Congratulations to the 2022-2023 Fraternity and Sorority Leadership Award Recipients!

 The Office of Fraternity & Sorority Affairs is proud to recognize individuals and organizations for their outstanding accomplishments during the 2022-2023 academic year. Though the past year has certainly posed unexpected obstacles and challenges, our community has shown true leadership and demonstrated what it means to be members of Greek letter organizations.

We are excited we were able to return to an in-person award celebration! We are proud to recognize the following individual and organizational award recipients. 

Individual Awards

Greek Leader of the Year

This award recognizes individuals for their achievements and contributions to the fraternity and sorority community and larger campus community.   Leadership is not limited to those holding positions, therefore consideration will be given to individuals who exemplify many, if not all, of the values of brotherhood or sisterhood, strong character, leadership, scholarship, and service in their daily lives.

Ivery Marquez, Lambda Theta Alpha Latin Sorority, Inc.

Outstanding Fraternity/Sorority President of the Year

Awarded to the chapter president who has demonstrated superior leadership and service to his/her chapter, as well as to the fraternity and sorority community.  This leader is one who consistently represents their organizational values, communicates a clear vision for success, and leaves their organization in a better place than when they took office. 

Sorority - Abbey Poulin, Kappa Alpha Theta

Fraternity - Kevin Yang, Theta Chi

Emerging Leader of the Year

Awarded to a newer member of the fraternity and sorority community who has shown leadership characteristics within their peer group, fraternity and sorority community, and greater Lehigh community.  These members are enthusiastic about their experience as new members and are eager to pursue leadership opportunities and bring about positive change to the fraternity and sorority community.

Kaila Cohen, Alpha Phi

Advisor of the Year

This award recognizes the extraordinary efforts of an advisor who has helped to positively shape the experiences of fraternity/sorority members.  Advisors willingly, often without receiving anything in return, give of themselves to contribute to overall chapter excellence, daily operations, university and headquarters relations, and role modeling through leadership, and thus we encourage nominations for any advisor whom you feel is worthy of this distinction. Nominators should indicate whether the nominee advisor is an alumni or faculty/staff advisor, so that we can recognize and thank the advisors for their contributions from these distinct roles.

Gary Tilles, Theta Chi

Tradition of Excellence

This award is presented to one or more individuals who consistently exceed expectations in one or more of the following focus areas for college students and active fraternity/sorority members.  This award is intended to affirm the efforts an individual can make in one area that was deserving of significant focus, or in several areas that showcase their ability to impact a community in several ways.  Nominators should identify the appropriate focus areas for which they believe the nominee should be recognized (listing is appropriate), and provide examples for each area of, to ensure recognition is given for all selected areas:

Living the Ritual; Inclusive Leadership; Empowering Others; Inspiring Change

Kyla Branco, Kappa Alpha Theta - Inclusive Leadership

Madeline Pfeifer, Kappa Alpha Theta - Inspiring Change

Sean McCann, Chi Phi - Empowering Others

Josh Nsubuga, Phi Sigma Chi - Living the Ritual

Organization Awards 

Fraternity/Sorority Chapter of the Year

This award is given to a chapter that excels in all of the following areas: Leadership and Member Development, Organizational Operations, Community Service and Engagement, and Academic and Intellectual Advancement. In addition, this chapter has positively contributed to both fraternity and sorority life as well as the Lehigh community. This chapter served as role models for their fellow members and led by example. 

Sorority - Alpha Phi

Fraternity - Theta Chi

Outstanding Philanthropic Effort 

This award is given to an organization that has gone above and beyond in supporting a cause, effort, or agency in a sustainable and meaningful way.   This is typically represented by groups who recognize the nature of philanthropy as efforts to raise both awareness and support (e.g. financial, goods, time, and energy), while collaborating with others for a shared purpose.  Efforts that are distinguished in this category can be either ongoing or one-time programs.

Theta Chi

Commitment to Service 

This award recognizes meaningful service efforts and action where participants gain exposure, develop an understanding, and respond to the needs of the community voice.  This typically includes building and developing positive relationships, developing active citizens, and incorporating reflection.  These criteria, when established and achieved, are indicative of dedicated efforts to create and inspire sustainable change.  Efforts that are distinguished in this category can be either ongoing or one-time programs.

