New Organization Updates - Carnegie Mellon University

Spring
in this issue >>>
2013
Greek Leadership Retreat | Council Updates
Greek Sing | Greek Awards
Council Updates |Greek Report Highlights
The Bridge | EGL
Important Fall Dates
The Column
New Organization Updates
Building a Community that’s focused on our organizations’ values. By Peter Pacent Jr.
current topics >>>
Greek Leadership Retreat
by Peter Pacint Jr.
During the first weekend of February, leaders from every chapter of the IFC, Panhellenic, MGC, and NPHC communities as
well as many members of the student life staff gathered at the
Camp Allegheny facility for the annual Carnegie Mellon Greek
Retreat.
Throughout the weekend, students and staff participated in
spirited and informative conversations and activities that were
designed to develop individual leadership and strengthen communal ties. Many of the discussions over the retreat focused on
improving the service efforts, moral citizenry, and academic
success of our communities.
In particular, the weekend helped students and staff refocus our
efforts on building a community where all of our members are
focused on living the values of our organizations. We are very
thankful to all of the members of the student life staff who
made the event possible.
The 2012-2013 academic year saw our IFC community welcome the Phi Delta Theta Pennsylvania Rho colony to our campus. Phi Delta Theta’s colonization on
December 8th, 2012 had an impressive 68 founding
fathers. The colony quickly showed CMU that they
had not only quantity in members, but quality, too.
This semester, Sigma Chi raised over $10,000 for the
Huntsman Cancer Institute by hosting their national organization’s philanthropy event, Derby Days, on our
campus for the first time. Despite hardships, the Spring
2013 semester was a time of many achievements for the
IFC community. During the Spring, we had strong IFC
participation in community service, which was highThey had a 3.27 cumulative GPA for the
The 2013 Greek lighted by our overwhelming attendance at the
Fall 2012 semester, good enough for sec- Sing raised over 1000 plus Carnegie Mellon day of service.
ond place for all IFC fraternities. Phi
For Philanthropy, the IFC community part$75,000
Delta Theta wowed the Greek Communered with the Panhellenic and MGC commufor the Children’s nities to host the 2013 CMU Greek Sing,
nity with a 2nd place finish
Institute of
in their first appearance at the annual
which raised over $75,000 for the Children’s
Pittsburgh
Carnegie Mellon Greek Sing Show.
Institute of Pittsburgh. In addition, the individual philanthropy efforts of individual chapters were sigWith their substantial development this year and 54
nificant.
active members, Phi Delta Theta will be occupying the
1055 Morewood Ave. facility for the 2013-2014 acaIn particular, the newly installed Sigma Chi Lambda Pi
demic year. We are very excited to have them in the
chapter raised in excess of $10,000 for the Huntsman
community. In addition to Phi Delta Theta’s colonizaCancer Institute. During carnival, two of the IFC fraterrd
tion, on November 3 , 2012 the Sigma Chi Lambda Pi nities, Sigma Phi Epsilon and Pi Kappa Alpha, had the
chapter was officially installed on our campus.
2nd and 3rd best finishes in the buggy races.
Since their colonization in the Fall of 2010, Sigma Chi
has resided in the Margaret Morrison 102 facility and
since the Fall of 2011, has grown to 61 active brothers
as of Spring 2013.
The community ended the year with nine chapters and
two colonies.
Peter Pacent Jr. is the current IFC President.
For Our Community >>>
New Member Orientation
Derby Days 2013
By Mike Ford
By William Sanders
The basic mission of Sigma Chi’s Derby Days is
to serve our community. During the week of Derby Days, our chapter designs and hosts various
events for participating sororities to compete in.
Last semester, sorority teams created banners for
Derby Days, cards for the Children's Hospital, and
a skit judged by Red Bull. All events and activities were guided by the central theme of music
genres, which were chosen by the Lambda Pi
chapter. Sororities are awarded points for their
efforts and at the end of the week, the three sororities with the most points are recognized for their
continuous involvement. Part of the money raised
throughout the duration of the week is donated to
the winning team's charity of choice, while the
rest is donated to the Children's Miracle Network
Hospitals. In Spring 2013, Derby Days exceeded
the expectations of the Lambda Pi chapter and the
Sigma Chi Fraternity, raising over $10,000 and
helping to creat a better sense of community
among the Greek-letter organizations.
