UTAH STATE CHAPTER CREATES CAMPUS LECTURE SERIES

The Utah State Chapter of Sigma Phi Epsilon is setting a new standard in the Fraternity’s objective to serve as a valued partner in higher education. The chapter has created the SigEp Success Series, which features speakers on various topics that will complement students’ academic studies.

Chapter President Erik Mikkelsen, ‘12, said that his experience at the Ruck Leadership Institute this past summer was a major catalyst that sparked this idea. “After Ruck, we had an executive board and AVC [Alumni and Volunteer Corporation] retreat in our advisor’s cabin,” he said. “We were talking about the vision of SigEp to become a valued partner in higher education, and becoming an organization that’s indispensable to the university.”

Mikkelsen saw an obvious tie between the organization’s larger goal and his chapter’s ambition to become an accredited Residential Learning Community. “We were talking about the RLC and how to get faculty involved,” he said of that original meeting, when the SigEp Success Series plan was hatched. That retreat turned into a late night discussion about the direction of the chapter. “This idea came about at 1:00 in the morning.”

The idea started as a way to create an outlet for popular faculty members to share life lessons on topics like mastering time management, utilizing mentorship or overcoming obstacles on the path to success. The pitch to the university turned out to be an easy sale, and the chapter was granted an auditorium in the Student Center every Wednesday afternoon for the entire school year.

The focus now is on spreading awareness to the rest of campus. Faculty members have noted the interest the speaker series has generated on campus, and some have even reached out to SigEps about the program. Attendance has been steadily growing among non-SigEps, as they market the program with flyers, banners and, of course, Facebook.

In the meantime, the SEC Chapter, which is slated to obtain its charter in October, is using the program to cultivate potential new members and faculty fellows. The SigEp Success Series is a focal point in the chapter’s pitch to recruits, to show potential new members what distinguishes it from every other fraternity on campus. Mikkelsen said that the program was especially helpful in differentiating SigEp during Balanced Man Scholarship interviews with applicants and their parents. Several applicants were among the few dozen attendees of the initial speeches.

To recruit faculty fellows, the chapter plans to invite their speakers to dinner with the brotherhood as a way to say thank you. They anticipate that exposing their keynote speakers to more brothers on a personal level will help the chapter build longer lasting relationships with more faculty members.

The chapter is thinking beyond university faculty as well. Mikkelsen said the chapter plans to reach out to prominent members of the community, such as the mayor of Logan, the city where Utah State is located.

“The chapter has received the program really well,” Mikkelsen said. “And the guys we recruit have the same mindset and want to be successful. What better way to be successful than to associate with successful people?”

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