a member of Sigma Pi. They’re good people. Have you learned anything from the initiation ceremony or your time in Sigma Pi that you feel is worthy today? One thing, integrity. Without it you are zero. I learned that listening to the ceremonies, the induction. They’re not just words. They are a code for living. Do you keep in touch with anyone you met through Sigma Pi? Oh yeah. There’s the guy who got me involved, Brad Grass. We play golf two to three times a year. I see Mark Briscoe and Jim Hills quite often.

If you could give advice to undergrads today that are getting ready to graduate, what would you say to them? Don’t ever compromise your integrity. You do that and you have nothing. When they carve your tombstone and they can write “Here lies an honest man” then you’ve lived your life correctly.

world that know how to do this type of work. Conrad Schmitt only has one person on staff that knows how to duplicate marble. There are very few buildings in the United States, most of them are capitol buildings that have scagliola.”

In regards to Sigma Pi, we were founded in 1897 by four students at Vincennes. If the founders were alive today, what do you think they would say about the outcome that the Fraternity has had over the last 108 years?

On the lobby’s ceiling, workers have found that many of the architectural elements are gold leaf. The restored lobby ceiling will feature 24-karat gold gilding at the column tops.

The vision that those four guys had was really founded on what I’ve said before time and time again; honesty, integrity and sacred trust. If they could see what Sigma Pi has become, not just nationally, but even internationally. I think the buttons on their vests would pop. They would be so proud beyond belief. Sigma Pi is a huge organization that really just started with four guys becoming fraternal. I guess if we all survive and make it to heaven, one day we’ll find out what the four founders would have to say.

Workers have also found that many of the tray ceilings have small light fixtures in what appears to be rosettes that have been painted over. “When we started the project, you could see 161 of them,” said Ridgway. “In the lobby you’ll find brackets around all the corners, about every twelve inches on center that have been covered with tape and paint for the last 50 years. So here’s the surprise, workers now need to re-create 859 of the rosettes. The whole lobby, every foot you see a rosette.” The hotel’s spa area will also be getting an upgrade. The current unisex spa will be divided among men, women and couples. The spa, which was built in 1905, has real marble in what is now the waiting room. Future renovation of the spa will be similar to the lobby where layers of paint and wallpaper will be removed. “We will get rid of the suspended ceilings,” Ridgway said. “In some areas, one-inch thick marble walls will be reconfigured for the new spa layout while stained glass windows will also be repaired.” Changes are also planned for the Grand Colonnade Ballroom which will be the hotel’s new fine buffet dining room. Ridgway said the raised floor at the entrance of the hall and around the perimeter is not part of the original 1925 design. He speculated that some of it may be kept for raised dining area, but expects most of it will be removed.

Scenic entrance to West Baden

What’s been your most memorable experience in Sigma Pi? I think those early days when the Fraternity, the Alpha Chapter, was really floundering in the middle to late sixties. It was being a part of keeping Alpha Chapter and actually getting the membership in higher numbers and keeping the Alpha house at that time. The chapter was in danger of losing it at that time. And being able to lend expertise in how to repair the house efficiently and save the chapter money. You know the national convocations were great. Universities were great, seminars and everything but as far as helping Sigma Pi, it was those early years. You know, hell, I was in my twenties.

Any other last comments? Over my years as an architect, I’ve been responsible for literally thousands of buildings. I’ve been responsible for, I don’t know, probably $5 billion worth of construction. When I retire I’d like to build the perfect house. Almost totally self sufficient and it would be mine. I’ve never built my own house. I’ve restored them, but I’ve never built my own.

The renovations are part of a larger plan of phase one, which includes the building of the casino and meeting space and the renovation of 200 hotel rooms. The price tag for phase one will be approximately $150 million, according to Ridgway. The room renovations at French Lick will also mean a decline in room numbers. “Before restoration and construction began, the hotel had 471 overnight guest rooms,” Ridgway said. “After the project is complete, there will be around 440.” “Our vision is to develop the Midwest’s ﬁnest destination resort, casino and conference facility by bringing together two of the most historically signiﬁcant grand hotels in the Midwest and linking them with the casino project approved by Orange County voters in 2003,” explained Cook Group Chairman Steve Ferguson. Blue Sky’s proposal consists of a nautically themed casino, parking garage, entertainment lounge, sports bar and casual bistro that will be attached to the French Lick Springs Resort & Spa. Blue Sky will invest

Winter 2006 • www.sigmapi.org

How does it feel to be nominated by VU for a national distinguished alumnus award? They gave me outstanding alumni several years ago. I have a great affinitive for Vincennes University. They got me my start. I gave 15-16 years back to them. And you think surely there’s more people that are more deserving of an award like that than yourself. If it helps the university and I can benefit from being an extinguished alumni and the university can benefit, and I’m fortunate enough to be awarded this then I would give the privilege and the glory to VU because that’s where I got my start.

The Pluto Dining Room will also be refurbished. When completed, the dining room will overlook lush gardens and include an outdoor dining area. Ridgway said current estimates put the renovation of the lobby, the Pluto dining room and grand ballroom close to $1 million. “This hotel hasn’t had any major renovation in 25 years,” said Ridgway. “When it’s done, it will be a four-star hotel with ﬁve-star architecture.”

Currently under construction, the adjacent casino will sit on a man made lake.

approximately $70 million to develop the casino, related amenities and local infrastructure. With more than 3,000 acres available for additional development, Blue Sky expects to add, as a part of a phased expansion, numerous additional amenities aimed at drawing visitors to this secluded, beautiful, historic community including a new championship golf course with a PGA sponsored world-class instruction academy. Other amenities include new and expanded corporate and convention meeting space, additional retail and entertainment venues, new restaurants, timeshare condominiums, town homes, and apartments. Casino expansion and additional gaming devices are also in the plans for phased expansion. “The casino’s exterior façade will compliment the architecture of the French Lick Springs Resort & Spa,” said Ridgway. The casino will be complimented by a water feature that will further enhance the architecture of both the hotel and casino. The 70,000 square foot casino facility will be attached to the French Lick Springs Resort & Spa. The casino will have approximately 1,000 slot machines of various denominations and a minimum of 25 table and poker games. The interior theme and design of the casino and related amenities will also compliment the interior architecture of the French Lick Springs Resort & Spa. In the early 1900’s, the French Lick Springs Resort & Spa and the West Baden Springs Hotel enjoyed international prominence and became magnets for celebrities, politicians and the rich and famous, including well-known patrons such as “Diamond Jim” Brady, Al Capone, mayors from major cities, governors and even a presidential candidate. Guests could enjoy golf at the 18-hole Hill Course, designed by Scottish golf architect Donald Ross in 1922, which was home to the 1924

PGA Championship tournament. Guests could also enjoy horseback riding, bowling, billiards, swimming, hiking, and nightly theater. Most everything a guest would need was on the grounds, including a bank, shops, and a barber. Upon completion of the renovation of the French Lick Springs Resort & Spa, there will be over 400 guest rooms and suites, major conference and convention facilities, and a full array of the original resort amenities, including a world class spa and golf components with a golf school, practice range, and two golf courses, the original Donald Ross course and a new championship 18-hole course designed by legendary golf architect Pete Dye. Before starting restoration at the French Lick Springs Resort & Spa, Ridgway was assigned to his biggest challenge, the nearby West Baden Springs Hotel. Visitors still tour the historic building which was renovated on the main ﬂoor and common areas in 1999. Once the initial rooms and renovation is done at the French Lick Spring Resort & Spa, the completion of the rooms at West Baden will take place. A grand hotel that once had 542 rooms will now have 242 luxury suites. “This is really going to be a national jewel,” said Ridgway. The West Baden restoration project has received national acclaim, and has been recognized by the Indiana Society of Professional Engineers in 1998 with its Engineering Excellence Award; by the National Society of Civil Engineers with its 1999 Engineering Excellence Award; by the Indiana and American Institute of Architecture with its 1997 Restoration Award; and received the National Civil Engineering Landmark Award in 2001. The National Trust recognized the Cook family in 1998 with a national award for preservation.

Parts of this article were reprinted with permission from the May-June issue of Indiana Preservationist, a bi-monthly publication of Historic Landmarks Foundation of Indiana, and news articles from the Herald-Times of Bloomington, Indiana and the Indianapolis Star of Indianapolis, Indiana.

Emerald of Sigma Pi Fraternity

Ursinus College Theta-Sigma Chapter charters at Ursinus College by Greg Ritchie, Senior Colony Development Consultant

Founding Fathers

With news of a new fraternity coming on campus, the local organizations became aggravated and animosity was created between the interest group and the locals. This resulted in a lot of members losing interest. However, a number of men decided to stick to it

and keep recruiting, and though they were met with much adversity over the last year, their determination and dedication to Sigma Pi was unshaken. As a result, on September 24th, 2005, the dream that Malone and Smith discussed on that fateful day in April 2004 was ﬁnally going to come true. A special thanks also to the brothers of Nu Chapter (Franklin & Marshall), Delta-Beta Chapter (Monmouth), and Theta-Epsilon Chapter (Indiana of Pennsylvania) for their attendance and assistance as well.