Friendly competition was found in the
efforts of the participants and in the
excitement on campus throughout the
week.
We hosted daily penny wars, grilling
by the Fence, an outdoor field day, and
social media opportunities. Sisters
could earn points for their sorority by
finding Sigma Chi brothers on campus
and taking pictures or signing their
name on Sigma Chi apparel. In the
future, we plan to make Derby Days
even more memorable.
This Spring marked an exciting period for our Panhellenic community. On April
6, 2013, the Iota Sigma
chapter of Alpha Phi was
installed on the Carnegie
Mellon University campus.
Panhellenic welcomed 67
incredible new women into
the community as sisters.
Haven’t signed up for
The Bridge yet?
Our F&S Life forms are on
there, as are important updates,
bulletin news announcements,
photos, and more!
For more information go to
www.thebridge.cmu.edu to sign up
&add Fraternity & Sorority Life to
your Memberships!
Every Greek knows New Member Edu-
inar. During NME we discussed the state
cation (NME) as the mandatory program
of the Greek Community, analyzed our
that we sit through and listen to someone own values, and began to find our places
For the next Derby Days, the Lambda Pi chapter looks to continue to
build a stronger awareness of the
community outside of the University
through our donations to charity.
inform us what our values are and who
within the community: the Greek, CMU,
we are supposed to be as members of the
Pittsburgh and global ones. Each ma-
Greek Community. But for those of you
jor assembly period was broken up by
who were not new members this past
timely small-group discussions led by the
year, you might have missed out on a few GPM to break down the content to allow
changes.
We also hope to bring more participation from those who are unaffiliated with a Greek-letter organization
as well as those in fraternities and
sororities. The chapter plans to surpass the $10,000 which was previously raised and will try to continuously serve our community.
This past year has been an eventful peri-
individual level.
od for NME and we are happy to say that
the changes have been welcomed with
This allowed the New Members to be-
enthusiasm. The program was complete- come truly involved in the educational
ly revamped in the Fall, including updat- process. The seminar was attended by the
By Amy Stautz
Spring they continued their involvement
through participating at our Greek Retreat, performing an amazing rendition of
RENT with Alpha Epsilon Pi at Greek
Sing, and even won “Chairman’s Choice
award” for their Booth.
The women of Alpha Phi already recognize what the sorority experience is aboutbecoming better women, and helping their
Panhellenic sisters do the same. They
When CMU announced that it was open
have done this by not only raising the bar
for expansion last Spring, the community academically, through earning the highest
immediately agreed on two things it was
average GPA for the Fall 2012 semester,
looking for: an organization that could
but by being a strong voice in the commuprovide our collegiate women with a new nity. Alpha Phi will even move into the
experience that our current sorority’s were 1079 Morewood Ave facility this Fall. As
not yet doing, and establishing a group of a community, we are looking forward to
women that, while engaging in a new and seeing what is in store for Alpha Phi and
unique experience, could quickly integrate feel confident in knowing that this will be
into our fraternity and sorority communi- home for a number of our Carnegie
ty. Alpha Phi has surpassed all expectaMellon women for years to come.
tions.
Congratulations to our collegiate women
Immediately, the women participated in
on the installation of the Iota Sigma chapthe Fall community events like our Greek ter of Alpha Phi at Carnegie Mellon UniDay of Service, New Member Education, versity!
and our Panhellenic Formal. In the
the participants to to examine how they
were affected by these concepts on an
Welcome, Alpha Phi!