Mu Sigma Upsilon Sorority, Inc.

Program of Distinction

This award is given to an organization that is proud of a particularly successful event, program, or effort they executed in the past academic year.  Consideration will be given to those efforts that incorporated collaboration, innovation, and/or education components as well as addressed a problem and/or met a need.  

Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority, Inc. - Women’s Empowerment Event

Most Improved

This award is given in recognition of the efforts an organization has taken to address a substantial challenge or issues they were/are facing.  Change can be hard and waiting for the effects can feel slow, so this award was established with that in mind; this award is meant to affirm the actions an organization has taken and remind them that all the hard work is worth it.  Nominations for this award should include identification of the particular need to be addressed, examples of action taken to create change, and reflection on the improvement that has been observed.  

Phi Sigma Kappa

We would also like to recognize and thank the numerous staff, alumni, and students that served on the Fraternity & Sorority Leadership Awards Selection Committee - this is possible because of you!

Lehigh Interfraternity Council Expansion Announcement

Lehigh University is open for expansion! We are accepting proposals for organizations interested in joining the Interfraternity Council in the spring 2024 and spring 2026 semesters. Expansion applications are due by Friday, April 28, 2023 at 4:00 PM EST.  Applications can be submitted via email to infrasor@lehigh.edu 

You can find our Expansion Policy here. Applications will be reviewed in May and June and 3-5 organizations will be invited to present on campus at the start of the fall 2023 semester. 

Lehigh University recognizes that the expansion of fraternities and sororities involves multiple parties including the governing council, the University, the inter/national fraternity or sorority, and, at times, a student interest group or alumni organization.  The expansion process, whenever possible, will take into consideration the interests of all parties. Lehigh University reserves the right to deny recognition to any group that expresses interest.  Preference will be given to organizations that have previously existed at Lehigh University.

For more information about the Office of Fraternity and Sorority Affairs and the fraternity and sorority community at Lehigh please visit our website.

If you have questions please contact Sara Runyon in the Office of Fraternity and Sorority Affairs at skd421@lehigh.edu.  We are happy to connect with any headquarters partners that are interested in learning more about the opportunity to expand to Lehigh!

Relay for Life

 This past Friday on March 31st, Greek life at Lehigh engaged in the annual Relay for Life event. Relay for Life is sponsored by the American Cancer Society and is the world's largest volunteer-based fundraising event. The event is place where communities come together and honor those affected by cancer. The American Cancer Society strives to achieve and reflect their mission statement, "Save lives, Celebrate Lives and Lead the Fight for a World Without Cancer". This past Friday, our greek organizations here at Lehigh not only upheld that mission, but also positively contributed through donations and raising money for the American Cancer Society. 

To date, Lehigh University has raised $52,977.74 towards the campaign. The top five contributing teams towards this event were CAC exec, Pi Beta Phi, Theta Chi, Phi Sigma Kappa, and Alpha Gamma Delta. Those five each raised over the $3,000 each as a team. The top 6 contributing participants all raised over $1,000 each, the top participant being David Joseph at the $4,743. The top company was Zeta Tau Alpha at $3,685. The fight does not stop here, Lehigh's campus will continue to be engaged and raise money to donate to the American Cancer Society to celebrate lives and lead the fight for a world against cancer. 

Fall 2022 Semester Grade Report

     Lehigh University produces grade reports after every semester. Through these grade reports, Lehigh will categorize groups of people based on differing demographics. One of these demographics being students that are a part of Greek Life. The grade report examines the Inter-Fraternity Council (IFC), the Panhellenic Council, and the Cultural Greek Council (CGC). The Greek community exemplified academic excellence this semester as the Lehigh Panhellenic Council’s average GPA surpassed all Lehigh sororities, all Greek students, all Lehigh women, and all Lehigh students. The average GPA for the Panhellenic Council this Fall 2022 semester was 3.51. The IFC average GPA for this fall semester was 3.25, surpassing the average for all Lehigh men as well as all Lehigh fraternities. The average GPA for CGC sororities was 3.07, with Lambda Theta Alpha Latin Sorority Inc holding the highest GPA average for the CGC at 3.51. The fraternities GPA average within the CGC was 3.07. The IFC and Panhellenic Council compared remarkably against the Lehigh Community as a whole maintaining a higher average than the total average of students at Lehigh.