Stats on campus: 1,481 undergraduates 17% men join fraternities 9 fraternities/ 8 sororities

CHARTERING TEAM:

Location: 25 miles from Philadelphia

Grand Sage: PGS Frank Fryburg (Θ, Penn State ’49)

Type of school: private, liberal arts college, four year, coed

Grand Second Counselor: PGS John Williams (ΕΨ, Widener ’85) Grand Third Counselor: Brent Smith (ΘΕ, Indiana of Pennsylvania ’02) Grand Fourth Counselor: John Michelich (ΕΓ, Illinois Wesleyan ’74) Grand First Counselor: Adam Swope (ΖΑ, West Chester ‘02) Grand Herald: Christopher Brown (ΓΗ, Rutgers ’81)

Winter 2006 • www.sigmapi.org

On April 30th, 2004, Brent Smith (ΘΕ, Indiana of Pennsylvania ’02) had recently left the Sigma Pi Executive Office staff for an opportunity to be the assistant athletic trainer at Ursinus College. Ursinus, founded in 1869, had several local fraternities on campus with rich local traditions, but only one nationally recognized group. Smith met with some local alumni and campus officials regarding the possible expansion of Sigma Pi to the campus. Mike Malone, along with some of his classmates, had earlier been reviewing the current Greek system, finding nothing that appealed to what they were looking for in an organization. They often tossed the idea of starting a new group on campus around, but little action was taken at the time. In early April, Smith discussed the possibility of Malone and his interested classmates being founding fathers of Sigma Pi at Ursinus. Being a founding father himself, Smith was able to explain the difference between the Greek organizations and the lifelong benefits of not just being Sigma Pi, but also a founding father.

Boris Bayder Joshua Bhattacharya Brad Bowen Kevin Curl Michael Curran Jason Davis Louis DeMark James Domestico Sean Donahoe Jabie Drescher Jon Fowler John Gantner Corey Goldberg Gabriel Huck Joex Joyce Scott Krysa Paul LaFountain Mike Malone Frank Martingano Colby Moyer Anthony Natale Steve Ordog Steven Phillips Elliot Simon Craig Stevenson Eric Sulock Justin Traino Nate Wagner Patrick Waldron

William Paterson Emerald of Sigma Pi Fraternity

Theta-Tau Chapter charters at William Paterson by Greg Ritchie, Senior Colony Development Consultant

Founding Fathers Daniel Brautigam Andrew Bruno Joe Cecere Edward Echeverri Kenny Ellsworth Robert Feld Davin Forsberg Brad Garner Keith Hildebrandt Trevor Keany Martin Kennedy Brad Kotuski Matthew Krupka Chris Larres Matthew LaRusso Jesse Mazza Brian McCue George Merola Wasiem Mohamad Thomas Morris Alexander Muniz Jonathan Muniz Jordan O`Donnell Matthew Palmieri Eric Petrelius Jimmy Samuel Antonio San Roman Nicholas Schulz Kevin Snow Harold Tat AuTroy Thompson James Thorpey Robert Velasquez Aaron Visco

Stats on campus: 9,311 undergraduates 1,991 graduate enrollment 2% men join fraternities 10 fraternities/ 11 sororities Location: 20 miles from New York City Type of school: public, liberal arts college, four year, coed

In late September of 2004, an interest group at the William Paterson University led by, then sophomore Matthew Krupka, contacted Dave Edwards, then assistant executive director of Sigma Pi Fraternity, about the possibility of starting a new fraternity at the university. The group had been look ing into several different fraternities to afﬁliate with and after conversations with Expansion Consultant Christian Miele (HN, Towson ’04), they decided to go with Sigma Pi. On the evening of October 17, 2004, Miele assisted by Jason Murphy (HN, Towson ’02) and Patrick Palmiere (AM, NJIT ’05), installed the colony at William Paterson University. During the next eight months of the academic year, the colony stirred up quite a commotion on the campus among the students and faculty. The group made quite a signiﬁcant impact on Greek life as they became the largest Greek organization on campus. The men of the colony worked hard to achieve the respect from students, faculty, and other Greek CHARTERING TEAM: Grand Sage: Christopher Brown (ΓΗ, Rutgers ’81) Grand Second Counselor: PGS John Williams (ΕΨ, Widener ’85) Grand Third Counselor: Patrick Palmieri (ΑΜ, NJIT ’05) Grand Fourth Counselor: Paul Gorman (ΔΕ, Seton Hall ’96) Grand First Counselor: Joseph Palazzolo (ΔΒ, Monmouth ‘03) Grand Herald: Jonathan Frost (ΔΖ, Missouri - St. Louis ’03)

organiza tions on campus. The colony excelled in academics by attaining the highest GPA and impressed the entire campus community with their ACE Project where they refurbished the outdoor volleyball courts on campus. After an impressive year, 33 members of the colony at William Paterson University were initiated as the Theta-Sigma Chapter of Sigma Pi Fraternity on October 8, 2005. Special thanks to the brothers of the Delta-Beta Chapter (Monmouth), Zeta-Chi Chapter (Rowan), and the Theta-Delta Chapter (TCNJ) for their at tendance and assistance in the chartering.

Valparaiso Alumnus helps in time of need Moses is best known for leading people out of slavery and down to the Promised Land of milk and honey. This time, Moses brought the milk and honey to some of the victims of Hurricane Katrina. Moses is a white 1993 Ford F-150 with 154,000 miles. The truck’s owner, Jim Grummer (BT, Valparaiso ‘78) ﬁlled Moses to the brim with food, clothes, water and other necessary supplies and headed to Alabama to bring a little relief to people in need. “I’m a private relief organization. Me and Moses,” who, Grummer said, was named long before the relief organization started. “I’ve had him for ﬁve years now,” Grummer said. When someone asks me, ‘Why do you call your truck Moses?’ I say, ‘Because Moses always delivers.’”

Grummer said he decided to go to Alabama because it was the closest area he knew he could provide some assistance to. He said he didn’t foresee a problem finding people in need. “The shorter the distance, the better, for the truck, that is. I figure I went about 1,100 miles roundtrip,” he said. “I collected canned goods, bottled water, flashlights and batteries, and also tried to get a couple of transistor radios, just to name a few items.” Moses was parked on the side of the road in front of Grummer’s residence at 2825 S. Atlantic Road, New Smyrna Beach, Fla. There was a big red sign on the windshield that read, “Hurricane Relief.” The bed of the truck was more than half-full with bags and boxes of relief items. “At first my sign was too small, and I had people stopping and asking me how much my truck was for sale for. So, then I made a giant sign.”

Grummer said people were knocking on his door to find out what he was doing, where he was going and how they could help. “A father and his daughter came by one day and asked what we were doing. I wasn’t there, but my fiancé was. These people had almost no money at all. They were poor themselves. And they gave me five bucks,” Grummer said. “I took the five dollars and tape it to

the windshield as a reminder.” Grummer said he didn’t know anyone in Alabama. “I just got on I-10 west and went towards Alabama.” Diapers, toilet paper, men’s, women’s and children’s clothing, toothpaste, toothbrushes, shampoo, conditioner, batteries, cat food, dog food, and lotion are just some of the items that were delivered by Grummer and Moses.

partners with Sigma Pi Since September 2005, ALL members of Sigma Pi have the opportunity to join the Brooks Brothers Corporate Membership Program. Retail Brand Alliance, the parent company of Brooks Brothers, Adrienne Vittadini and Carolee, has developed this program that beneﬁts you as a member of Sigma Pi. This relationship was initiated to provide you with an everyday discount when shopping for your business attire and a way to provide you with enjoyable incentives. As a member of Brooks Brothers program, you will be afforded a 15% discount on regular and everyday value priced merchandise at all Brooks brothers, Brooks Brothers Factory Outlets, Carolee and Adrienne Vittadini stores nationwide when you enroll online at membership.brooksbrothers.com How can you start receiving this wonderful beneﬁt today? Simply visit the website indicated above and follow the enrollment instructions. You will be asked to enter the following information to validate your association with Sigma Pi: Organization ID #: 04901 Organization Enrollment PIN #: 44088 If you should have any questions or comments during your enrollment process please call a Retail Brand Alliance coordinator at (866) 515-4747. Coordinators are available Monday through Friday, 9:00am to 5:00pm EST.

Winter 2006 • www.sigmapi.org

Grummer said the idea of delivering relief items to some of the hurricane victims came to him after he donated money. “I’ve just been thinking about how much I have and how little they have. I know other people have (sent money) too, but it hasn’t really felt like it’s been enough this time,” Grummer said. “In my own mind, I’ve been incredibly blessed. I survived all the hurricanes in the past ﬁve years. There was no damage to my home. So, I’ve deﬁnitely been blessed.”4

‘Moses’ will deliver to Katrina victims in Alabama

Emerald of Sigma Pi Fraternity

26 NEWS FROM

ALUMNI

Attention Alpha Chapter Alumni Founders Day is just around the corner. This year it is scheduled for February 25, 2006. This year’s event will be back in Vincennes, home of Alpha Chapter. This year’s activities include a banquet and awards ceremony with a special guest speaker, Past Grand Sage Gary Tash, as well as some other activities happening after the banquet, including a Texas Hold’em Tournament as well as a dance with a DJ. The banquet will be held once again at the Executive Inn in Vincennes. Prices have not yet been set. Please check the website www.rushsigmapi.com for event details as they are set. On Saturday afternoon before the banquet, there will be the annual meeting of the House Corporation in the basement of the Alpha House. All alumni are welcome to attend. The meeting will start at 12:00pm. Also, we will be starting a new email newsletter that will be going out periodically. To insure that you receive this newsletter, please email Brian Alley at balley@sigmapi.org to update your information. You do not want to miss this year’s Founders Day Celebration. Mark you calendar now. For more information, please contact Brian Alley at (800) 332-1897 or by email at balley@sigmapi.org or Ryan Waldroup at (812) 887-2485 or by email at waldroup@hotmail. com. Be sure to look for upcoming details in your mail box as well as your inbox! We look forward to seeing you there!