The Bridge
CC
ouncil
orners
ed content and the addition of the Greek
300+ new members of the Greek com-
Peer Mentor . This restructure came on
munity from this past year. Across the
the heels of strong feedback from the
three sessions the IFC had unprecedented
community and a desire to be more in-
attendance and interest in the GPM pro-
volved in the education process. The
gram. GPM applications will be coming
GPM program was designed to allow this out over the summer so keep your eyes
to happen.
peeled. We look forward to increased
participation and support for the next
Through out the program, the GPM assist year!
the IFC VP of Member Development and
his Pan-Hellenic Council counterpart in
Mike Ford is a member of Sigma Alpha
facilitating a multi-hour educational sem- Epsilon.
ask
PHC by Amy Stautz
Spring 2013 was an extremely
successful semester for the Panhellenic community at Carnegie
Mellon. We welcomed our sixth
sorority to campus as the Iota
Sigma chapter of Alpha Phi was installed in
April. All six sororities achieved new fundraising and service goals, and participated to
the fullest extent in on campus activities.
Notable achievements include: high participation in 1000plus Day of Service, hosting a
record number of community events, reinstating Panhellenic potlucks, generating the largest philanthropic efforts yet, and much more.
Looking ahead to Fall, Panhellenic is excited
to grow and welcome new members with a
successful Formal Recruitment period. Also
we look forward to collaborating with the
other Councils to host a revamped Greek
Week featuring nationally recognized speakers.
IFC by Peter Pacint Jr.
Despite hardships, the Spring
2013 semester brought many
achievements for the IFC community. During the Spring, we had extremely strong IFC
participation in community service, which
was highlighted by our overwhelming attendance at the 1000 plus Carnegie Mellon day of
service.
For Philanthropy, the IFC community partnered with the Panhellenic and MGC communities to host the 2013 CMU Greek Sing,
which raised over $75,000 for the Children’s
Institute of Pittsburgh. Additionally, the individual philanthropy efforts of individual
chapters were significant.
In particular, the newly installed Sigma Chi
Lambda Pi chapter raised over $10,000 for
the Huntsman Cancer Institute. During carnival, two of the IFC fraternities, Sigma Phi
Epsilon and Pi Kappa Alpha, had the 2nd and
3rd best finishes in the buggy races.
While losing one of our fraternity chapters
challenged our students, the event prompted
reflection in our community and caused us to
refocus our efforts on ensuring that our actions serve the noble visions that our organizations' creators intended.
We will continue to educate our members on
our values of moral citizenry, scholarship,
and service so that we can move forward
together and guarantee the success and longevity of our community.
AFLV Conference
Carnival 2013
By Amy Stautz
The annual Spring Carnival & Reunion
Weekend at Carnegie Mellon University occurred April 18-20th. The Greeks
were heavily involved in two of the
weekend’s largest events, Booth and
Buggy. The competing organizations
spend a large amount of time preparing
and training for these events, with preparations beginning many months in advance. Booth and Buggy help build a
stronger sense of sisterhood and brotherhood within the chapters, and build
bonds between members of the entire
Greek community. Many Greek alumni
enjoy visiting CMU over Carnival to
reconnect with their chapters, walk
through all of the booths, and watch the
buggy races.
within their organization to
help plan their
chapter’s booth
theme, structure, décor, and
game. It takes
effort from the
entire chapter to
build a winning Buggy (Credit: Pi Kappa Alpha FB)
Sig Ep Celebrates (Credit: sigepcmu.org )
booth, from the
ground up, in the six days prior to the
chapters were among the eleven organiopening ceremony on Midway. Sigma zations competing this year. The Greek
Phi Epsilon won first place among the Chapters included Alpha Epsilon Pi, Pi
fraternities with their booth named Sig Kappa Alpha, Sigma Nu, Sigma Alpha
UP, and Delta Gamma won first place Epsilon, and Sigma Phi Epsilon. In adamong the sororities with a Coraline
dition, the fraternities often recruit sothemed booth. Alpha Phi, a recently
rority women to compete on their teams
installed sorority chapter at CMU, was for the women’s race. Sigma Phi EpsiThe overall Booth theme this year,
awarded Chairman’s Choice Award on lon and Pi Kappa Alpha’s A teams, won
“Fractured Fairytales,” resulted in many their first booth.
second and third place, respectively, in
creative booth designs by the fraternithe men’s race.
