the carnation - fall 2009

Delta Sigma Phi | Fall 2009

2 T H E C A R N AT I O N | D E LTA S I G . O R G

letter from the editor

Brothers,

It’s almost the end of 2009, a year that saw the unraveling ofone of the largest ponzi schemes in the history of the world;the economy going into the tank for a long while, justrecently showing signs of life; and two, count ‘em, TWOteams from Pittsburgh winning professional sports champi-onships. (As a native of Ohio and a long-time Clevelandsports fan, please excuse my disgust in that last portion ofthe sentence…)

But the end of 2009 shouldn’t be all doom and gloom.Throughout this year, the Fraternity has had a number ofvery positive things happen. Our recruitment numbersincreased again this year, a positive in these tough economictimes. We held the largest Convention in ten years duringthe summer, which you’ll read about more in the comingpages. And, we will be celebrating the 110th anniversary ofour great organization in early December. All of these arethings of which we can be very proud.

Speaking of the 110th anniversary of our founding, thisissue’s Feature story will focus on our organization’s mission,and will provide ways in which you can help us continue toprovide a top notch experience to our current undergraduatebrothers. We wrote it in the style of James Bond, giving youmini missions that you can do to be better equipped to helpus meet our organizational mission of building better men.

Also, this summer at the 2009 Convention, theFraternity unveiled the All In for Delta Sig Campaign,which is an effort to engage an army of Delta Sig supporterswho will volunteer to assist the organization as we strive to

become America’s Leading Fraternity. You can find moreinformation at http://www.deltasig.org/allin. We hope you’llgo All In for Delta Sig and pledge your support online.

Throughout the remainder of the issue, we’re talking tosome Delta Sig business leaders, including two who are intop leadership roles on the film and television side of Foxin Los Angeles, and a brother who is the President andCEO of ColorTyme, a chain of rent-to-own stores through-out the US.

We also will bring you the latest Books by Brothers, astory on the security of our internet connections, a piece onlearning to network effectively, and a first person story onthe etiquette of air travel. In addition, we’re unveiling a fewfun new sections in this issue called Delta Sig Confidential,By the Numbers, and I Spy Delta Sigma Phi.

I’m proud and excited to be able to share this Fall 2009issue of The Carnation with you, and hope that you enjoywhat you read. As always, please feel free to share yourthoughts with me on any of the stories or information sharedwithin the pages by e-mailing [email protected], orcalling (317) 634-1899 x425.

Oh, and one more thing… Are you All In for Delta Sig?I certainly am!

YITBOS,

Bruce HammondEditor

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Letters to the Editor

Overall Magazine

I wanted to take a moment to com-

mend you on your last issue of The

Carnation (spring 2009). Your design

is very clean and purposeful, and the

articles are relevant and interesting.

Your feature, We are Delta Sig, will

certainly inspire pride in your members.

I like how the magazine is organized

by departments, including Health &

Fitness, Government & Politics, etc.

You did an excellent job involving your

members as guest writers, which always

adds flavor to the content, and in using

various ways to present information

(Q&A, Day in the Life, first person

narratives). The member profiles

demonstrate the wonderful accomplish-

ments of your brothers.

Great job on making good on your

mission to educate and entertain “other

readers who may not be members!”

Interfraternally,

Mimi McMann

Editor, Gamma Phi Beta Sorority

FeatureJust a note to say that I think the

Spring issue of The Carnation is

probably the best in the 59 years

since I graduated. Congratulations!

I commend you for carrying the articles

on GITMO and the Obama election.

I also commend the emphasis on

diversity, although I think it’s a bit of

a stretch to call it part of our heritage.

I’m pretty sure the pledge manual

when I was in school was pretty

specific about excluding anyone who

wasn’t white and Christian. I hope it

is changing.

Anyway, if the fraternity is doing as

well as The Carnation, things should

go well.

YITBOS,

Chuck Graham

Illinois ’48

In reference to the about article

published on page 11 of the Spring

2009 issue of The Carnation:

It is technically correct that Delta

Sigma Phi was founded by Jewish and

Christian men, BUT this tradition

didn’t continue. Later, the Jewish

members left Delta Sigma Phi and

formed their own Fraternity.

When I was President of Gamma

Omega Chapter at the University of

Houston in 1959, it was my duty to tell

a rushee with friends in our chapter

that we could not pledge him because

he was Jewish.

Jerry Blaylock

Houston ’59

Editor’s Note: While there were certainly

dark periods during the Fraternity’s history,

the story that we put together in our Spring

issue illustrates Delta Sigma Phi is a diverse

and inclusive brotherhood across the country.

Three Days in the Life ofa Chapter

Many thanks for the wonderful article

in The Carnation regarding the Miss

Sorority Row Pageant at UGA. It was

beautifully written and realistic. Your

article showed a lot of detail and the

hard work put into the Pageant.

Sincerely,

Lynn Freedman

Miss Sorority Row Director

Our New President: BringingChange to Society or a Productof Societal ChangeI suggest you reconsider publishing

articles discussing political issues. I refer

you to pages 20 and 24. Articles of this

type do not conform with your mission.

I for one am offended.

Dick Mills

San Jose State ’56

Editor’s Note: While it’s not always fun to

read negative comments about stories that

are run in the magazine, we appreciate

Dick and others sharing their views of the

“Our New President: Bringing Change to

Society or a Product of Societal Change”

story. We’ll continue bringing you stories

that fit within the mission of the magazine,

while remembering that we need to be

cognizant of all of the divergent views

across the brotherhood.