Jersey Shore Alumni Club Congratulations and thanks go out to the Jersey Shore Alumni Club members who sponsored our undergraduate delegation to Sigma Pi University this past summer.

Eta Chapter (Purdue) alumni Tom Jackson (’92), Paul Ke (’93) and Don Calcagno (‘93) at Twin Craters Lake, which is around 11,500+ ft elevation on the Rawah Wilderness Trail, in the Roosevelt National Forest, Rocky Mountains, just outside Ft. Collins, Colorado.

The active chapter’s new First Counselor, Dave Parzanese (‘08), has been working diligently with Alumni Club member Kevin Phelan (’04) in completing the chapter’s ﬁrst-ever printed alumni newsletter. The ﬁrst edition of this newsletter will be funded by the alumni club, though future editions will be jointly funded through the undergraduate chapter and by those alumni who choose to advertise their businesses in the newsletter. Some people have been asking whether or not there will be a separate, alumni club-only printed newsletter. The answer is yes, there will be such a newsletter! However, the focus of both the alumni club and the undergraduate chapter is to get the inaugural edition of the printed newsletter out to the alumni-at-large and then to focus on creating a separate alumni club-only newsletter. The Jersey Shore Alumni Club would like to take this opportunity to congratulate the men from the Delta-Beta Chapter on their strong attendance during the recruitment workshop weekend on September 10th and 11th. The Jersey Shore Alumni Club wants to take this opportunity to thank Province Archon Paul Gorman for putting together another spectacular event that gives vision and form to the values of Sigma Pi Fraternity.

Members of the alumni club have been involved in helping the undergraduates plan this spring’s Alumni Day. Last spring’s event saw a drastic change in the tone and demeanor of the day and we encourage the undergraduates to keep the day in a similar tone this coming semester. Positive changes such as increasing alumni, active, and pledge communication have proven invaluable to the success of our chapter as a whole and the club only wishes to see that communication grow stronger. In the end, the alumni club hopes that the increased fraternal and financial support offered by our members to our undergraduate brothers helps them achieve their goal of being the best chapter, period. In the coming year, the Jersey Shore Alumni Club will continue the projects and programs that we started in our first year of existence. These include buying chapter t-shirts for new initiates, financing the domain registration and hosting costs of www.sigmapi.com, sponsoring a portion of our undergraduate brothers’ cost to attend the Midyear Conference in St. Louis, and offering support to the rest of the province via donations to provincial workshops. As a final note, the members of the Jersey Shore Alumni Club join the men of the Delta-Beta Chapter in offering a sincere thank you to the “Anonymous Alumnus” who donated the funds to purchase the

Zeta-Mu Alumni Assoc. Charters by James R. DiVita, Jr.

In an effort to celebrate Michigan State University’s 150th Anniversary and Zeta-Mu Chapter’s 20th year at MSU, on October 22, 2005 the Zeta-Mu Alumni Association was officially chartered by the Grand Council as the 4th Sigma Pi alumni club in the state of Michigan. ZetaMu alumni from all over the country attended, making in the best turnout for Homecoming in recent time. The weekend was filled with much activity as both alumni and actives came together for this memorable occasion, beginning with the alumni defending their title from last year in the 2nd Annual Alumni/Active football game. Congratulations to the active chapter on their victory this year! Saturday, resumed with tailgate at the tennis courts, followed by both actives and alumni ending the night at Harper’s. The Zeta-Mu Alumni Association Board of Directors met on the final day of the weekend and voted to hold a second yearly event in the spring semester. Preparations are now under way to hold an Alumni/Active Golf Scramble in early May. Dates and times will be announced shortly.

- Dan Castanho (’95)

Seminole Alumni Foundation

James M. Hall, Esq. (’88) and James R. Divita (’04) display the charter.

Founding Fathers Gregory J Baracy Jr ’05 Philip J Bolus ’05 Nicholas D Bowman ’04 Samuel L Brown ’04 David J Dailey ’91 Dennis R Danville Jr ’01 James R DiVita Jr ’04 Gary M Durak ’86 James M Hall Esq ’88 Thomas H Huscio ’02 Brian A Hypnar ’03 John J Ingraham ’04 James A Jakubiak ’03 Jeffrey T Kelly ’86 Robert T Kent ’04 Ross D Kulberg ’01 Ryan M Lintner ’02 James W Low Esq. ’01 Ronald A Marks ’04 Nicholas J Morris ’03 Matthew L Quart ’03 Craig J Roush ’99 Abraham M Sheppard ’04 Ronald K Siegel Jr ’02 Gabriel S Slominski Esq. ’99 Curtis C Smith Jr ’05 Matthew N Steele ’99 Mark E Steele ’04 Eric M Tritch ’05 Kevin L Wickering ’89 Kelly A Wilson ’96 Kenneth A Yawﬁmetz ’86

chapter’s ofﬁcial recruitment table, complete with pull-up display of the Creed. That is the type of positive reinforcement that our alumni club seeks to foster and hopes that other alumni members from our chapter offer to provide. - Joe Palazzolo (’03)

River City Alumni Association The RCAA would like to thank everyone that attended the 10th Annual Sigma Pi Alumni / Active BBQ. This was a very special day. As predicted, the Alumni took softball (19-5) and now hold a commanding 7-3 lead in the standings. Not bad for a bunch of old guys! The win was nice, but that was only part of the success of this event. Over 70 members of the Sigma Pi family showed up for the BBQ, and it appeared that everyone had a great time. It was nice to meet the newest members of the chapter. The undergraduates should be proud of themselves. They behaved like true gentlemen, and went out of their way to introduce themselves and meet alumni. Sage Danillo Hughes (’07) and Second Counselor Matt Flaherty (’06) have gone the extra mile in bringing Sigma Pi back to it’s current prestigious standing. At the BBQ, the undergrads were presented with their charter by

The alumni of Eta-Epsilon Chapter of Florida State University have united in the recent tragedy of Hurricane Katrina to aid fellow alumni who were affected by this natural disaster. The alumni organization is currently in the process of accepting monetary donations for ﬁve fellow alumni: John Delucca, Chris Mule (’92), C.J. Martin, Mike Krupa (’99), and Ryan Ahern (’97) who all resided in the New Orleans area when the tragic hurricane struck. All of the brothers thankfully escaped without harm, but are now homeless, and most likely have lost all of their possessions and are in need of any assistance that we can provide for them. Their status is being updated weekly via emails to our alumni base and if you are not currently getting alumni emails please contact Spencer Klein (’94) at (850) 402-7653 or email him at spenceloriklein@aol.com and your updated information will be added to our database. To make a contribution you can log on to our web site at www.sigmapifsu. com and use the PayPal option on the home page or send a check made out to the Seminole Alumni Foundation to Brad Freeman (’99) - Treasurer at 107 A S. Lauber Way, Tampa, FL 33609. Our thoughts go out to all our brothers and families who may have been affected by this tragedy and look forward to aiding our fellow brothers in need. As of September 29th, the alumni have raised over $4,200 for the continued on next page

Winter 2006 • www.sigmapi.org

Remember, your Sigma Pi experience doesn’t end when you leave college, it lasts a lifetime! The goal of the ZMAA: to provide the same undergraduate experience to Sigma Pi alumni, while aiding the active chapter. Join the tradition and support your alumni association today! Special thanks to all those who have contributed. You truly have made a difference! Check out our website at: www.zetamualumni.com for information about us, to access the alumni directory, advertise your business or view the latest ZMAA newsletter.

Founding Fathers Phil Espinosa (’91) and Louis Billenstein (’92). Needless to say the undergrads were honored to get it back. For me personally, I think that this Alumni / Active BBQ was the best one yet.

Emerald of Sigma Pi Fraternity

28 A L UMNI NEWS ﬁve alumni affected by Hurricane Katrina. - Spencer Klein (’94)

Southern New Jersey Alumni Club The Grand Council of Sigma Pi Fraternity has approved the charter for the SNJAC. Membership in the Southern New Jersey Alumni Club is open to any Sigma Pi alumnus who was initiated or transferred to Zeta-Chi chapter in Glassboro NJ. Membership is also open to any Sigma Pi alumnus residing in the New Jersey counties of Burlington, Atlantic, Camden, Gloucester, Salem, Cumberland, or Cape May. To join the Southern New Jersey Alumni Club or for more information regarding upcoming events in Southern NJ area, please email Matthew Petz (’04) at mattypetz@yahoo.com or visit our website at www.sigmapizetachi. com. - Brandon Hemel (’97)

Upsilon Alumni Association The 83rd Founders Day will be on Feb. 25th at Sigma Pi Manor in Westwood. John Goodlad (’53) is committed already and expects to see brothers from his era there. Bob

Members of the Rotunda Alumni Club enjoy brunch at the Beta-Pi Chapter House during Homecoming Weekend (September 23-25, 2005) at the University of Virginia.

