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University of Wisconsin Oshkosh
FRATERNITY SORORITY LIFE AND
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University of Wisconsin Oshkosh
University of Wisconsin Oshkosh
FRATERNITY AND SORORITY LIFE
FRATERNITY AND SORORITY LIFE
l InterFr aternity Counci
Panhellenic Council
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Fraternity and Sorority Life Fall 2013 Alumni Magazine University of Wisconsin Oshkosh
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University of Wisconsin Oshkosh
FRATERNITY AND SORORITY LIFE
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Table of Contents Letter from the Fraternity and Sorority Life Advisor...................................................................................................3 Alpha Xi Delta ...........................................................................................................................................................4 Beta Theta Pi..............................................................................................................................................................5 Delta Chi....................................................................................................................................................................6 Delta Sigma Phi.........................................................................................................................................................7 Gamma Alpha Omega...............................................................................................................................................8 Gamma Phi Beta........................................................................................................................................................9 Omega Delta Phi.......................................................................................................................................................10 Sigma Pi....................................................................................................................................................................11 Sigma Sigma Sigma..................................................................................................................................................12 Zeta Tau Alpha...........................................................................................................................................................13 2013 Interfraternity and Panhellenic Councils..........................................................................................................14 Contact your undergraduate chapter ........................................................................................................................15
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Fall 2013 New Member Class
Happy 2014! Welcome to the first ever Fraternity and Sorority Life Alumni Magazine! I am excited to spread the news of the wonderful accomplishments each of our chapters and the community as a whole achieved throughout the fall 2013 semester. Each chapter has a page dedicated to their accomplishments and announcements. I hope you will take the time to reach each of the chapters’ pages! This has been such an exciting and successful semester for the fraternity and sorority community at UW Oshkosh! The biggest success of the community has been its recruitment efforts. For the women, every chapter was able to reach total during the formal recruitment process which was the first time for them since the 1980’s. This resulted in total being raised to 53! This is very exciting news and it means that we get to extend the sorority experience to even more women. For the men, they were able to raise the average chapter size to over 30 members. This is a big accomplishment since each chapter had to recruit quite a few men over the past few semesters to reach that size. The fraternity community also grew with the addition of Delta Chi returning to campus this fall. They have officially re-colonized and became recognized by IFC. Again, even more men are able to experience fraternity life at UW Oshkosh. Panhellenic, IFC, and the chapters worked all semester on these accomplishments and I am very proud of their achievements in growing this community. This semester, I challenged the students to focus on two main priorities in our community: our dedication to service and to increase our achievements in scholarship. Service is a tenant by which fraternity and sorority members strive to live. Each fraternity and sorority member was asked to dedicate 10 hours of their time to those in the greater Oshkosh community. Students helped at a variety of agencies- Big Brothers/Big Sisters, Boys and Girls Club, Senior Center, Christine Ann Center, local elementary and middle schools, churches, veterans clubs, Salvation Army, Aurora Medical Center, Oshkosh Public Museum, NEW Pawssibilities, Oshkosh Animal Shelter, Community Food Pantry, and more! While hours will not be calculated until the end of the Winter Interim, the numbers we have been collecting thus far are significantly higher than in previous semesters. I have no doubt our students will hit their goal of over 3,000 community service hours. It has been great watching the students reflect on their experiences in the community and to see them return to local agencies time and time again to continue volunteering, even past their 10 hour challenge. I hope to see this continue and to grow in future semesters as our students realize the potential impact they can have in our community. While our fraternity and sorority members have done well in the classroom, we were not seeing them achieve more than their non-Greek counterparts. The community was challenged to raise the All Sorority and All Fraternity grade point average to above the All Male and All Female GPA. In order to reach that goal the IFC and PHA councils offered a new program as incentive- Greek Study Sessions held in Reeve Union. Each sorority would provide snacks and the councils provided drinks for sustenance and motivation. These sessions were well attended and a majority of those who attended said they enjoyed the atmosphere and met new people in the Greek community they did not know before. Panhellenic also went above by asking each new member in their community to complete nine study hours throughout the fall semester at these sessions. Being a new member is a tough semester balancing your new chapter and your class work, and Panhellenic wanted to do what they could to support their new ladies! I also wanted to reward students for high achievement in the classroom. A goal was set for the community to get an A on 1,000 tests, quizzes, group projects, or presentations. Students would bring their work into my office to receive credit for their chapter. I am happy to announce that the members hit their goal, and surpassed it, this semester! Large thermometers were put outside my office representing the large community goal and each chapter’s goal. Each of them was filled to the brim. I am so proud of the dedication the students had to get those A’s and bring them in to my office. The pride on their faces and focus on their achievement in the classroom was exactly what I hoped for with this program. I hope to see their hard work reflected in the grades calculated for the fall semester at the end of January! I am also excited to announce that we have a new staff member on campus working with our Multicultural Greek-lettered Organizations. She joins us from Pennsylvania, but Wisconsin is where she calls home. Danielle brings with her a breadth of experience in diversity and inclusion programming, Greek Life, and working with multicultural students. I am excited to welcome her to the team and I know the organizations are excited to have her on campus! In the back of this magazine we have included information on how to stay connected to your undergraduate chapter and with the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh. We look forward to receiving your most up to date information so we can keep you connected to the UW Oshkosh Greek Community. The undergraduate students would not have this experience if it were not for all of your time spent keeping this community alive, while you were on campus. We all hope that you have a great spring and be on the lookout for our Spring 2014 Magazine!