29

40A Dream Come True – Mark NeelyAlumni Profile

Business & Finance: OppositesCome Together to Lead at Fox

50In Their Own Words – Juweon Kim

Contents

DEPARTMENTS2 Letter from the Editor3 Letters to the Editor6 News Feed14 Fraternity Confidential16 From the Foundation20 Feature26 Business & Finance32 Health & Fitness

36 Leadership & Education40 Sports44 Tech Trends48 Travel & Tourism50 In Their Own Words52 Books by Brothers54 Bond Eternal 55 I Spy Delta Sigma Phi

Mission: The Carnation is a lifestyle magazine meant to entertain, educate and inspire the members of Delta Sigma Phi to become better men and lead better lives, while also educatingand entertaining other readers who may not be members.

EditorBruce Hammond, Ohio Northern ’98

Contributing WritersRy Beck, North Texas ’04Joe Doyle, Oregon ’03Juweon Jonathan Kim, Texas ’02Andy Lammers, Ohio Northern ’07David Lindemann, Eastern Michigan ’61Brent Rowe, NC State ’99KJ Turner, Stephen F. Austin ’83Matt Yarnell, Western Illinois ’02

Art DirectorShelle Design Incorporated

Address publication materials and correspondence with national office to:Delta Sigma Phi1331 North Delaware StreetIndianapolis, IN 46202(317) 634-1899FAX: (317) 634-1410E-mail: [email protected]: www.deltasig.org

THE CARNATION OF DELTA SIGMA PHI(USPS 091-020), official publication ofDelta Sigma Phi, 1331 N. Delaware St.,Indianapolis, IN 46202, is publishedsemiannually. Publication postage paidat Indianapolis, IN and additional mailing offices.

Postmaster: Send address changes toTHE CARNATION OF DELTA SIGMA PHI,1331 N. Delaware St., Indianapolis, IN46202. Subscription price to non-membersis $8.00 per year. Single copies $3.00.

Copyright 2009 by the Delta Sigma Phi Fraternity; 1331 N. Delaware St.,Indianapolis, IN 46202. No part of thispublication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted inany form or by any means, mechanical,electronic, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior written permission of the copyright owner.

THE CARNATION® and Delta Sigma Phi®

are registered trademarks of Delta SigmaPhi Fraternity, Inc.

On The Cover

Illustration forFeature Story:Mission Possible – pg 20.

www.deltasig.org

CARNATIONTHE

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By the Numbers

Top 10 states in terms of alumni population10. New Jersey – 1,8409. Ohio – 2,3368. Florida – 2,6867. New York – 2,9216. North Carolina – 3,2005. Texas – 3,9654. Pennsylvania – 4,4133. Illinois – 4,8952. Michigan – 5,2331. California – 8,073

Smallest 5 states in terms of alumni population46. Wyoming – 87 47. Alaska – 86 48. Maine – 80 49. Vermont – 71 50. North Dakota – 29

63,808 TOTAL MAILABLE ALUMNI IN THE UNITED STATES

Mailable Alumni by Decade

1%

17%24%

4%

13%

10%11%

20%

1940s1930s

2000s

1950s

1970s

1960s

1980s

1990s

E-mailable Alumni in the United States

22,887If you have an e-mail address, but are

not currently receiving updates from theFraternity, please update your membershipinformation by e-mailing [email protected] your name, chapter and e-mail address.


News Feed

Tom Cycyota Appointed to Grand Council

Delta Sigma Phi is proud to announce the appointment of Tom Cycyota to the Fraternity’s Grand Council.Cycyota will fill the remaining two years of immediate past president Mike Hoffman’s term, who was re-elected at the 2007 Delta Sigma Phi Convention.

Cycyota is a 1977 initiate of the Fraternity’s AlphaAlpha Chapter at the University of Illinois, and professionally is the president and CEO of AlloSource,Inc. AlloSource is a mission driven organization that maximizes the possibilities from human tissue donation.

According to Delta Sigma Phi’s national presidentChris Edmonds, “We are excited to have someone thecaliber of Tom Cycyota join our Grand Council. Tom’sadditional board work and his professional accomplish-ments will be tremendous assets as we continue to work toward becoming America’s Leading Fraternity.”

During his tenure at AlloSource, both Cycyota and the company have been recognized for numerous businessaccolades, including being a two-time finalist for the BestCompanies to Work for in Colorado, Centennial’s LargeCompany of the Year, a finalist for Colorado Ethics inBusiness Samaritan Institute Award, the HealthcareInnovator of the Year selected by the Denver BusinessJournal and more.

Prior to joining AlloSource, Cycyota was the VicePresident of Alternate Care Business with Johnson &Johnson Medical (JJM). In this Board-level role, he led the Company’s movement into the alternate healthcaremarket. He was formerly the Worldwide Director,Marketing, Wound Management for JJM, and also previously worked as Vice President of Marketing andMaterials Management with New Dimensions inMedicine. Early in his career, he spent ten years at Kendall Healthcare Products Company.

Cycyota holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Biology from theUniversity of Illinois and an MBA from Loyola Universityin Chicago. He sits on the Board of Donate Life America,The Limb Preservation Foundation, and the DonorAwareness Council. He resides in Colorado, where he is an avid hiker and volunteer with the Boy Scouts, with hiswife, Cyndy, and three sons, Hank, Tim, and TJ.