Hillerman (’56) plans a road trip from Florida to accept his Golden Cross. A group of 13 alumni convened on June 8th at Westwood Brewing Company to watch the tail end of Michigan defeat the Bruins in the NCAA softball ﬁnals and honor the successful graduating senior class. Thank you to our Emerald Level donors of 2005: Joe Marsalek (’57), Tom Miller (’61), Donald Peairs (’64) and Lou Ravetti (’56)! On a sad note, Dr. Stratis Zampathas (‘41) entered the Adytum

Volunteer State Alumni Club In November of 2003, the Executive Ofﬁce of Sigma Pi moved their headquarters from Shadowwood Memorial Headquarters in Vincennes, Indiana to Brentwood, Tennessee. After 40 years of operating at our founding birthplace, Sigma Pi chose a new home for our staff and brotherhood. We are actively expanding to area universities, with planned expansion visits to Belmont University and Middle Tennessee State University. We have contacted every major university in the state of Tennessee, and know that the future will bring many chapters to the Volunteer State. We want to establish the Volunteer State Alumni Association If you are an alumnus, and you live in the state of Tennessee and would like to be a charter member of the Volunteer State Alumni Association, please contact Paul Wydra at the Executive Ofﬁce at (800) 332-1897 or by email at pwydra@sigmapi.org

on January 31 in Hawaii. He was a teacher, 32nd degree member of the Sacramento Scottish Rite, member of Ben Ali Shrine, and active in the downtown redevelopment of Sacramento. His wife of 56 years, Georgia Zampathas, said, “To Stratis, Sigma Pi was a joy and a prideful experience. He never forgot his fraternity brothers.” - Jay Ross (‘92)

Walter H. Lemmond Alumni Association After a few years off the Walter H. Lemmond Alumni Association is making a comeback and we need your help. We need your help in rebuilding our contact database, touching base with those current and missing alumni, and organizational help with our 30th anniversary next year. If you are an Epsilon-Theta alumnus and you need information or are interested in helping rebuild this great alumni association then please contact Bill Hanckel at (919) 841-9211 or via email at wrh2nd@bellsouth.net. Any help would be greatly appreciated! - Bill Hanckel (’92)

Updates: Jim Ballard (Υ, UCLA ’91) and

his wife Lesley welcomed Delaney Brooke Ballard in to the world in March. Ellie, Jim’s first daughter, doesn’t quite know what to make of her new sister just yet but did tell him she dreamt of “Ba-bee.” Larry Ballard (Υ, UCLA ’62) is the grandfather. Michael P. Brady (ΔΕ, Seton Hall ’04) has begun his career in the financial services industry. He works with Cowan Financial Group out of Manhattan, offering tailored financial strategies, products and expertise to discerning clients nationwide. He helps individuals, families and businesses accumulate and protect assets as well as prepare for both anticipated and unanticipated life events. Financial programs and services include insurance, investments, trusts, 401(K) and pensions, estate tax analysis and executive benefit plans. You can contact Brother Brady at BradyMichaelP@yahoo.com or at (212) 642- 4831. Anthony Butler (ΖΗ, Santa Clara ’92) recently took the position as Assistant Director of Admissions and Activities at Saint Francis High School in Mountain View, California. Larry Furst (Υ, UCLA ’92) plays golf on Saturday mornings with Seth Bluman (’92) in Camarillo.

He works for Amgen in Thousand Oaks and lives in Woodland Hills with his wife Nu. E.L. (Rusty) Galle (ΑΚ, Louisiana

State ’72) is now Account Supervisor on the Dodge Dealer Advertising account for Daimler Chrysler at BBDO in the New Orleans ofﬁce. His wife Gayle works with mainstreamed mentally challenged students at John Ehret High School in Los Angeles. Son Chris is a customer service rep; daughter Elizabeth is an esthetician with a son, Joey, born in 2002 that is the next hope of a Sigma Pi brother (according to Grandpa.) Kenneth Clay Galloway (ΗΕ, Florida State ’01) just earned his masters degree from the University of Phoenix. Kevin Giroux (ΗΤ, Fitchburg State ’02) and wife Krissy were blessed with their ﬁrst child and future Sigma Pi, Anthony. Anthony was born three months premature and after two major brain surgeries and 105 days in a Boston hospital, he is doing great! He is now 20lbs and eats everything in site! John Goodlad (Υ, UCLA ’53) and his wife Nancy toured Ireland, and this year, they will travel to Chicago to celebrate Rotary’s 100th anniversary. Ryan Henneberg (Υ, UCLA ’01) moved to Ireland for two years this past September for work. The biggest kick in the head is missing two years of UCLA football, but I’m sure the Guinness will help balance it out.

Dr. Dennis Hong (Υ, UCLA ’96) graduated with Ph.D. from UC San Diego in 2002. He is now studying for his teaching credential.

continued on next page

A new way of looking at data collected by an instrument aboard a NASA satellite might double the amount of information that instrument provides to weather forecasters.

see some infrared channels from above the cloud tops. The ﬁrst part of my research is developing algorithms to recognize which channels are contaminated and which aren’t.”

Will McCarty (BT, Valparaiso ’03), a graduate student in atmospheric science at University of Alabama - Huntsville, and his NASA advisor are developing new techniques for sifting through billions of bits of data collected every day by NASA’s Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS).

“The second part will be taking that data and putting it into a forecast model to see how much it improves short-term forecasts, from a few hours out to about a week.”

AIRS measures temperatures by looking at infrared energy (heat) that rises up from Earth and its atmosphere. Until now, scientists could use only AIRS data from areas that were completely cloud free. That means 90 to 95 percent of the data collected by AIRS has been discarded as contaminated.

Getting temperature data from some cloudy areas is especially important, Jedlovec noted, “because the real weather that turns into storms is from the regions where we already have clouds.” An Ohio native, McCarty says that after he earned an undergraduate degree in meteorology at Valparaiso University in Indiana he was attracted to UAH and the NSSTC by the opportunity to be involved in both research and operational meteorology.

“Infrared energy doesn’t penetrate clouds like microwaves do, so when there are clouds all you can see basically are the tops of the clouds,” McCarty explained. “As the instrument looks down at the Earth each reading that it takes is for an area of more than 65 square miles.” “And only ﬁve to ten percent of those are truly clear, with no clouds at all,” he said. “But our theory is that we can double the amount of data you can collect and use in a forecast model.” “And while only ﬁve to ten percent of its data can be used right now, the AIRS instrument gathers about 24 gigabytes of temperature data every single day,” McCarty said. “So if we can double the amount that’s being used to ten or twenty percent, that’s a big increase in the amount of data being used in the forecast models.”

“I wanted to do something that would be useful to the everyday forecaster,” he said. “And I knew I wanted to work with space-based sensors, so the whole NASA connection was a big plus for me.”

“I was surprised I got it,” McCarty said. “The competition just inside this building was pretty stiff.” McCarty and his advisor, Dr. Gary Jedlovec, a NASA atmospheric scientist in the National Space Science and Technology Center (NSSTC) and an adjunct professor in UAH’s Atmospheric Science Department, are looking at infrared data that comes from air above low-lying clouds, where the cloud tops are no higher than about 10,000 feet above sea level. “With low-lying clouds there will still be some data from the air above them,” McCarty said. “We can still

McCarty and fellow UAH atmospheric science graduate student Pawan Gupta received two of only 50 prestigious NASA Earth System Science fellowships awarded nationwide this past fall. McCarty, who ﬁnished his M.S. in atmospheric science this past fall, says the fellowship (which can be renewed for up to three years) will support him through his doctoral program.

Winter 2006 • www.sigmapi.org

Alfred Hernandez (Υ, UCLA ’91) lives in the Lone Star State, works for Time Warner, and hangs out with Adrian Edwards (’91).

McCarty ﬁnds weather gems in satellite’s chaff

Emerald of Sigma Pi Fraternity

30 A L UMNI NEWS Edan Hosking (ΔΑ, Central Michigan ’97) and wife Marcy, are proud to announce the birth of their ﬁrst child Jordan Elizabeth Hosking, who was born on August 26, 2005. Everyone is doing well. Please send your congratulations to Edan and Marcy at ehosking@mail. bio.tamu.edu. Scott Hume (ΒΚ, Arizona State ’89) has been promoted to the afﬁnity group at Best Western International, Inc. Previously, Scott was a general reservations agent. In his new capacities, he will take

Showtime. Steve’s ﬁrst production was “Terror Track,” starring John Ritter. Von Limbaugh (ΗΕ, Florida State ’92) and his wife, Michelle celebrated their 10th wedding anniversary in October. They have two children, Riley and Bailey, and one foster child, Chris. They live in Aurora, Colorado where Von practices law. Mike Liskey (Υ, UCLA’92) is assistant coach of the Santa Ana College basketball team, which reached

long-range planner. Richard also works as a stringer for the Associated Press in San Diego and covers Padres, Chargers and college sports, building on his career as a Daily Bruin sports columnist on campus. Richard lives in Costa Mesa. Dr. Robin Matuk (Υ, UCLA ’96) graduated from Medical School, is board certiﬁed in Internal Medicine and has a fellowship in Gastroenterology in Albuquerque, N.M. Barney L. Millisor (Ε, Ohio ’83)

was recently promoted to the rank of Master Sergeant in the United States Air Force Reserve. He currently serves as the Drug Demand Reduction Program Manager with the 910 Air Wing out of Youngstown, OH. Tim O’Hara (Υ, UCLA ’93) works at Aston Martin of Beverly Hills. He lives in Pasadena overlooking the Rose Bowl with his wife Gigi and their two young children, Teagan Claire and Timothy Joseph, Jr.