Angie Zemke Program Advisor, Fraternity and Sorority Life
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Alpha Xi Delta The Delta Tau chapter of Alpha Xi Delta has participated in many events over the past year including Winter Carnival with Omega Delta Phi, and Greek Week where member Kayla Paleka took home the title of Greek Goddess. In April, Alpha Xi Deltas all over the nation recognized Autism Awareness Month and worked tirelessly to raise awareness on April 2nd, World Autism Awareness Day. Alpha Xi Delta also hosted one of our most celebrated philanthropy events, our third annual Mr. UWO pageant to raise money for Autism Speaks. Men of UW Oshkosh competed in a series of events including talent, question and answer, formal wear, and spirit wear. This year Matt Ebert, Delta Sigma Phi, was crowned and chosen to represent the University and Alpha Xi Delta as Mr. UWO 2013. This summer we were ecstatic to see seven of our chapter sisters attend Alpha Xi Delta’s 50th National Convention in San Francisco, California and brought back many new ideas and inspiration to pass on to sisters. Our sisterhood also had a very successful summer retreat where we bonded and prepared for upcoming formal recruitment. This fall, Alpha Xi Delta participated in homecoming events with Beta Theta Pi fraternity. We took first in all but one event throughout the week and won first place overall! Three of Alpha Xi’s very own were on homecoming court and our own, Andrea Weber, took the 2013 Homecoming Queen title home. In November, Alpha Xi Delta happily welcomed thirteen new initiates and additionally welcomed three new members. We are proud of another successful year and we are looking forward to growing and continuing to improve our chapter in 2014.
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Beta Theta Pi
The fall 2013 semester started off strong as Beta Theta Pi pledged in seventeen new members, and these gentlemen have shown great promise thus far. The men of Beta Theta Pi partnered with the ladies of Alpha Xi Delta for the “Where Titans Dare to Dream� Homecoming in October. Beta worked closely with the ladies and placed in first, an achievement that could not have occurred without great dedication from both organizations. This fall semester, Beta Theta Pi has worked closely with the Christine Ann Center to help with rebuilding and groundwork. The gentlemen have assisted the Center several times over the semester, and developed a strong connection and interest in community service. Over the summer Beta Theta Pi public relations chair Ryan Sweeney devoted a substantial amount of time creating a brand new website to replace the existing, outdated site. The new website features links to all forms of social media, as well as an updated membership roster, a recruitment calendar, and various links to leadership opportunities and scholarships. Check it out at zzbeta.wix.com/oshkosh. Beta Theta Pi has partnered with Party.0 twice this semester to provide sober parties for students at UW Oshkosh that don’t feel the need to drink alcohol in order to have a good time. The second Party.0 sober party had an entrance fee of either one dollar or a canned good; all proceeds were donated to the Oshkosh homeless shelter. Beta Theta Pi looks forward to 2014!
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Delta Chi Delta Chi has started a new beginning here at UW Oshkosh. We are very excited to say that early in our colonization efforts everything seems to be going in a positive direction. So far, since our new beginning, we have welcomed nineteen associate members. We started with ten founding fathers who joined on October 27th of 2013. Since then, we had four more amazing men join on November 6th and five on December 8th. We are confident in saying that these numbers will be rising as we further progress. We are looking to double our size by the end of this spring semester here at UW Oshkosh. Also, in the spring semester of 2014, here at UW Oshkosh, Delta Chi will be having a parent’s night as well as escorting Zeta Tau Alpha to the winter carnival.