Member Assessment Underway

We know the Delta Sigma Phi experience can be a powerfulpersonal development experience for our young men. InDelta Sig chapters, our undergraduate men learn invaluablelessons outside the classroom. These lessons include theability to work in teams, and the chance to gain enhancedcreative and critical thinking opportunities, experiencedemocratic processes, learn how to handle interpersonalconflict, and learn about the political and social structuresof institutions.

Throughout the last decade, three conversations havearisen that are shaping our future:

• Higher education has come under increased scrutiny to better educate college students;

• Our work to educate and guide our men in partnershipwith host institutions has become vitally important;

• The relevancy of Delta Sig and all fraternities has beenquestioned at every turn.

The call has been made in higher education that it is no longer acceptable for institutions to simply grade theirperformance on the number of diplomas, amount of books in their research libraries, etc. Higher education must be cognizant about what students are truly learning as aRESULT of their collegiate experience… meaning we mustmeasure true learning outcomes of the collegiate experience.

The call has reached the highest levels of higher educa-tion this year with a report by the Association of AmericanColleges and Universities. This leadership organization published their report entitled College Learning for the New

Cycyota

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Global Century. Understanding that colleges and universitiesare at a crossroads, the report states that there are essentiallearning outcomes that must be met for our students to besuccessful in a global environment.

This report directly speaks to the relevance of Delta Sigma Phi and provides our roadmap on how we can stake our claim as the Personal and LeadershipDevelopment Fraternity.

Over the last few months, we have done extensiveresearch into the development of college men and collegestudents, from both a fraternity and higher education perspective. Based on this research, Delta Sig has the amazingpotential to be the LEADER in true student/member learn-ing, and in preparing our men to be better equipped to be successful in today’s global community.

Delta Sig is poised to begin with the end in mind –What do our men need to demonstrate once they walkacross that stage and accept their diploma? There are avery small percentage of higher education institutions that have embraced the call, and there are only a few nationalfraternities that even have this on their radar.

During this academic year, over half of our undergraduatemembers will take part in a personal and professional devel-opment conversation about their own learning and actions.They will also take part in an assessment process that willhelp guide our educational initiatives in the future.

We can be the leaders who can demonstrate and provethe growth of our members to donors, universities, newmembers, and parents, and the assessment efforts that theFraternity has undertaken will be what helps us get there.

Fraternity Launches Online Education Series

In September, Delta Sig launched its first online educationseries for chapter and alumni leaders. The online educationseries includes live online training sessions relating torecruitment, chapter operations, and risk management.

Each of the hour-long online sessions is offered four timeson the date they are scheduled to accommodate brothersfrom the different time zones, and is open to the first 25brothers who sign up. The format includes approximately 35 minutes of training, and 20 minutes for questions and answers.

The timing of these sessions was coordinated to best suit the different times of the Fall semester. All of therecruitment sessions were held in September during the all important time of recruitment, while the other sessions also coincide with important dates (the “How to Fill Out a Status Report” session is held a week before the ChapterStatus Report is due.)

According to Assistant Executive Director Paul Lawson,“We developed these online education sessions as a way forundergraduates and alumni to be able to get the educationthey need on certain topics in an easy to digest way. In addition, by providing them online, we are trying to be more cognizant of utilizing technology as we work with our young brothers.”

The fall online education series runs until mid-November, and will likely be repeated next Fall to prepareundergraduates and alumni for the academic year.

A Plethora of Member Benefits Availableto Delta Sigs

Over the years, the Fraternity has offered a number of opportunities for brothers to benefit from their membership.Whether these opportunities are in the form of networkingor supporting our undergraduate chapters and colonies,undergraduates and alumni have been given opportunities to benefit from their experiences.

Now, the Fraternity has developed a number of new waysin which brothers can benefit from their membership in theFraternity in the form of saving money.

Delta Sigma Phi has developed relationships with a num-ber of companies who offer discounts on their products andservices just because you are members of our organization.Read more below about each of these opportunities, and youcan also find out more by going to the Fraternity’s web site athttp://www.deltasig.org/connect/chapter_resources.

Bank of America Affinity Credit CardMost everyone has acredit card in theirwallet, and Delta Sighas made it easy foryou to support theFraternity whileyou’re making your purchases.

The Delta Sigma Phi Fraternity Platinum Plus®

MasterCard® Credit Card with WorldPoints® Rewardsprovides you an opportunity to earn points with all of yourpurchases, and support the Fraternity at the same time.Each purchase made with your card earns royalties for theFraternity that are then used to ensure Delta Sigma Phicontinues to provide a top notch experience to our members.


News Feed

Brooks Brothers Discount CardAs another memberbenefit, the Fraternityhas worked with BrooksBrothers to provideDelta Sis an opportuni-ty to get a discount cardgood for 15% off regu-lar priced merchandisein Brooks Brothers andBrooks Brothers Outlet stores across the country. In addition,as an enrolled corporate member you will be notified of ourspecial Corporate Shopping event weekends for additionalsavings when you shop Brooks Brothers.

It’s a great deal for top notch men’s clothing, and you cantake advantage of it just by being a Delta Sig. Learn moreabout the program online in the Chapter Resources sectionof the Fraternity’s web site (www.deltasig.org). Join the 2,500other Delta Sigs who have already been taking advantage ofthe program!