Alumni from the Alpha-Nu Chapter at Wake Forest gathered in Myrtle Beach, SC, for their second consecutive reunion. More than 700 collective years of Sigma Pi brotherhood were represented at the reunion. The annual reunion is becoming a tradition and the goal is to reach attendance that represents a millennium of Sigma Pi brotherhood. Pictured left to right are: Front, Ted Russ (’55); First row, Ray McLaurin (’60), Ronnie McLaurin (’57), John Ratliff (‘55), Frank Davis (’55); Second Row, Don Canady (’56), Johnny Horton (’57), Bob Nesmith (’56), Steve Strawn (’57), John Thompson (’56); Back row, Phil Cook (’55), and Jerry Drum (’57). Not pictured: George Mast (’58)

reservations for special discount groups, as well as reservations and related customer services for the company’s frequent guests. Fortunately on weekends, Scott will continue computer tutoring and website development. Steve Kaplan (Υ, UCLA ’85), a lawyer and movie producer, traveled to the Cannes Film Festival in April to seek ﬁnancing and distributors for his various ﬁlm projects. His most recent movie, “The Big Empty,” aired on Apr. 13th on

the ﬁrst round of the state playoffs, losing a close game, in February. Tim Love (ΒΧ, Loyola - Chicago ’03) recently ﬁnished volunteer service in the Federated States of Micronesia with Jesuit Volunteers Intl. and recently became the new Coordinator of Risk Management and Greek Life Programs at Texas State University in San Marcos, TX. Richard Marcus (Υ, UCLA ’91) works for the Orange County Transportation Authority as a

James Naudi (ΗΟ, Toronto ’01) was elected to the position of Secretary for the Alumni Association of Woodsworth College at the University of Toronto. Don Patterson (ΓΡ, Western Michigan ’01) & wife Julie are proud to announce the birth of their first child Logan K Patterson. She was born on July 7 & 1:39 PM at Dewitt Army Hospital at Fort Belvoir, VA. Everett Rea (Υ, UCLA ’54) visited Olde Eire (Ireland) and the Guiness Brewery in Oct. 2004. When not sipping the fine brew, he plays golf at home in Hawaii. Bob Seaman (Υ, UCLA ’58) was cited in the Morning Briefing trivia question in the March 8th edition of the Los Angeles Times. Question: What 1958 UCLA graduate from a small San Joaquin Valley town became the seventh American to run a sub-4:00 mile with a time

of 3:58 at London in 1962? In 1953, as a senior at Reedley H.S., Seaman set a national high school record of 4:21. Ryan Smith (ΗΑ, Cal State – Sacramento ’97) and wife Natalie happily announce the birth of their son Nolan Ryan Smith. Nolan was born on the 4th of July at 7:06 PM weighing 7 pounds 6 ounces and was 20 inches in length. Abel Somilleda (Υ, UCLA ’94) runs his own travel company, “Big Bad Student Travel” and organizes student trips to Mexico. See www. BigBadStudentTravel.com. He lives in Redondo Beach with his wife Liza and infant son, Noah. Adam Treiger (Υ, UCLA ’91) had his name added to his law ﬁrm, ﬁnally after being a partner for many years - Stowell, Zeilenga, Ruth, Vaughn & Treiger (www.SZRLaw. com). He lives in Westlake Village with his wife Milena and toddler son Andrew. Tim Wilson (ΕΡ, Drury ’97) currently is on staff at Camp Barnabas, a Christian youth camp for disabled kids in Missouri. After graduating from Drury, Tim worked and volunteered for several years at the National Sports Center for the Disabled in Colorado. Camp Barnabas was nominated to be the recipient of Extreme Makeover: Home Edition. For eight days in August, and old house was torn down and rebuilt and a challenge course that Tim helped build was partially torn down and rebuilt four times bigger with the help of Ty Pennington, and a 40-bed dorm was built to house the many volunteers that Camp Barnabas depends upon. Camp Barnabas was aired on Extreme Makeover: House Edition on October 16th. For more information on Camp Barnabas please visit their website at www.campbarnabas.org

NJIT alumnus leads fundraising efforts for Pearl Harbor Memorial Fund by Capt. Robert G. Kinzler, U.S. Army Ret. (ΑΜ, NJIT ’49) “December 6, 1971 … for a young man or woman, 18 or 19 years old, being stationed at Pearl Harbor was like being sent to Paradise. But within 24 hours, my Paradise became a living Hell.”

one that will broaden the educational experience for everyone who comes to see the Memorial. One of the most exciting aspects of the effort will be the creation of an updated and more compelling tribute to those who served at Pearl Harbor and ultimately in the Paciﬁc Theater – The Pearl Harbor Memorial Registry.

In the early morning hours of December 7, 1941, six Japanese carriers launched 350 attack airplanes and six midget submarines intent on destroying the Pacific Fleet in Pearl Harbor. At 7:55 am, the attack began. I was there. At the time, I was Private Kinzler, radio operator assigner to Headquarters Company, 27th Infantry Regiment, 25th Infantry Division at Schofield Barracks, Oahu. The Japanese didn’t target Schofield, choosing to attack nearby Wheeler Army Airfield instead.

Schoﬁeld Barracks, May, 1941

As a result, my company was ordered to head to the Roosevelt High School football stadium in Honolulu and set up a battle station. On our way, I got a good look at the havoc and destruction the Japanese has rained on Pearl Harbor.

on every word of every battle report.

Smoke filled the air and I could see fires leaping skyways from nearly every ship in the harbor. Within two hours, the enemy’s sneak attack had sunk or severely damaged twenty-one naval ships. Three-quarters of the airfields, planes and bases at Pearl Harbor and on Oahu were damaged or destroyed. Almost 2,400 sailors, marines, soldiers, airmen and civilians were killed and 1,178 were seriously wounded.

By keeping the stories alive and fresh, remembering the history as it was, we honor the memory of the men and women who served not only at Pearl Harbor, but in the Paciﬁc as well, in the course of the largest, most devastating war in history.

Wake Island … Midway … Guam … Coral See … faraway places became household names as Americans hung

These are the goals of the Pearl Harbor Memorial Fund, and I am proud to join with Tom Hanks in the nationwide effort to remember Pearl Harbor, tell the complete story of the War in the Paciﬁc that concluded on V-J Day, and honor those who served our country – and the world – during four long years of war. You see, right now, the Arizona Memorial Museum and Visitor Center at Pearl Harbor is actually sinking. Initially it was thought that the Museum could be shored up. But the rate of disintegration has become so rapid that we have no choice to build a new, larger, more solid and climatecontrolled facility on the Arizona

Originally constructed in 1980 to serve as a focal point for the USS Arizona Memorial and to honor all the Americans who served at Pearl Harbor and ultimately in the Pacific Theater, officials thought that perhaps 2,000 people would visit the Museum each day. But the Memorial now serves more that 4,500 visitors a day during peak periods and nearly 1.5 million visitors a year. And they are thirsting for knowledge about why Pearl Harbor happened and what events led America into World War II in the Pacific. Visitors want to know more about what happened on December 7, 1941, they want to learn about the men and women who worked on the islands and on the mainland around the clock to get us back on our feet and on the move against a powerful enemy. They want to hear the stories of unbelievable courage and sacrifice that happened at Pearl Harbor and in the South Pacific. The original members of the Pearl Harbor Survivors Association adopted the motto “Remember Pearl harbor – Keep America Alert.” This is why I pledge and help lead the efforts of the Pearl Harbor Memorial Fun to finance a new Museum and Visitor Center,

With everyone’s help, the remarkable story of this nation’s rise to defend democracy and crush totalitarianism will be chronicled in greater detail than ever before as well. I know, for those of us who were living during this time, that day is branded in our memory. America was stunned! Young men and women lying dead on the shores … lying dead beneath the waters of Pearl Harbor. I think it is imperative that we honor the memory of those who served and pass down to future generations the true story of what brave Americans did during those four years to preserve our freedom … and chart a course for freedom for people in nations around the world and in the decades to come.

Winter 2006 • www.sigmapi.org

D. Roosevelt called December 7th “a day that will live in infamy” and declared war on Japan. It marked our entrance into World War II. By 1943, the United States had sent 840,000 troops to war. Nearly 55 percent of them – 480,000 – were in the Pacific Theater. America and our allies were in a life-and-death struggle for freedom around the globe, but the weight of the War in the Pacific was squarely on our fighting forces.

Today, I am lucky enough to serve as President of Hawaii’s Pearl Harbor Survivors Association. I spend a good deal of my time talking to visitors from around the world who come to the Arizona Memorial Museum.

Memorial’s park grounds.

On permanent display at the Museum, The Pearl harbor Memorial Registry will be an interactive computer tribute not only to the veterans, living or deceased, who served at Pearl Harbor and in the Paciﬁc Theater, but also to the families and workers on the mainland who united as one to win the war … fathers and mothers who sent their sons and daughters to war, some making the ultimate sacriﬁce … families who conserved, saved, and endured rationing as the United States went into a wartime economy and dedicated every effort to building the greatest war machine in the history of the world … and the women and men who worked around the clock in factories turning out the weapons of war.

Emerald of Sigma Pi Fraternity

scholarship leadership development values education

Will

difference? it make a

A carefully planned will is the cornerstone of most estate plans. A will makes a difference because it allows you to decide: 4 Who inherits your property 4 When they will receive it

NJIT alumnus honored for distinguished service in engineering H. Gail Clarke (ΑΜ, NJIT ’44) of Watchung, NJ was honored for distinguished engineering service by the New Jersey Society of Professional Engineers at the NJSPE’s Annual Awards and Installation banquet on Monday, September 19th, at the Trenton Marriott. Clarke received a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from Newark College of Engineering, now New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT), in January of 1944. He took additional Naval training courses at Cornell University and Princeton University in preparation for military service during World War II as an engineering ofﬁcer at the rank of lieutenant, junior grade. Upon his discharge from the Navy, he worked for General Electric Co., and York Corporation as a ﬁeld engineer, before starting Clarke Engineering Co. in Linden, NJ. For more than 50 years, his company has offered HVAC design and installation for commercial, industrial and residential applications.