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Delta Sigma Phi This semester the men of Delta Sigma Phi took the women of Gamma Phi Beta to Homecoming 2013 and ended up taking second place. Delta Sigma Phi also had a pledge class consisting of seven men who became fully initiated members in November. The Delta Sigma Phi men are very proud of the success of our December Founder’s Day lunch event and are looking forward to another good turnout for the 2014 event. Earlier in the semester the men of Delta Sigma Phi also launched their brand new website with a fresh new look. Check it out at www.deltasigoshkosh.com. The men had a fantastic time in Illinois with the Delta Sig Regional Leadership Academy training. Four members from Delta Sigma Phi worked on the Interfraternity Council this past semester and at the end of a great term two new members from the fraternity were elected as well. With the semester coming to a close a brand new executive board also has been elected and the men are very excited to see where the new executive board will take them. The men are looking forward to the spring recruitment time and are already setting up preparations for a strong new member class. All in all it was a very fun and excitement filled semester and we cannot wait to see what the future has in store!
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Gamma Alpha Omega
October was a great month for the ladies of Gamma Alpha Omega. One of the biggest changes that the chapter went through was the implementation of the new academic policy of the organization. Aiming for even higher academic success, the new academic policy requires proctored hours that are to be completed under the supervision of the academic chair, an executive board member or a professor. Another requirement is monthly meetings with the academic chair to ensure high grade point averages at the end of the semester. The chapter is excited to see the kinds of results that this new policy will yield. Gamma Alpha Omega’s philanthropy involves mentoring the youth and in October 2013 we partnered with Big Brothers Big Sisters to host Monster Mash. Big Brothers Big Sisters is an organization that pairs children with positive role models who will provide guidence and spend time with them as big brothers or big sisters. This Halloween-themed event invited children who are on the wait-list to be paired with a big brother or a big sister. One of the chapter’s founders, Esmeralda Delgado, also played a part in making sure this event was successful. UW Oshkosh students were invited to come and interact with the children while playing games and having fun. One of our sisters even became interested in becoming a big sister after the event! To celebrate the 14th founding anniversary of Gamma Alpha Omega at UW Oshkosh, the sisters invited alumni to a fabulous dinner at the local Japanese steakhouse, Sakura. The sisters enjoyed sushi and hibachi, while catching up and chatting with some of the founders of the chapter. Gamma Alpha Omega was founded on this campus on October 29, 1999. The sisters are thrilled by the development of the young chapter, and are excited to see the growth with the years to come. In November, the Gammas hosted the annual Gamma Thanksgiving. This tradition gathers all of the sisters to a night full of food and fun. The sisters each pitch in to bring all of the traditional Thanksgiving items, but also spice-it-up with other dishes, like enchiladas! It’s a great time to reflect and say thank you for the blessings that the year has brought forward to growing and continuing to improve our chapter.
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Gamma Phi Beta As another semester winds down, the women of the Gamma Rho Chapter of Gamma Phi Beta are proud to recognize all of their shining accomplishments this year. The month of September kicked off with formal recruitment. After a week full of recruiting, the women of Gamma Phi Beta are proud to announce that they gained a new member pledge class of seventeen women. This was a historic accomplishment for the women, seeing as it had been thirteen years since the chapter reached total. Philanthropy has really been the focus of Gamma Phi Beta this semester. Many women volunteered their time to walk dogs, work at food pantries and other events. The biggest event for the women this semester was volunteering with our international philanthropy Girls on the Run. Many women volunteered as “running buddies” to the local girls participating in the program. By being a running buddy, these women served as a positive role model to the young girls. The chapter volunteered, by running the happy hair station at the Girls on the Run 5k in Neenah, WI this past November as well. They also held multiple sisterhoods making sign’s and headbands for the event. The women of Gamma Phi Beta also had a lot of fun this semester forming stronger bonds with one another. There were a lot of sisterhoods held at the house with movie nights, chapter dinners and lots of laughs. The chapter even organized a sisterhood event and made t-shirts for the premiere of the Hunger Games: Catching Fire. Now that the fall semester is in the books, the chapter looks forward to accomplishing even more in the spring 2014 semester and can’t wait to get started.
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Omega Delta Phi Omega Delta Phi members strive for our organizational values: unity, honesty, integrity, and leadership. These values are at the heart of all of our activities. In addition to leadership within Omega Delta Phi, our members are involved in other organizations on campus, including the International Student Association and HANON (Korean Culture Club). This year, we continue to build relationships on and off campus to further those values. We have formed a healthy relationship with the Salvation Army, and plan to do more community service events in the future. For the spring semester, we are looking forward to a 3-on-3 basketball tournament for fundraising. Look for more information to come soon. Also, we will be co-sponsoring a film with the African American Studies department in honor of Black History Month in February 2014. Another important goal of Omega Delta Phi is to graduate brothers. Working toward scholarship, we regularly meet in Polk Library to study. All are welcome to join us, and make 2014 a great year. Omega Delta Phi. One culture, any race.