Medical Amnesty

 As colleges around the country are struggling with their students falling victim to alcohol poisoning and overdoses, Lehigh University is stressing medical amnesty on campus. The medical amnesty policy provides impunity to students who call services for help when in a dangerous situation. Lehigh University does not want any barrier to be the reason that would deter a student from calling for help in any situation. 

 On Wednesday night the University held 'Sips with Safety' where students could interact with the Lehigh University Police Department. The event was sponsored by Peer Health Advisors, Lehigh University Police Department and the Office of Fraternity and Sorority Affairs. A large amount of Greek Life attended the event in order to show support and help raise awareness for medical amnesty. Below is the link where you can find further information on the law.

  https://studentaffairs.lehigh.edu/content/lehigh-university-medical-amnesty-policy 

Alpha Phi and Chi Phi Health Week Events

This past Wednesday on October 26th, the Lehigh Alpha Phi sorority and Chi Phi Fraternity partnered together to host a local blood drive with the Miller-Keystone Blood Center. The Miller-Keystone Blood Center comes to Lehigh University annually to hold a blood drive open to the public as well as Lehigh Students. Members of the Alpha Phi sorority either donated blood or worked a table where gift cards were handed out to donors. Collette Kissell, a member of Alpha Phi, donated blood for the first time at this blood drive and was elated to be able to help someone else. Collette said that the staff were very kind and made the process a great experience. 

In addition to hosting the Blood Drive, Alpha Phi and Chi Phi hosted a CPR training certification course. Autumn Hill, the Vice President of Health, Wellness, and Accountability, said that the instruction course was very interactive and informative. The instructor was a junior in Chi Phi and as Autumn put it, "he was super knowledgeable with answering questions and covering all topics. The participants of the course were able to get into groups while practicing with mannequins, they were also able to practice with an AED replica. Alpha Phi and Chi Phi had a successful week of educating students and giving back to the community and are looking forward to upcoming collaborations involving philanthropy. 

National Hazing Prevention Week at Lehigh University

    This week is National Hazing Prevention Week and campuses across the nation are holding events to educate their students and raise awareness. National Hazing Prevention Week started in 2007 and was founded by HazingPrevention.org. Every year the website has a new theme and this year's theme is, “Stronger Together”. The website wanted to focus on the importance of mental health issues related to hazing. The Office of Sorority and Fraternity Affairs hosted a lecture given by Michelle Guobadia. Michelle Guobodia is the director of Sorority and Fraternity Affairs at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. Guobadia titled her lecture, “Hazing makes you a better greek, and other stupid myths.” 

     Guobadia, a member of Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Inc. at the University of Delaware, explained how, during her time as an undergraduate at the University of Delaware, she had not only experienced hazing during her pledging period, but she also became a perpetrator  (Chierchio). “No one joined my chapter for two years because people were literally afraid of my organization,” Guobadia said. “Hazing doesn’t eliminate the bad apples, it actually keeps the bad apples in,” Guobadia said. “When you pit one class against another, you aren’t unifying them, but you’re creating cliques and cracks in your organization.” Guobadia discussed ten myths about hazing as an attempt to educate students (Chierchio).

    Other campuses such as Cornell are also taking action to educate their students. Cornell also hosted speaker Michelle Guobodia. This year’s National Hazing Prevention Week at Cornell was in honor of Antonio Tsialas, who died during an unofficial rush event for Phi Kappa Psi in 2019. Tsialas was found at the bottom of Fall Creek Gorge with a fractured skull, broken ribs and an alarmingly high blood-alcohol level. (Chierchio) On Wednesday, The three councils, (Panhellenic, Inter Fraternity Council and the Cultural Greek Council) had students take an oath not to haze. They held a table at the flagpole on the front lawn where students painted their hands and left their mark on a poster. The three councils continue to educate students on and around campus this week in hopes of making a difference.