4 Which speciﬁc assets they will inherit

Clarke also developed Elwood Shopping Plaza in Linden, which he continues to own and manage.

4 Whether loved ones and charitable interests, such as Sigma Pi Fraternity, will receive a speciﬁc amount, a percentage, or the reminder of your estate

For many years, Clarke seved as a member of the Union County Chamber of Commerce; the HVAC advisory baord at Union County Vocational Technical School; and the alumni association of NJIT, of which he is a past president.

Without a will, your state will plan for you-but such impersonal “state-made” wills are no substitute for a thoughtful will you prepare with your attorney. If you are interested in including Sigma Pi Fraternity in your plans, please let us know so we can provide you with more information.

Please contact the Educational Foundation at (800) 332-1897 or by email at edfound@sigmapi.org.

He is also a member of the founder’s club and president’s council for NJIT, a long-term supporter of scholarship funds, and recently donated a carillon to the campus. Clarke has severed on several boards and committees including serving on the board of managers of the Union County Saving Bank, and has more than 40 years of perfect attendance in the Linden Rotary Club, of which he is also a past president. Clarke was named man of the year by the International Council of Community Churches in 1990. He has been honored by NJIT for outstanding contributions to scholarship and support of education at the university. Clarke Engineering Co. was honored in 1995 by the Union County Chamber of Commerce for its contribution to the community and dedication to excellence. Clarke and his wife, Dorothy, have ﬁve children.

Brothers from Embry-Riddle, FL (Zeta-Beta) after a highway cleanup. 4

Continued from page 13 . . .

Western Illinois

William & Mary

Epsilon-Zeta Chapter Epsilon-Zeta Chapter has gotten a great jump start on the new school year thanks to all of our active brothers and alumni showing their hard work, support, and dedication to their Fraternity.

Alpha-Eta Chapter The Alpha-Eta Chapter has been involved in numerous activities during the Fall Semester. During September, the chapter’s ACE Project cleaned up the university’s outdoor amphitheater for the Pat Mcgee Band concert that same month. During October, AlphaEta held their annual Nerf Super bowl Tournament; which proceeds beneﬁted the Make-A-Wish Foundation. Alpha-Eta is looking forward to their annual Spring Formal and the Bermuda Alumni Party in April.

The chapter’s hard work over the summer has set precedence for the 2005-2006 academic year as we have a young new Executive Council which have some innovative new ideas on how to further develop as a Fraternity to raise to the forefront of Greek community here on campus. Good Luck to Brother Kyle Offerdahl who is entering into his fourth and ﬁnal year with the Varsity Tennis team here at Western. Jeremy Maher, Herald, epsilonzeta@sigmapi.org

Keenan Adamchak, Herald, alphaeta@sigmapi.org

William Paterson Theta-Tau Chapter Spring ’05, the brothers of William Paterson Colony kept very active and made our presence known. The

rush calendar has made Sigma Pi a visible force on campus, in the eyes of perspective members, fellow students, the university, and parents. The gentlemen of Tau moved in all incoming students into the private dorms on campus, where we not only worked hard together, but also met Sigma Pi alumni of various chapters that were moving their children into the dorms. It was a pleasure meeting these alumni, and helped to demonstrate the universality and lifelong bond of brotherhood. Living in our house are many fresh

with two rush events per month. So in conclusion, despite our low active numbers, we are still doing the best we can and will be a continuous growing asset to the community. Joe Lu, Herald, deltaiota@sigmapi.org

Worchester Polytech Gamma-Iota Chapter Gamma-Iota chapter in Worcester MA would like to announce that the chapter house has ﬁnally been re-opened following the electrical ﬁre that occurred a little over ayear ago. Preparations to turn the house into a hospitable place for people to visitare in full swing; the house is the cleanest it has been in a long time, and all 24 brothers living in the house are excited to be here. Everyone is looking forward to a new beginning with Sigma Pi. Plans are being made to set up an anti-hazing formation group that would be available to answer questions during the year, and also provide information to freshmen during orientation as our ACE project. Sean Scheriff, Herald, gammaiota@sigmapi.org

Brothers from the Delta-Alpha Chapter at Central Michigan University after a recruitment event this past fall.

Jeff Otto, Herald, gammarho@sigmapi.org

number of brothers grew from 25 to 38 in the spring and we are now the largest fraternity on campus, with still a few great interests were excited about inducting. Our ACE Project included refurbishing the deserted volleyball court within three days which included raking all the garbage out, painting the bleachers and posts and hanging a new volleyball net. Robert D. Velasquez, Herald, thetatau@sigmapi.org

Wisconsin – Madison Tau Chapter Tau Chapter has been hard at recruitment this fall with our ﬁrst fall rush as a chapter. Our well planned

faces as well as veterans of years past. We look forward to a memorable year. Matthew Braun, Herald, tau@sigmapi.org

Wisconsin – Platteville Delta-Iota Chapter With a large group of graduates last spring and a few brothers transferring, we started this semester with only twenty actives. With this in mind, the entire chapter pooled its efforts for a very successful rush with twelve pledges installed for the semester. Along with this we also have a few prospective members that have too much to do this semester and want to pledge next spring. We are holding open rush for the entire semester

Eta-Theta Chapter It is a starting of a new era for Eta-Theta Chapter at York College of Pennsylvania. Our Sage, Neil Shefﬁeld, had the honor of being initiated in front of the Grand Council during Sigma Pi University held at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, TN. The start of the semester was great when we learned that our new Chapter Director, Christian Miele, was going to be helping us become a better chapter. Following the meeting, there was a brotherhood retreat to the Sage’s house where we barbequed hot dogs and hamburgers and got the brothers back together again to celebrate. Neil Shefﬁeld, Sage, etatheta@sigmapi.org

Winter 2006 • www.sigmapi.org

Western Michigan Gamma-Rho Chapter The brothers of Gamma-Rho chapter are very proud to announce that we built a new house. There are two brothers that we would like to thank for all of their hard work that they put in, these brothers are Brain “Casper” Leonard and Andrew “Fozzy” Fountain without these brothers hard work we would not of had the opportunity to get this house. Also the brothers of Gamma-Rho are looking forward to a strong incoming pledge class. The brothers can only imagine getting stronger in the future.

York

Emerald of Sigma Pi Fraternity

34 ADYTUM

ON HIGH

ifts in memory of a brother of Sigma Pi are accepted by the Sigma Pi Educational Foundation. Once a gift is received, a card of acknowledgement is sent to the donor and, if possible, a card announcing the memorial contribution is sent to the immediate family of the one remembered or person honored. Please contact the SPEF office (800) 332-1897, email: edfound@sigmapi.org

Arizona State - Beta-Kappa Martin Grunnet, Jr. ’54

Colorado - Zeta-Delta Justin Morris ’05

Arkansas - Alpha-Sigma Nathan Strickland ’64 9/94 Raphael L. Martin ’48 7/2/05 Donald Dace ’47 John H. Anderson ’50 Kenneth Stiles ’50

Cornell - Mu Francis Fowler ’36 Walter Buerger ’36 Charles Hayes ’40 Bartlett Rowell ’49 William Beddoe ’45 Andrew Hanley ’53 Walter Davis ’58

Iowa - Xi Marvin Miller ’32

Emory - Psi W. Julian Carter, Jr. ’48

Kansas - Beta-Delta Gail Shoemaker ’50 Jene Campbell ’55 Gerald Knepp ’56

Arkansas State - Alpha-Pi Joe Snodgrass, Jr. ’49 John T. Buss ’50 Robert Brakensiek ’61 Auburn - Alpha-Delta Larkin K. Mason J. B. Cooper, Jr. ’52 1/18/03 John A. Pope, Jr. Robert B. Kelso ’30 Thomas D. Lewis, Jr. Clarence L. Dykes, Jr. Donald O. Bain ’51 William L. Horsby ’50 4/11/05 Charles S. Roberts ’37 8/28/00 Charles Kinser, Jr. ’54 Melvin Dulaney ’60 Charles McClure ’64 Beloit - Alpha-Theta John W. Bosshard ’67 8/03 Edwill Pritchard ’24 Peer Carr ’35 Ronald Drum ’54 Harold Reckrey ’56 John Wilson ’59 11/01/05 Bloomsburg - Delta-Pi Larry Strohl ’72 10/9/05 California-Berkeley - Iota William Hellier ’36 J. Roy Jones, Jr. California-Santa Barbara - Alpha-Omicron Bruce Bacon ’66 8/04 Kelsey Walker ’66 4/04 Cal State-Fresno - Alpha-Xi Theodore Musacchio ’56 Cal State-Long Beach - Beta-Omicron Julian Hodges ’57 10/04