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Sigma Pi The Gamma-Mu chapter is thrilled to wrap up one of the most successful fiscal years its 47 year existence. This semester the chapter successfully introduced twelve new brothers, doubling our chapter size, and bringing our chapter to the largest in over a decade. These men will be initiated at the beginning of the spring 2014 semester. Gamma-Mu also achieved success in all areas of chapter operations over the past year, improving 23% in communications with our headquarters, 6% in accreditation and 100% in pledge retention. This summer our president, Phil Aiello, interned at our executive office in Brentwood, TN as the first ever Communications Intern. He produced multiple articles in Sigma Pi’s latest edition of The Emerald. You can read the articles here: issuu.com/sigmapihq. Our 2013 Orchid Ball was a time to celebrate the successes of our brotherhood and the development of our chapter with our alumni and friends. We look forward to the future progress and development that our newly elected executive council will achieve. Happy 2014 from the Gamma-Mu chapter of Sigma Pi!
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Sigma Sigma Sigma Another year has flown by for the women of Sigma Sigma Sigma. With crazy recruitment, busy philanthropy and service events, along with numerous sisterhoods, these ladies are still baffled at how fast time flies when you’re having fun. Recruitment had the ladies anxious for both semesters. With great planning and organizing, the spring and fall semesters brought a total of eighteen new, wonderful women to this sisterhood. Spring informal recruitment had three bids accepted, while the fall semester had a large number of fifteen ladies accepting their bids. It is so exciting to see this chapter blossoming and growing with new leaders! If recruitment wasn’t enough to keep these ladies busy, Sigma Sigma Sigma was busy fundraising for their philanthropy, The Robbie Page Memorial. During Relay for Life, a campus event, the ladies made “Feel Better” and “Happy Mother’s Day” cards for the new families at Mercy Medical Center. Another new philanthropy that had great success was the Sigma Sweet Street that was a safe trick or treating event that included not only free candy to children and families, but fun Halloween activities as well. One last philanthropy event that took place this year was Thanksgiving card donations to the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh (UWO) Children’s Center and to the Wisconsin Hospital Children’s Hospital ICU Ward. Along with philanthropy events, community service events such as the Shamrock Shuffle, LGBTQ Ally March, Hands on Oshkosh, and fundraising with Old Wisconsin at Lambeau Field made this year zoom by even faster. But all those dedicated hours surely paid off, for the chapter received three amazing Greek awards: Excellence in Community Service, Most Improved Chapter and GPA, and Chapter of Excellence! Though the chapter is constantly growing and involved, Sigma Sigma Sigma wouldn’t be able to function without having such a strong sisterhood. Over the course of the year the ladies came together for chapter dinners, scary haunted houses and relaxing Packers game dip parties. They also connected with other sororities by making a trip to the Little Farmer and enjoyed making caramel apples with the other women on campus. One last awesome surprise that gave the ladies an extra sisterhood boost was a visit by their Regional Consultant, Cammie Coker and their National President, Kaye Schendal. It was truly incredible to have such ladies of character visiting! Even though another year has passed, the ladies of Sigma Sigma Sigma are already planning for another busy year and hope to bring a Sigma State Day to the UW Oshkosh campus!
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Zeta Tau Alpha The Kappa Lambda chapter of Zeta Tau Alpha has been a predominant and strong sisterhood on the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh’s campus since 1997. The purpose of Zeta Tau Alpha is the intensifying of friendship, the fostering spirit of love, the creating of such sentiments, the performing of such deeds, and the molding of such opinions as will be conducive to the building up of a purer and nobler womanhood in the world. Our Vice President of Recruitment, Jane Meier, did a fabulous job coordinating and executing all of our recruitment events. This September welcomed fifteen new women into our chapter and to introduce them to all of the amazing things Zeta Tau Alpha has to offer. The Fall 2013 Pledge Class President was Tess Dorlack and we are sure she will be a great leader in our chapter. In August, Kappa Lambda held their second annual Crown Classic Golf Outing at the Utica Golf Club. The event raised almost $3,500, thanks to our sponsors and participants. Kappa Lambda also participated in Race for the Cure and put on our second Pink the Rink event with the UW Oshkosh Hockey Club. We still continue our Thursday hot dog sale tradition and awareness ribbon handouts. We also attended the Green Bay Packers Crucial Catch game and passed out ribbons, shower cards, and collected donations. The Kappa Lambda sisterhood is made up of fifty three remarkable women. Aside from our studies, volunteering, and attending numerous campus activities; the sisters love to have fun. Our sisterhood events this semester included a scary movie night, a dinner date at Lara’s Tortilla Flats, ceramic mug decorating, and Zeta Thanksgiving! Overall this year has been extremely successful. We took home the Crown Chapter award at our National Convention, fundraised for our philanthropy, had a great time lip-syncing at homecoming, and selling hot dogs every week! The Zeta Tau Alpha bond of sisterhood is forever and we will continue striving to seek the noblest!