ties, sororities, and other campus organ- The 94th annual Buggy races occurred
izations. Each fraternity and sorority
on the Friday and Saturday mornings of
typically elects a few Booth chairs
the Carnival weekend. Five Greek
Image Credit: www.limberlostconsulting.com/
David Westol Visits
By Amy Stautz
The Panhellenic and Interfraternity
Councils were able to welcome
Mr. David Westol to campus this
past February. Mr. Westol is an
attorney who works as a consultant
to fraternities and sororities nationwide. Mr. Westol attended Michigan State University and obtained his law degree from Detroit College of Law. David Westol has worked with hundreds of schools and Greek organizations to help make each chapter the best they can be.
management, alumnae/alumni corporation development and
chapter membership reviews. Each chapter was very grateful to
have the chance to share very specific problems and have tangible ways to ameliorate the problems.
During his presentations to the individual communities, Mr.
Westol touched on issues such as alcohol, liability, sexual assault, and stress management. He gave overviews of cases that
have happened at other schools and the ways that chapters can
help to mitigate the risks. His presentation was especially impactful because he shared real life examples legal cases.
While on campus, Mr. Westol held individual chapter consultations with each of our IFC, Panhellenic, and MGC chapters on Overall, Mr. Westol gave students and chapters opportunities to
campus as well as gave presentations to the Panhellenic comidentify issues in their specific chapters and get help on fixing
munity and IFC community.
those problems. In a follow up survey about their experience,
chapters expressed how helpful Mr. Westol was. They felt he
In the consultations, Mr. Westol worked with chapter leaderwas extremely knowledgeable on the subject matter and they
ship to identify problem areas in their chapter. He shared valua- would definitely be able to bring what they learned in both the
ble knowledge and tips on how to combat these issues. Each
consultations and the presentations back to their chapters. Our
consultation was kept strictly confidential to allow chapters to
community will definitely be able to better address issues from
freely express their concerns and gain the advice they needed.
the knowledge and advice that Mr. Westol shared.
Some examples of topics he might have covered are board orientation, governance and governing document review, risk
Where in the world could you go to find
3000 Greek students of nearly 300 different universities and colleges looking to
develop values, leadership, and the Greek
experience? To the Central Fraternal Leadership Conference and National Black
Greek Leadership Conference in Indianapolis, Indiana. These conferences are hosted
together each year by the Association of
Fraternal Leadership and Values (AFLV).
The AFLV conferences serve as a gathering and outlet for undergraduate fraternity
and sorority student leaders. Over the
course of four days, students attend workshops, collaborations, fraternal dinners,
competitions, and award ceremonies.
Alongside professional speakers, leaders,
and advisors, students cover a broad range
of fraternal experience topics from public
relations to inter-chapter communication
to leadership development to chapter programming.
This past February, the Panhellenic Executive Board and InterFraternity Executive
Board attended the AFLV conferences
with Greek advisors Monica McGee and
Ariel Tarosky. The Executive Boards
travelled from Pittsburgh to Indianapolis
peted in the Order of Omega Case Study
competition. The team was given several
and joined the executive boards and presi- hours to prepare their assigned case. They,
dents of the hundreds of schools in attend- along with 23 other teams, presented their
ance.
Case Study to a panel of judges and fielded questions about their proposals.
A conference day began with a full room
of all attendees for a program with a pro- During the award ceremony, the pair were
fessional speaker, such as David Stollman. awarded second place. The workshops,
Following, students attend several small
collaborations, and interactions with other
group workshops per day led by various
student leaders empowered the Panheladvisors and Greek professionals. For our lenic and IFC Boards to leave AFLV with
Executive Boards, attended workshops
a newfound sense of motivation, stratewere chosen based on subject matter and
gies, ideas, and most importantly, methods
its relevance to the Board member’s posi- to implement those new ideas. With the
tion and their goals for the Carnegie
entire Greek community in mind, the ExMellon campus.
ecutive Boards have taken on new projects
and introduced initiatives.