Eastern Illinois - Beta-Gamma Robert R. Whipkey ’58 2/18/02 James Howard ’55 Doyle Seifert ’50 James R. Hill ’56 Franklin & Marshall - Nu Clarence Newcomer ’42 8/22/05 Theodore Woodward ’33 James E. Ray ’42 James Books ’45 Gordon Vink ’47 Russell Berkheimer, Jr ’48 Donald Bertolet ’52 Jerome Dewing ’57 James Pitcairn, Jr. ’62 Georgia - Alpha-Phi Stephen A. Steinmann ’67 6/30/05 Houston - Theta-Nu Jose L. Cisneros ’06 Illinois - Phi Eugene Darnall ’26 1/10/80 Gerald Snyder ’25 Stanley Holmes ’29 Clifford Grill ’31 Robert Carstens ’42 Earl Ruesch ’45 John McCarthy ’48 Indiana - Beta Earl H. Mitchell ’41 3/04/05 Walter Zuhl ’44 11/01/00 Paul S. Jessup ’31 8/31/04 James Elrod ’47 10/15/05 Leonard Ward ’36 Ralph Gettelﬁnger ’34 Ivan Hines ’46

M. Dwight Cooper ’51 Albert A. Fileff ’52

Iowa State - Sigma Donald J. Linder ’40 1998 Clyde C. Hoover ’42 Bradford Stanerson ’30 Warren Marks ’38

Kenyon - Lambda Arthur Schmidt ’37 Richard Wilson, II ’56 Lock Haven - Beta-Omega Richard Shambaugh ’65 5/17/01 James Engeman ’63 Louisiana State - Alpha-Kappa Cam Barrett, Jr. ’47 Loyola-Chicago - Beta-Chi James A. Smith ’58 John Waidzunas ’66 Lycoming - Beta-Lambda Floyd Roller ’60 Mercer - Alpha-Epsilon William Dorough ’28 Michigan - Alpha-Beta Jerome Sluggett ’52 7/25/05 Mark Kunkle ’31 Alfred Mueller ’33 Missouri-Rolla - Alpha-Iota Herbert Tittel ’32 1997 J. Neville Chalk 1/14/02 James R. Paul ’43 10/03/02 Kenneth Rudert ’48 Robert Franklin ’50 Gary Woley ’60 George Heilig ’61 Missouri-St. Louis - Delta-Zeta Leo Day ’48

NJIT - Alpha-Mu Richard A. Jones ’52 6/02/05 John Alpaugh, Jr. ’42 J. Warren Johnson ’38 Andrew D. Brown ’60 North Carolina State - Rho John D. Todd ’50 6/10/05 Thomas R. Johnson ’24 Alan Campbell ’32 Edwin B. Smith ’38 Roger Poole ’45 George Walker, Jr. ’44 Hugh Baker ’55 Northern Arizona - Beta-Iota J. Lawrence Walkup Ohio Northern - Zeta Eugene Rogers ’40 1/10/00 Elmer Faber ’37 William King, Jr ’45 John Weishampel ’47 Robert Koski ’52 Donald Chase ’55 Vernon Scarr ’57 Roger Burrey ’62 Ohio State - Gamma John Hetman ’68 1983 Paul J. Filing, Jr ’43 Frank J. Schmidt ’55 2001 William McConnell ’43 Raymond Sandrock ’46 Ohio - Epsilon George Calcott ’28 Robert F. Pancoast ’41 8/17/05 Robert Morrison ’18 Richard Jacoby ’35 John A. Fisher ’45 Oregon State - Omega James V. Blake ’30 12/21/92 Robert A. Brainard ’32 4/15/02 Eric L. Carlson ’50 12/22/03 Leonard F. Carroll ’30 9/14/99 Thomas M. Colasuonno ’35 1/30/98 Robert L. Combs, Jr. 3/22/99 Charles C. Cram ’28 6/7/00 Gaylord S. Davies 7/13/98 Beryl C. Delashmutt ’33 12/27/00 Thomas J. Drynan ’30 8/16/05 Thomas N. Hull, Jr. ’42 3/25/97

Editor’s Note: The majority of these names were obtained through the Harris Publishing company directory search. If a mistake has been made, please contact the Executive Ofﬁce so that we may correct the problem. Thank you.

Sigma Pi mourns the loss of a Founders Award Recipient Clarence C. Newcomer (N, Franklin & Marshall ’44) passed away to the Adytum on High on August 22, 2005 at his home in Stone Harbor, New Jersey at the age of 82. The cause of death was melanoma. Formerly of Lancaster, he lived in Stone Harbor, N.J., and Philadelphia. From 1943-46, Newcomer served as an executive officer of an amphibious landing craft in the Pacific theater and was discharged with the rank of Lt. Junior Grade, before graduating from Dickinson Law School in 1948. On October 2, 1948, he married Jane Moyer Martin of Lancaster. Judge Newcomer is survived by his wife, Jane, and his two daughters, Judy and Nancy. Charles J. Johnson ’25 8/7/98 Richard H. Jones ’32 12/13/02 Wilfred V. Masson ’40 2/8/05 Forrest L. O’Connell ’35 7/18/03 John R. Pubols ’27 5/15/95 John G. Robatcek ’59 1/6/04 Albert W. Saxton ’40 12/13/02 Charles R. Sheffield ’50 2/8/05 Ervin C. Smith ’53 4/24/00 William T. Vale ’26 8/25/99 Pierce C. Walker ’28 1/1/92 Stanley E. Williamson ’52 1/13/97 Philip W. Workman ’40 1/27/03 Norman E. Worthley ’39 3/24/94 Harry L. Harris ’26 Robert O Russell ’28 Herbert J. Williams ’32 Hugh H. Penland ’29 John R. Ritter ’29 Roy M. Mueller ’36 Hamilton K. Johnson ’37 William F. Smith ’35 Donald O. Smith ’60 Alexander Simontacchi ’38 5/05 Pennsylvania - Delta Courtland Smith ’29 Penn State - Theta E. Michael Fox ’74 6/15/05 Glenn Singley ’33 Frank Hillgartner ’36 James Hackett ’37 William Knauff ’44 Eugene Yeager ’43 Harry Edwards ’45

In 1950, Newcomer entered private practice in Lancaster which became him home for 50 years. His public service included Pennsylvania Deputy Attorney General from 1953-54, Lancaster County Assistant District Attorney from 1960-68 and Lancaster County District Attorney from 1968-72.

caster and commuted via the Pennsylvania Railroad. Newcomer was known among his colleagues as open-minded, principled, and impartial. Although he assumed judge status in 1988, he continued to carry a full case load.

On November 13, 1971, President Nixon appointed Newcomer to serve as a federal judge for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. Although his ofﬁces were in Philidelphia, he continued to live in Lan-

Judge Newcomer was awarded the Founders Award at the 1978 Convocation in Seven Springs, Pennsylvania for his outstanding public service as an individual and a dedicated public servant.

Herbert Currie ’46 William Parsons ’48 Norman Woodhall ’50 Bernard Brown, Jr. ’59 Purdue - Eta Arnold Harmsen 5/7/04 Dale Amstutz ’49 3/16/05 George Prentice ’28 Paul Toole ’34 Howard Moery ’40 Harold Geyer, Jr. ’51 Robert Galloway ’53 Rhode Island - Alpha-Upsilon Alexander Haneiwich ’50 Joseph Humphreys ’50 Harold Cory, Jr. ’52 George Behrens ’54 Theodore Nelson, Jr. ’55 Rutgers - Gamma-Eta Mark A. Restivo ’79 San Diego State - Alpha-Omega Robert Minnis ’52 San Jose State - Beta-Eta Hector Blandino ’96 7/22/05 SIU-Edwardsville - Delta-Omega Ryan W. Fark ’08 7/28/05 Martin Sutherland ’06 8/19/05

St. Lawrence - Alpha-Zeta Edward C. Bigley ’56 5/24/05 Brian Penrod ’87 1/05 Kenneth Jewett ’31 Earl White ’33 Charles Douglass ’43 William Lehren ’49 Richard Terry ’52 6/03 James Turner ’56 Temple - Kappa Charles Hero ’76 7/5/05 Robert Friedrich ’45 J. Richard Dallas ’48 William Bansbach ’48 Milton Heuberger ’50 Richard Schabner, Jr. ’49 Emerson Allen ’52 Norman Pittenger ’65 Troy State - Delta-Psi Rodney Lurie 7/29/05 Tulane - Omicron Fredric Schwarz ’45 Wilfred Hayes ’48 UCLA - Upsilon Richard Underwood ’40 Jack Taylor ’51 Arthur Williamson, Jr. ’52

Consider an online gift in memory WWW.SIGMAPI.ORG/EDFUND

During his three decade career on the federal bench, Judge Newcomer presided over several mob and public corruption cases. In 1994, he invalidated a state senate election which he found to be overwhelmingly tainted by fraud.