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2013 Interfraternity and Panhellenic Councils
Panhellenic Association Executive Board (L to R) Vice President of Risk Management: Karissa Goulder – Gamma Phi Beta Vice President of Public Relations: Kristin Ziegelbauer – Zeta Tau Alpha Vice President for Administration: Ali Tarr – Zeta Tau Alpha Vice President of Recruitment and Retention: Addela Marzofka – Alpha Xi Delta Vice President of Service and Philanthropy: Britney Feuerhammer – Alpha Xi Delta President: Lindsey Tyson – Sigma Sigma Sigma * Vice President of Membership Development: Maddy Rynkiewicz – Gamma Phi Beta
Interfraternity Council Executive Board ( L to R) Vice President of Risk Management: Cody Orde – Beta Theta Pi Vice President of Membership Development: Tyler Volkert – Beta Theta Pi Vice President of Recruitment and Retention: Morgan James – Delta Sigma Phi President: Joe Fletcher – Delta Sigma Phi *Vice President for Administration: Dan Johnson – Delta Sigma Phi *Vice President of Public Relations: Rob Krueger – Delta Sigma Phi
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* Not Pictured
To connect with your local undergraduate chapter, contact: Alpha Xi Delta Alumni Relations: Shannon Olson (olsons68@uwosh.edu) Facebook: Alpha Xi Delta-UW Oshkosh Beta Theta Pi Alumni Chair: Ethan Turner (turnee69@gmail.com) Facebook Page: Beta Theta Pi Oshkosh Website: zzbeta.wix.com/oshkosh Delta Sigma Phi Alumni Chair: Rob Krueger (kruegr62@uwosh.edu) Public Facebook: www.facebook.com/groups/DeltaSigEB/ Alumni Facebook: www.facebook.com/groups/dspeb/ Website: www.deltasigoshkosh.com/ Alumni Contact: jordanpennings@gmail.com Delta Chi Alumni Secretary: Nate Werdin (werdin10@uwosh.edu) Colony Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/DeltaChiOshkosh Alumni Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/groups/184120832647/ Alumni Board of Trustees Contact: Tim Sowinski, delta.chi.abt@gmail.com Gamma Phi Beta Collegiate-Alumnae Relations: Natalie Theisen (theisn83@uwosh.edu) Chapter E-mail: uwogphib@gmail.com Chapter Website: gammaphibetauwo.weebly.com Alumnae Facebook Page: Gamma Phi Beta @ UWO - Gamma Rho Chapter Alumnae
Update your information with the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh at: www.uwosh.edu/alumni/documents/forms/alumni-update-form Email: alumni@uwosh.edu Phone: (920) 424-3449
Gamma Alpha Omega Alumnae Relations: Ashley Niely-Smith (smitha19@uwosh.edu) Facebook Page: Gaotheta Oshkosh Twitter: @gaotheta Alumni Group: gaothetaalum@gmail.com Sigma Pi Alumni Chair: Jordan Demeny (gammamu1c@sigmapi.org) Alumni Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/gammamualumni/ Alumni website: http://www.sigmapioshkosh.com/alumni Facebook Page: facebook.com/SigmaPiOshkosh Twitter: @SigmaPiOshkosh Sigma Sigma Sigma Alumni Chair: Amber Graef (graefa99@uwosh.edu) Facebook Page: Sigma Sigma Sigma at UW Oshkosh Twitter: @Tri-Sigma EK Alumni Group: WI Fox Valley Alum Chapter (http://wifoxvalleyalumnaechapter.weebly. com) Zeta Tau Alpha Milwaukee Alumnae Chapter Facebook: Zta Milwaukee Alumnae (https://www.facebook.com/zta.milwaukeealumnaewebsite: http://milwaukee.zetataualpha.org
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@GreekLifeUWO facebook.com/GreekLifeUWO