GEICO Auto InsuranceThe newest of theFraternity’s memberbenefits is withGEICO, which offersmembers the potentialto save up to 15% offon your car insurance.While you may alreadyhave a great deal onyour insurance, each inquiry to the company nets theFraternity royalties that are then used to ensure Delta Sigma Phi continues to provide a top notch experience to our members.

So, why not inquire about whether you’re getting the bestdeal today, and help the Fraternity in the process?

Delta Sig Alumnus Inducted into the MissouriNewspaper Hall of Fame

Past national president, Brian Brooks, Missouri ’64, wasinducted into the Missouri Newspaper Hall of Fame inOctober. Brooks serves as the University of Missouri’sAssociate Dean for Undergraduate Studies in its acclaimedSchool of Journalism.

About his induction, he said, “It’s really flattering to beinducted into any hall of fame. To be inducted into a Hall of Fame that includes people like Mark Twain and JosephPulitzer is really special.”

Brooks joined the Missouri journalism faculty in 1974after working in Vietnam as an information officer, for whichhe earned a bronze star, and as a reporter, copy editor andnight city editor at the Press-Scimitar in Memphis. Heserved as news editor and then editor of the ColumbiaMissourian before becoming director of the journalism network in 1989.

While on sabbatical from 1997 to 1999, Brooks was editor of The Stars and Stripes, the U.S. military newspaper in Europe. He directed that newspaper’s coverage of theBosnia mission, the U.S. entry into Kosovo and the bombingof Belgrade. For this work he received the U.S. Departmentof Defense Civilian Distinguished Service Medal.

For more than 30 years Brooks has served as deputy director or director of the Dow Jones Newspaper Fundediting internship program at Missouri. Students fromschools nationwide are trained at the summer workshop for careers as newspaper copy editors.

Brooks is the author or co-author of four major journalismtextbooks, including News Reporting and Writing. He waschairman of the school’s editorial department from 1999 to 2003, when he became associate dean for undergraduatestudies and administration. That same year he was namedOutstanding Faculty member on campus by the MU Greek system. In 2001, he received the Mizzou AlumniAssociation’s Faculty-Alumni Award.

He is a past recipient of the Fraternity’s OutstandingUndergraduate Award, the Francis P. Wacker InterfraternalAward, the Harvey H. Hebert Award, and the Mr. Delta SigAward. In addition, he served on the Grand Council for anumber of years, as the Fraternity’s national president from1987-1991, and as the editor of The Carnation.

Brooks

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Brotherhood and FunOne of the most exciting parts of anyConvention is the opportunity forbrothers to interact with one anotherand have fun. That occurred at the2009 Convention beginning with thefirst event – the Welcome Reception.

The event allowed brothers tomeet, interact, listen to live musicfrom a two-piece band, and participatein the performance of an improvcomedy troupe called MissionIMPROVable. Brothers took partin the performance, providing suggestions for skits, and even gettingon stage to participate in the skitsthemselves. The event was an excel-lent way to kick off the Convention.

Throughout the remainder of the2009 event, brothers took part inadditional events meant to providea fun experience to attendees. Thefirst ever Vegas Night on the Nile,an event with casino style games andsnacks, allowed brothers the chanceto mix and mingle while playing theirfavorite card games. The regular Pilgrim’s Degree, the Convention-only

event where brothers learn the secretof the Convention hat – the Fez, alsotook place for first-time attendees. Allfirst-time Convention attendees tookpart in the event, which as usual, waswell received by the brothers whotook part.

NetworkingFrom the alumni and undergraduateappreciation receptions, to the formalNetworking Breakfast, opportunitiesfor networking were clearly an impor-tant part of the 2009 Convention.

The 2009 Alumni AppreciationReception included wine providedby Justin Vineyards and Winery, ownedand operated by alumnus JustinBaldwin, San Jose State ’67. BrotherBaldwin attended the event fromCalifornia to talk a little about hisFraternity experience, as well as talkabout the wines he generously donated.

As for the 2009 UndergraduateAppreciation Reception, brothersenjoyed foods and snacks that arefamous in St. Louis, while networkingand hearing from Executive DirectorScott Wiley. In addition, a representa-tive from The St. Louis Chapter ofThe American Red Cross talked toattendees about the Red Cross’ work,and its importance.

The last of the formal networkingopportunities was the NetworkingBreakfast, which paired successfulalumni at tables with undergraduateswho were interested in entering simi-lar career fields. With 25 tables fromwhich undergraduates could choose,there were alumni to talk to in nearlyevery general career field out there.

BROTHERHOODIN THE GATEWAY CITY

CONVENTION RECAP

Clayton Spiceland is presented withthe E. Allen James OutstandingUndergraduate Award by pastnational president John Boma.

Held at the Hilton St. Louis at the Ballpark, the 2009 Delta Sigma Phi Convention brought

together more than 400 undergraduates, alumni, and guests to celebrate the Fraternity. In

the coming pages, you’ll read about what took place over the four days in late July, and meet

the Fraternity’s new national president.


EducationOpportunities for networking and funmake for an excellent Convention bythemselves, but throw in the tremen-dous number of educational sessionsmeant to help our brothers be betterleaders in their chapters and in theirvolunteer roles, and you have a greatrecipe for a tremendous event.

Over the course of four days, therewere twelve educational sessionsgeared toward helping attendeesbecome better men. Ranging fromsessions on Becoming a Pyramid ofExcellence Chapter, to learning howto conduct a successful job search,

there was education for everyone atthe event.