For example, Panhellenic Vice President
of Communications and Finance, Andrea Initiatives include a revamped brand for
Farinacci, attended the workshop
the Panhellenic Board and Formal Mem“Mastering the Art of Effective Communi- bership Recruitment, a revised process for
cation,” as she interacts with women of the
Greek Peer Mentor selection, and a comPanhellenic sororities on a regular basis.
Currently, Andrea is working to maintain pletely new public relations workshop.
by Amy Stautz
and improve communications between the
Executive Boards and the Panhellenic
chapters.
Throughout the entirety of the conferences, Panhellenic President Amy Stautz
and Greek advisor Monica McGee com-
Ladies of Alpha Phi
– Iota Sigma
Chapter, April
2013.
(Photo Credit:
Carnegie Mellon
Alpha Phi
Facebook Page)
Housing
Transitions
By Amy Stautz
The lease application process
concluded this Spring and we
were pleased to announce the
changes in facilities. Sigma
Nu chose to leave their facility
at 1055 Morewood Ave. Sigma Nu will be relocating to a
16-bed facility located at
MM104. This was a decision
made by the chapter in the
hope that a transition to a
smaller facility will provide a
strong focus on the brotherhood and development of the
fraternity.
Alpha Phi will assume the
lease for 1079 Morewood
Ave, sharing a duplex with
Kappa Alpha Theta.
Phi Delta Theta will reside
in 1055 Morewood Ave as
special interest housing, sharing a duplex with Sigma Phi
Epsilon.
This marks an exciting time
in the Greek community at
Carnegie Mellon with the
Greek Quad once again fully
occupied and only one open
facility in the Margaret Morrison Courtyard.
Please help us to welcome
Alpha Phi and Phi Delta Theta to their new homes on the
Greek Quad!
As the Executive Boards move into the
second semester of their term, they continue to strive to better the Greek community
so that the campus can offer the best and
most successful Greek experience possible.
Brothers of Phi
Delta
Theta at
1000+, Spring
2013
(Photo Credit:
Carnegie
Mellon
Phi Delta
Theta
Facebook page)
Greek Sing 2013
by Cait McCabe
Taking the stage at Soldiers and Sailors on March 23rd, over a thousand Greeks showed what it meant to be a community. This year,
our community danced and sang to raise money for the Children’s Institute of Pittsburgh. Led by Greek Sing Chairs, Molly Shanley
(KKG) and Caroline Flowers (Tri-Delt), as well as advisor Aaron George, the audience was treated to some of the best performances
yet for Greek Sing!
Performances:
Singles
“Non Competive Step Performance”- Kappa Phi Lambda
“Law & Order: Special Bluenit”- Sigma Alpha Epsilon
“Step Up”- Delta Upsilon
“Scrubs: My Musical”- Phi Delta Theta
Doubles:
.
“Hercules”- Alpha Chi Omega & Lambda Phi Epsilon
“Legally Blonde”- Kappa Kappa Gamma & Sigma Chi
“Moulin Rouge”- alpha Kappa Delta Phi & Sigma Phi Epsilon
“Bye Bye Birdie”- Delta Delta Delta & Kappa Sigma
“Rock of Ages”- Delta Gamma & Pi Kappa Alpha
“Catch Me if You Can”- Kappa Alpha Theta & Delta Tau Delta
“Rent”- Alpha Phi & Alpha Epsilon Phi
The winners of these categories were: In first place, for the Singles division, “Law & Order: Special Bluenit” by SAE, a combination
of “Law & Order” mixed with “Blue’s Clues.” In first place, for the Doubles division, “Bye Bye Birdie,” by Pike and DG. Our
Chairmen’s Choice Award went to both AEPi and Pike for their effort in preparation of Greek Sing. The Fraternity and Sorority
Philanthropy awards went to Sigma Phi Epsilon and Delta Gamma, respectively, for their contributions to this charity fundraiser.
The biggest winner of them all, was the beneficiary of this event: The Children’s Institute of Pittsburgh. Greek Sing 2013 managed to
raise $75,000 for their organization. Congratulations and thank you to all of our organizations for helping us make this a successful
event!