Utah - Pi Quintin Magionos ’44 1990 LeGrande Sharp ’36 Junius Tribe ’30 Mortin Woodhead ’33 Preston Peterson ’40 Russell Mace ’40 Utah State - Alpha-Psi Kenneth Doering ’51 2001 Grant Meyers ’61 Wake Forest - Alpha-Nu Mark McLean ’48 Carl Parnell ’50 Arthur Barber, Jr. ’49 Washington - Alpha-Gamma Horace Geer ’31 Robert Whiteside ’34 Ronald Rhine ’54 Western Michigan - Gamma-Rho Christ J. Vlachos 5/05 William & Mary - Alpha-Eta Coulbourne Godfrey ’41 Earl Barr ’46 Robert Laprade ’50 John Glendinning, III ’61 Payson Jones ’57 Wisconsin - Tau William Kesmodel ’31 Vincennes - Alpha Ryan M. Donnoe ’00 9/8/05

Alumni Road Show rolls through the Midwest On Wednesday, November 9th, Executive Director Mark Briscoe (ΑΠ, Arkansas State ‘82) and I rolled out in my dependable 2000 Saturn to take Sigma Pi to our alumni. The drive from Nashville to Milwaukee was interesting, as we saw trees, ponds, more trees and corn. (More corn!) We pulled into Milwaukee and were ready for a meal and the hotel room. On Thursday, November 10th, we held our ﬁrst leg of the Alumni Road Show at the Rock Bottom Brewery in downtown Milwaukee. The food and service was excellent. Ryan Hartman, the General Manager of the restaurant is a Sigma Pi alumnus from Beta-Gamma at Eastern Illinois. We thank him for his support with the event. Mark and I gave a presentation to the alumni in attendance about the great new programming that Sigma Pi has to offer, and what makes Sigma Pi

one of the fastest growing fraternities in North-America. We thank everyone who attended and look forward to returning in the next year to Milwaukee. The next event was held in Chicago on Saturday, November 12th at Sluggers Sports Bar right across the street from historic Wrigley Field. (As a lifetime diehard Cardinals fan, it was enemy territory for me) Sigma Pi was given the back room and had food and beverages provided for everyone in attendance. It was great to meet brothers from all over Sigma Pi nation who live in Chicago, which is number one in total number of Sigma Pi alumni with over 4,000. The event went off without a hitch, as the alumni in attendance heard about the new programming and growth of Sigma Pi. Once again, Chicago treated Sigma Pi very well. Thank you to all the attended and we plan on seeing you all again next year. After leaving Chicago behind us (hard to do with Chicago trafﬁc, but we ﬁnally made it out), we headed to Indianapolis. Our last stop was Monday, November 14th at the Rock Bottom Brewery in downtown Indianapolis. Once

again, the food was great and we had the whole basement bar to ourselves. It was great to see brothers meet each other from all around the area, and exchange business cards and discuss future events. The alumni were impressed by the new programming and events that Sigma Pi has to offer. We discussed the next alumni event and are looking forward to a return trip to Indianapolis. Thank you all for making it a great night! Overall, the Sigma Pi Alumni Road Show was a success. We are conﬁdent that we paved new roadways and laid the foundation for many future alumni events. Our main goal was to share with the alumni that as a Sigma Pi, you can help the Fraternity long after graduation. It is a lifetime commitment, and we realize that many alumni do not have the free time that many enjoyed during their college days. (class or sleep in…we all know what we chose most of the time) We are proud to take the new programming and updated news to the alumni, to share the united goal that we all have to make Sigma Pi the number one fraternity in North-America. We know that we need alumni support

to reach that, and we are conﬁdent that the future is bright. The Saturn made it back in one piece, as Mark and I did as well. It was good to be back in Nashville and we were fortunate to have such great weather on our trip. (60 degrees in Chicago in November!) Many people ask where we will head for the next road show. The futures only knows where my packed Saturn will take me, but if you are interested in bringing an alumni event to your city, please contact me in the ofﬁce at (800) 332-1897 or via email at pwydra@sigmapi.org. Also, please check our website for updated alumni news and events at: www. sigmapi.org. Thank you to all alumni who participated and to those of you who contacted me back but could not make it. I look forward toseeing you at future alumni events throughout the years to come.

Winter 2006 • www.sigmapi.org

photos: Indianapolis Convention & Visitors Association, Chicago Convention & Tourism Bureau, Greater Milwaukee CVB

by Paul Wydra, Director of Alumni Services

Emerald of Sigma Pi Fraternity

NEWS&INFO Tribute to a Brother Most of us can remember a brother who stood apart from the rest. He was the chapter president who taught you what it means to be a Sigma Pi. Or the pledge buddy who gave advice you’d never forget. Or the alumnus who steered you beyond one of life’s inevitable obstacles.

Robinson joins Foundation staff Richard Robinson (ΕΤ, Tennessee – Martin ’87) was hired in December as President and Chief Development Officer for the Sigma Pi Educational Foundation. Robinson has over 20 years of experience in fundraising and development. He has worked for such organizations as the National Wild Turkey Federation, an organization dedicated to wildlife conservation and the preservation of America’s hunting heritage and most recently the National Rife Association of America, an organization dedicated to the preservation of the second amendment and of the shooting sports. In both organizations, Robinson was responsible for all fundraising activities, implementation and execution of field programs in the state, including membership, and administration of state grant programs. Robinson is very involved with other organizations including serving on University of Tennessee-Martin Department of Communications Educational Advisory Board, Second Mile Ministries Advisory Board, and most recently as an Advisory Trustee for the Sigma Pi Educational Foundation. As President and Chief Development Officer, Robinson will manage and oversee the affairs of the Sigma Pi Educational Foundation and it’s fundraising activities and field programs.

Perhaps it wasn’t until years later that you even recognized how much he inspired you to learn and grow. Maybe you never had the chance to say thank you. Until now. The Sigma Pi Educational Foundation has established Tribute to a Brother, a program that encourages you to honor someone: the Sigma Pi who made the most positive impact on your life. Through Tribute to a Brother, you extend your appreciation and help build “A New Generation of Leaders.” Every recognition level provides beneﬁts for your honoree, for you and for Sigma Pi. Making your Tribute to a Brother is a perfect expression of your gratitude, and a meaningful contribution to the Fraternal and external spirit of Sigma Pi. “The Fraternity is one of the most skillfully devised institutions among men, where a boy disorganized is brought into an institution of kindred minds who believe in him and thereby help him to ﬁnd himself.” –Norman Vincent Peale

Foundation Volume III, Number 1 • Winter 2006 FOUNDATION BOARD OF TRUSTEES Chairman Thomas A. Moore (ΓΡ, Western Michigan ’69) Vice-Chairman G. Mason Cozart (ΕΚ, Southern Arkansas ’83) Gary T. Dvorchak (Ξ, Iowa ’86) Ed J. Panconi (ΕΣ, Loyola – Marymount ’84) Gary B. Tash (ΒΠ, Virginia ’68) Treasurer L. Nelson Farris (ΒΟ, Cal State – Long Beach ’66) Secretary John J. Merino (ΒΟ, Cal State – Long Beach ’58) Trustees Donald J. Cox (Κ, Temple ’55) Frank C. Fryburg (Θ, Penn State ’49) Brenan C. German (ΕΝ, Cal State – Fullerton ’91) Paul W. Hansen (ΒΤ, Valparaiso ’80) John D. Kitch (Η, Purdue ’73) John J. McCann (ΑΜ, NJIT ’83) Adam R. Shores (ΔΨ, Troy State ’98) Cliff A. Wilke (ΔΖ, Missouri – St. Louis ’80) John H. Williams (ΕΨ, Widener ’85) Jay Vaden (ΘΚ, Texas Tech ’03) Advisors J. David Edwards (ΕΠ, Christopher Newport ’96) J. Brad Hodson (ΗΜ, Missouri Southern State ’91)

Brandon Hemel (ΖΧ, Rowan ’97)

All the Small Things He has Done Throughout the Years has Made a Big Difference. RECOGNITION LEVELS COACH’S CIRCLE $100–$249 Honoree will receive a certiﬁcate of appreciation on your behalf from the Fraternity; ﬁrst time donors will receive a Crest lapel pin.

FOUNDATION STAFF President/Chief Development Ofﬁcer Richard Robinson (ΕΤ, Tennessee – Martin ’87) Chief Operating Ofﬁcer Mark S. Briscoe (ΑΠ, Arkansas State ’82) Director of Alumni Affairs Paul V. Wydra, (ΔΖ, Missouri - St. Louis ’01) Managing Editor Brian C. Alley (Α, Vincennes ’03)

ADVISOR’S CIRCLE $250–$499 Honoree will receive a certiﬁcate of appreciation on your behalf and an embossed pad folio. You will receive a Crest lapel pin.

Administrative Assistant Jennifer R. Wyatt

COUNSELOR’S CIRCLE $500–$999 Honoree will receive a certiﬁcate of appreciation on your behalf and a paperweight engraved with our Crest. You will receive a Crest lapel pin and special Foundation updates.

ADMINSTRATIVE OFFICES

MENTOR’S CIRCLE $1,000–$4,999 Honoree will receive a certiﬁcate of appreciation on your behalf and a paperweight engraved with our Crest. You will receive a Crest lapel pin and special Foundation updates, as well as membership in the Foundation’s Brotherhood of the Golden Cross. If you would like to pay Tribute to a Brother or would like more information, please contact the Educational Foundation at (800) 332-1897, or by email at edfound@sigmapi.org.

Sigma Pi Educational Foundation Post Ofﬁce Box 1897 Brentwood, TN 37024 Tel: (615) 373-5728 Fax: (615) 373-8949 Email: edfound@sigmapi.org Website: www.sigmapi.org

Helping Our Fraternity Build “A New Generation of Leaders”

Foundation www.sigmapi.org • The ofﬁcial publication of Sigma Pi Educational Foundation • Winter 2006

mark your calendar 48th Biennial Convocation • August 2-6, 2006 • New Orleans, LA

To Parents/Guardians: Your son’s magazine is sent to his home address while he is an undergraduate in college. During this time we hope you enjoy reading about the true beneﬁts of Sigma Pi Fraternity. But, if he is no longer living at home or attending college, please send his new permanent address to: Sigma Pi Fraternity, P.O. Box 1897, Brentwood, TN 37024, or via email at emerald@sigmapi.org. Thank you.

Sigma Pi Fraternity P. O. Box 1897 Brentwood, TN 37024

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