One of the highlights of the educa-tional portion of the Convention waspast national president Loren Mall’sHistory of the Ritual session. Mall’ssession, which is a Convention staple,drew over 300 members on night #2of the Convention, and was one ofthe highest rated education sessionson the post-event survey with 91% ofrespondents rating it at the highestpossible score.

The 2009 Convention provided agreat deal of education, but that wasnot all. There was still more!

BusinessAnother regular part of theConvention is the business thatis conducted. The In ConventionAssembled sessions are opportunitiesfor brothers from across the countryto vote on the leadership of theFraternity, changes to the Fraternity’sgoverning documents, and overall anplace for the business of the organiza-tion to take place.

This year, four members were elect-ed to the Grand Council, two ofwhom were newly elected, one was re-elected, and one was elected afterserving an appointed one year term.

Attendees of the Convention pose for the official group photo in Keiner Plaza, located in the shadow of the world famousGateway Arch.

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The two newly elected members areJim Knoll, San Jose State '83, whowill serve as a Director, and CalebWilliams, Georgia '06, who will serveas the second undergraduate memberalong with Tom Seto.

The member re-elected to theGrand Council is Tom Archer,Virginia ’87, who will serve as theSecretary/Treasurer. Jim Larson, Cal Poly SLO ’72, who will serve as a Director, was elected after serving a one year appointment leading up tothe Convention.

After the elections took place,Chris Edmonds, UAB ’88, was chosenby the Grand Council members toserve as their new President. Readmore about Brother Edmonds in thecoming pages.

In addition to the Grand Councilelections, a change to theConstitution of the Fraternity wasapproved by the Convention body.Before the Convention, a secondundergraduate member was appointedto the Grand Council in the offConvention years by the currentmembers of the Grand Council.

Following a number of ConstitutionCommittee meetings and a floordebate, that has been changed so that starting in 2010, the secondundergraduate member of the GrandCouncil will now be elected by delegates across the country votingelectronically who will be certifiedjust as they are for the Convention.

RecognitionA Convention would not be completewithout all of the recognition thattakes place – recognition of brothersand chapters for continuing to makeDelta Sigma Phi what it is today.There were a number of awardspresented, but only two were thetop individual awards.

The 2009 E. Allen JamesOutstanding Undergraduate Awardwas presented to Clayton Spiceland,Kentucky ’05. Spiceland served as theInterGreek Programming Assemblypresident on campus, leading theGreek community to give $250,000and 39,000 hours of communityservice during his time in the position.He is also a three year attendee of the

UK Leadership Summit, which isreserved for the campus’ top 75student leaders.

The 2009 Mr. Delta Sig Award, thetop award an alumnus can receive,was presented to Bruce Loewenberg,Missouri ’58. Loewenberg is a two-term Grand Council member, alongtime Foundation Board member,and a tireless advocate for DeltaSigma Phi at his home chapter at theUniversity of Missouri, having servedon the ACB for many years. He alsois a 2008 University of MissouriCitation of Merit winner, a prestigiousrecognition by his alma mater.

You can find all of the chapterawards, as well as each and everyindividual award recipient on theFraternity’s web site atwww.deltasig.org/convention2009.

Overall, the 2009 Convention wasan event that was well received by allthose who attended, and with themomentum coming out of the event,Delta Sigma Phi is poised for bigthings in 2009-10.

New Grand CouncilFollowing 2009 Convention

President – Chris Edmonds,UAB ’88

Vice President – Scott Kimpel,Texas ’93

Secretary/Treasurer – Tom Archer,Virginia ’87

Director – Tom Cycyota, Illinois ’77

Director – Jim Knoll, San JoseState ’83

Director – Jim Larson, Cal PolySLO ’72

Director – Tom Seto, Purdue ’05

Director – Caleb Williams,Georgia ’06

Past President – Mike Hoffman,Arizona State ’85

Griffin Cole and Adeel Khan, undergraduate members of the Kappa Delta Chapterat Virginia Tech, pose with the chapter’s Pyramid of Excellence Award followingthe Closing Banquet.


New national president Chris Edmonds (right) presents the 2009 Pyramid of Excellence Award to Josh Hawthorne, president of the AlphaAlpha Chapter at the University of Illinois.

MEET THE NEW NATIONAL

CHRIS EDMONDS, UAB ’88

PRESIDENT

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Chris Edmonds, UAB ’88, wasinstalled as Delta Sigma Phi’s 30thnational president at the 2009Convention. Edmonds, who is only40 years old, has been in volunteerpositions within the Fraternity sincehis graduation in 1992. Prior to hiselection, he served as a member ofthe Grand Council since 2005, mostrecently as its vice president.

Prior to his election to the boardin 2005, he served as Chair of theFraternity’s Long Range PlanningTask Force, Recruitment andExpansion Commissioner, andDistrict Governor. As an undergradu-ate member, he served as Chapter and IFC President.

The Carnation caught up withEdmonds after his installation to learnmore about his Delta Sig experienceand his goals for his term as the orga-nization’s leader.

The Carnation: What does DeltaSigma Phi mean to you? Edmonds: Simply put, Delta SigmaPhi is my foundation. The values forwhich our Fraternity stands challengeme daily to be a better husband,father, employee, team member,volunteer and human. It has, andcontinues to, provide me with atangible roadmap for living my life.

The Carnation: Why did you joinDelta Sig originally and why have youremained involved since your gradua-tion in the early 1990s? Edmonds: I attended the orientationat UAB with all of the wrong expec-tations. I was introduced to the ZetaChi Chapter of Delta Sigma Phi byone of my best friends in the worldfrom high school. She said, “I knowyou don’t think you will be Greek, butthese guys are different.” WOW, wasshe ever right! I was hooked from thefirst contact.