And the winners of the
2013 Greek Awards are…
Chapter of the Year: Kappa Kappa Gamma, Kappa Phi
Lambda, Sigma Phi Epsilon
Chapter President of the Year: Abhi Jain, Pi Kappa Alpha
Most Improved Chapter: Pi Kappa Alpha
Greek Man of the Year: Jack Butler, Pi Kappa Alpha
Greek Woman of the Year: Amy Stautz, Delta Gamma
Outstanding Community Service (Organization): Pi
Kappa Alpha, Kappa Alpha Theta
Outstanding Community Service (Individual): Eric Makie and Brett Perl, both of Sigma Phi Epsilon
Outstanding Philanthropy (Organization): Pi Kappa
Alpha, Sigma Alpha Epsilon
Outstanding Philanthropy (Individual): Stephen Serrao,
Sigma Alpha Epsilon.
Outstanding Campus Involvement: Delta Gamma, Sigma Phi Epsilon
Outstanding Alumni Involvement: Dominick Frollini,
Delta Tau Delta
Outstanding Alumni Relations: Pi Kappa Alpha
Outstanding Recruitment Award: Kappa Kappa Gamma
Outstanding Greek Athlete:Wendy Liu, Kappa Kappa
Gamma
Living Your Ritual Award: Aurelia Henderson, Delta
Delta Delta
Outstanding Risk Reduction & Programming: Delta
Delta Delta
Outstanding Environmental Initiative: Alpha Chi Omega
Outstanding New Initiative: Sigma Phi Epsilon
Greek Award of Distinction:
Kate Cameron (Delta Gamma)
Christine Sidoti (Kappa Kappa Gamma)
Caroline Flowers (Delta Delta Delta)
Amy Nasr (Kappa Kappa Gamma)
Meela Dudley (Delta Delta Delta)
The Greek Life
staff would like
to congratulate
all of the winners of the
2013 Greek
Awards and
look forward to
next year’s
awards.
Photo Credit: Lucas Christain, Director of Greek Life
Almost Midnight Breakfast 2013
On May 7th, Staff and Faculty happily served hundreds of hungry
college students looking for a late-night breakfast (9pm-12am) to
help them power through their Spring finals. CMU Fraternity and
Sorority leaders proudly coordinated this event, which served
omelets and a multitude of breakfast foods to students. The Greek
community would like to express their gratitude to all participants
of this event.
Friends from The Children’s Institute send their gratitude via Facebook. (Children’s Institute of Pgh, Facebook)
finalthoughts...
Greek Life Staff
Finding An Agent That’s Right“Learn
For You
to enjoy every minute of your life. Be happy now. Don't
wait for something outside of yourself to make you happy in the
future. Think how really precious is the time you have to spend,
whether it's at work or with your family. Every minute should be
enjoyed and savored.”
Lucas Christain
Earl Nightingale
Director of Upperclass & Greek Student Life
[email protected]
Upcoming Events for Fall 2013:
IFC, PHC, and MCG Council Meetings
will be held on Tuesday Evenings
between the hours of 8 and 11PM in the University Center.
Sept. 14th, 1:00PM Come out and support the Tartans at their
first home football game versus the Allegheny Gators
Student Life Office
1060 Morewood Ave
Pittsburgh, PA 15213
p.(412)268-2142
www.studentaffairs.cmu.edu/studentlife/greek
Jesse Koch
Assistant Director of Greek Life
[email protected]
Aaron George
Coordinator for Fraternity & Sorority Life
[email protected]
Weekend of Sept. 20-22 Rounds 1, 2, 3 of FMR.
Emily Cunningham
Sept. 23rd– Preference Night
Coordinator of Greek Leadership Development
[email protected]
Sept. 24th– Bid Night!
CMU Greek Life
@GreeksCMU
Sept. 26th-28th Ceilidh/Homecoming Weekend
(please visit: http://www.cmu.edu/ceilidh)- Open to Students, Alumni, and Families!
Caitlin McCabe
Assistant to Upperclass &Greek Housefellows
[email protected]
Phone: 412-268-2142
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