Zeta Chi was a young (3 year old)chapter at the time. Once my under-

graduate days ended, my involvementwas all about “Paying the Debt.” Eachtime we held an initiation, I wouldlearn a little more about the responsi-bility each member has. I continuedto build upon these revelations anddecided living the Ritual never put meat odds with the community, family,work, or religion. It became clear tome that the more you put into theFraternity, the more it gave back. Ithas been this great circle of invest-ments and returns that is insatiable.

Footnote: Tina Patterson Vermillion,Alpha Gamma Delta member, wasthe point of introduction. She marrieda Delta Sig from Kappa Chapter –Rob Vermillion.

The Carnation: What did it mean toyou to be elected to serve as the orga-nization’s 30th national president? Edmonds: This is yet another hum-bling challenge to serve as theNational President. Having beeninvolved as an alumni volunteer formore than 20 years, I have had theopportunity to meet a significantnumber of the Past Presidents. Thereare no greater examples of all that isgood in mankind than these men.They have accomplished so much intheir tenures. To be asked to serve inthis same capacity is humbling andoverwhelming at the same time. Inever expected joining the organiza-tion some 20-plus years ago would putme in such a position, but the factthat it has is an example of whatmembership means. Delta Sigma Phioffers the greatest internship in leader-ship available, and I am living proofof its results.

The Carnation: What are your over-arching goals and vision for yourterm as national president? Edmonds: In the last four years, wehave created a new foundation ofexpectations. Through our StrategicPlan, we have begun elevating what it

means to be a Delta Sig. We haveintentionally focused our efforts toconvince the world of the sincerity ofour purpose. Continuing to executethis strategy will take all we have inthe coming years.

We need to build a bridge betweenthe foundation of expectations andthe 2025 goal of being America’sLeading Fraternity. Building thisbridge, developing a national housingstrategy, and continuing the proudtraditions of the last 110 years, willkeep this Grand Council plenty busyover the next two years.

The Carnation: What's the best pieceof advice you've ever received that youcan share with our brothers?Edmonds: Live the Ritual – it willnever let you down! If you live it, itwill give you far more back than youcan ever give it. I believe this must bewhy our brilliant founding fathersdefined Paying the Debt the way theydid. Add the Pearl of Great Price toPaying the Debt and the result is agreat life!

Chris Edmonds, 40, serves asthe President and CEO of theInternational Derivatives ClearingGroup, which is located in NewYork City. He resides with hiswife, Michelle, and children,Blake and Jenna, in Louisville, KY.


Each year, the Fraternity awards thePyramid of Excellence to five – seventop chapters across the country. Haveyou ever wondered what makes aPyramid of Excellence chapter, andhow your group can become one?

At the 2009 Convention, AssistantExecutive Director Paul Lawson andRegional Director Kyle Libra presenteda session entitled “Becoming a PyramidChapter.” In it, they talked about anumber of specific things that chaptersand colonies can do to become one ofthe Fraternity’s best. We have compileda list of their tips below:

1. Document What YouAre Doing

Many times, recognition is aboutknowing what chapters and coloniesare doing in the first place. If theinformation isn’t readily available anddocumented effectively when it comestime for accreditations to be sent into the Fraternity Headquarters, thepeople judging the reports and decid-ing who are the top chapters do nothave all of the necessary information.Because of this, there may be chaptersand colonies who are deserving ofrecognition, but because of a lack of documentation, they are not recognized appropriately.

Fraternity Confidential

EXCELLENCE Chapter

The Making of a Pyramid of

DELTA SIGFact or Fiction

Are the following statements about

Delta Sigma Phi fact or fiction?

Answers may be found on page

54, on the same page as the list

of Bond Eternal brothers.

1. Mike D from the Beastie Boys is

a Delta Sig.

2. The Fraternity has never had a

Governor as a member.

3. Delta Sig alumnus Horatio Fitch,

Illinois ’22, won a silver medal

in the 400 meter dash at the

1924 Paris Olympic Games,

and was a one-time world

record holder in the event.

4. Delta Sigma Phi once had a

chapter in Hawaii.

5. The Delta Sigma Phi Headquarters

is haunted by past inhabitant

Lucy Taggart.

6. Two current members of the

United States House of

Representatives are members

of Delta Sigma Phi.

7. Although it has a later designa-

tion, the Alpha Tau Chapter at

Albion College was installed

before the Alpha Alpha Chapter

at the University of Illinois.

15F A L L 2 0 0 9

2. Get Your AlumniInvolved

Of the 2009 Pyramid of Excellencewinners, all of the chapters had agroup of alumni who are available and ready to assist when called upon.Alumni involvement is key to having atop notch chapter, not only because ofthe inherent networking opportunitiesthat it provides, but also becausealumni are there to assist with chapter planning, recruitment, and holding brothers accountable.Utilize these brothers regularly, andyou too can become a Pyramid ofExcellence chapter.

3. Create a Culture ofConsistent Excellence

In most cases, Pyramid of Excellencechapters don’t just come out of theblue to win the award. The steadilyand effectively build a culture inwhich achievement is celebrated,leadership is embraced, and failure isnot an option. Having this culturelikely can’t be developed overnight,but it is something that all of the topaward winners have in common.Begin working to instill this culture inyour chapter, and you will be on theright track to win the big award.

4. Keep Your Juniors andSeniors Involved

The 2009 Pyramid of Excellencechapters all have a strong desire tokeep their older members involved.Many times, juniors and seniors instruggling chapters check out, and feel as though they have accomplishedeverything in their first and secondyears. The mindset of “we’ve done ourpart, now it’s up to you” is prevalent.However, many times, they have

valuable institutional knowledge and leadership experience to make a chapter better. A key to becoming a top chapter is to find ways in whichyou can keep your juniors and seniorsinvolved and engaged in the success of the organization.

5. Use the AccreditationDocument as a GoalSetting Tool

The Accreditation document is howthe Pyramid of Excellence Awards aredetermined, so by utilizing that docu-ment as your roadmap for planningand goal setting, you are likely to meetmany of the criteria included withinit. The next chapter planning retreatyou hold, be sure to have a copy of theaccreditation document as your guideto the chapter plan for the comingyear. By doing this, you’ll be setting yourself up for success.

One other important thing to mention is that only chapters whohave no risk management violations,have a zero balance due to theFraternity Headquarters, and areexcelling in academics are eligible to win the Pyramid of Excellence. So, it’s incredibly important to meetthose basic requirements in order to beconsidered one of the Fraternity’s best.

Are you ready to become a Pyramidof Excellence chapter? These tips area good start to helping you understandwhat it takes. Now, it’s up to you todevelop your plans, begin makingchange, and reaching out to thosewho can help you achieve theFraternity’s top award!


BETTER MEN

CAMPAIGN WRAP-UP

The Delta Sigma Phi Foundation launched the silent phaseof the Building Better Men Campaign in July 2005. The publiclaunch occurred at the 2007 Convention with a goal to raise$10 million in cash, pledges and estate planned gifts. Thepurpose of the campaign was to enable increased annualFraternity and chapter grants that would be used forleadership training and academic scholarships.

Brothers across the nation enthusiastically supported theidea of investing in the future of our brotherhood. By theclose of the campaign on June 30, 2009, Delta Sigma Phimembers had committed a total of $13,250,000 in outrightgifts, pledges, and planned gifts that will be realized in lateryears. Despite current economic challenges, as of fiscal year2009, the assets of the Foundation grew to $7.7 million.

The mission we set out to accomplish – in part throughthe campaign – was clarified by four specific goals: to make Delta Sigma Phi the number one NIC fraternity inleadership training participation; to put us in the Top 5 of NIC fraternities in both chapter size and academic performance; and finally, to engage more than 2,500 activealumni volunteers, a three-fold increase over previous levels.

Since the beginning of the campaign, Foundation staffmembers personally visited 2,500 alumni to share the visionand encourage their support. More than 900 alumni committed toa multi-year pledge, and the 1899 Society (alumni making a$5,000 commitment or more) grew to 360 members, 58 ofwhom donated or pledged more than $10,000 toward theeffort. As a result, Foundation grants in the last five yearstopped the million dollar mark at $1,110,702.

Alumni who joined the Fraternity in the 1980s, 1990sand 2000s make up the largest group of major campaigndonors. Seventy-seven percent were initiated during thosedecades – a time when the Fraternity’s greatest increase inservices and programs was occurring

In the past three decades Delta Sigma Phi’s educational pro-grams have grown exponentially with an 875% increase inthe number of men participating just in the last decade.

National Programs Funded by the DeltaSigma Phi Foundation:

The Leadership Institute – capstone leadership experience for upperclassmen focused on leading change and career preparation

Regional Leadership Academies – one-day chapter officer training held regionally

Foundation

BUILDING

22% general &administrative

20% riskmanagement& insurance

1940s

19%education

19% chapter& colony services

1950s

1960s

1970s

1980s

1990s

2000s

16%

15%

30%

28%

3% 1%

7%

Just Who IS the 1899 Society?

17F A L L 2 0 0 9

Brotherhood Retreats – teaching our newest members about brotherhood

The Summit – recruitment training for Presidents andRecruitment Chairmen

UIFI – North American Interfraternity Conference Greek leadership institute

Chapter Grants Funded by the Delta Sigma PhiFoundation:Individual ScholarshipsHousing ScholarshipsImprovements to educational areas of the chapter houseLeadership programs

Since the start of the campaign:

• Undergraduate participation in leadership training has increased by 167% since the start of the Building Better Men Campaign and reached nearly 1300 undergraduate men this past year.

• Fraternity educational programming received 7.5% more Foundation funding last year while total funding support to the Fraternity, its chapters and undergraduate members increased by 13% during the 2008-09 academic year.

• Membership is up – with the expectation to serve 4,500 undergraduate Delta Sigs this semester.

These four goals have become signposts of progress relatedto Delta Sigma Phi’s Vision 2025 – the Fraternity’s long-termstrategic plan for Becoming America’s Leading Fraternity.Every brother plays an integral role in Delta Sigma Phi’sVision 2025. We truly are building better men, and ouralumni are responding with a vote of confidence in ourefforts and a desire to be part of this exciting new era ofDelta Sigma Phi.

Planned Giving Update

The Building Better Men campaign goals were establishedwith the intention to secure cash gifts for today and plannedgifts that would serve Delta Sigma Phi long into the future.The campaign generated $4.57 million in cash and pledgesthrough the annual fund, gifts to the 1899 Society and majorgifts. The Foundation’s planned giving activities exceededthe campaign’s initial goal, with $8.68 million in matured orestate planned gifts.

The first significant planned gift ofthe campaign was from GrandCouncil member Bruce Loewenberg,Missouri ’58, who helped kick off thepublic campaign announcement inJanuary 2007 with a $2 millionbequest—the largest, at the time, inFoundation history. Loewenberg’s gift

is designated for the Beta Beta 21st Century Fund, held bythe Delta Sigma Phi Foundation, and intended to be used forfuture housing opportunities and scholarships for members ofBeta Beta Chapter at the University of Missouri.

Mid-way through 2007, theFoundation was notified of yet anotherplanned gift from the estate of HenselMcKee, Washington ’30, and his wifeJeanette, who are now both deceased.The McKees both named the DeltaSigma Phi Foundation in their wills.He was an annual contributor to theFoundation for at least 22 years,worked as an adjudicator for the U.S.government and served in the U.S.Coast Guard. When Hensel passedaway in 1991, his assets reverted tohis wife’s estate; and after her passingin 2006, the Foundation receivedword of the bequests. The gift of

$4,327,000 is the largest planned gift in Foundation history,and is designated to be used for academic scholarships, thefirst of which were awarded this fall.

Although the Foundation was unaware of the McKees’bequest during their lifetimes, their generosity will be transfor-mational for Delta Sigma Phi. In conjunction with the annu-al gifts, major gifts and other planned gifts from our livingbrothers who still have the opportunity to witness the effectof their contributions, the McKee gift will play a significantrole in bettering the Fraternity and Building Better Men.

Supporting today’s initiatives,Providing for tomorrow’s needs,Investing in the future.

That’s Brotherhood.


First McKee Scholarships Awarded in 2009

The McKee Scholarships are provided through the generosity of Hensel and Jeanette McKee to further theirdesire to assist young men in pursing undergraduate and post graduate studies. Brother McKee was initiated into the Alpha Omega chapter at the University of Washington in 1930.

For the 2009-2010 academic year, the Foundation decided to award up to $5,000 per individual scholarship,available to eligible brothers pursuing undergraduate andgraduate degrees (and holding a minimum grade point average of 3.0 on a 4.0 scale).

More than seventy (70) young men applied for the scholarships, forty three (43) of whom were undergraduatesand twenty seven (27) were graduate students. Eight recipients were selected and formally announced at theConvention’s Closing Banquet on July 25, 2009.

Undergraduate Students

Joshua Schwartz, a senior at Transylvania University, carries a 3.8 GPA. Schwartz has served on numerouscommittees, including the Transylvania University StudentGovernment Association, the Interfraternal Council, andas a student representative on the faculty committee onProgram and Curriculum. He is currently preparing a manu-script for publication in the Journal of Chemical Education.Joshua was awarded a $3,000 McKee Scholarship.

Donnie Hampton, a junior at Kansas State University,carries a 4.0 GPA. Hampton has served on several councils andcommittees including the Diversity Programming Committee,the Union Program Council, and the Chimes Junior ServiceHonorary on which he served as president. He assisted hischapter in establishing two philanthropic events that raisedmore than $2,000 collectively. Donnie was awarded a $2,000McKee Scholarship.

Hunter Talcott, a senior at Stetson University, carries a 3.8GPA. He has received numerous awards including the 2009Management Major of the Year and Management’s MostValuable Student. Talcott is a member of the NationalHonor Society, and serves as President of the Alpha ChiChapter at Stetson University. He was awarded a $2,000McKee Scholarship.

Danual Laan, a junior at the University of Alabama-Birmingham, carries a 3.9 GPA. Laan currently serves onthe Inquiro Editorial Board and was selected to serve on thePearson Student Advisory Board. He is a member of manyhonor societies including University Honors Program andAlpha Epsilon Delta. Laan was awarded a $3,000 McKeeScholarship.

Weston Fillman, a junior at Franklin and MarshallCollege, carries a 3.4 GPA. One of the founding members ofFranklin and Marshall’s student government, Fillman servedas Secretary of the Executive Board. He has earned academicawards, including the Presidential Scholar and the DanaScholar. He has also been selected for membership in theJohn Marshall Pre-Law Honor Society. Fillman was awardeda $2,000 McKee Scholarship.

Foundation

19F A L L 2 0 0 9

Graduate Students

M. Anthony Zanni, Jr., a first-year student at theUniversity of Louisville’s School of Medicine, carries a 3.8GPA. Zanni serves as president of the Omicron Delta Kappasociety and has served as vice president of finance for the PhiDelta Epsilon Society. He also served as a co-coordinator onthe TransyLEAD program. Zannie was awarded a $2,500McKee Scholarship.

Jacob Wester, a first-year student at Oregon Health andScience University, carries a 4.0 GPA. He has receivedawards and recognition for his academic accomplishments,including the Waldo-Cummings Outstanding SeniorStudent, the Drucilla Shepard Smith Award, and the

AmeriCorps Service Achievement for 900+ hours of servicewith the Boys and Girls Club of Albany. Wester was the firstelected President and founding father of Beta EpsilonColony at Oregon State University. He was awarded a$3,000 McKee Scholarship.

Tyler Williams, a second-year student at CornellUniversity pursuing a dual degree, carries 4.07 GPA. Heis a member of Order of Omega, Golden Key InternationalHonorary Society, and the Beta Gamma Sigma HonorarySociety and received the honor of being selected as aPresidential Scholar. Williams is a founding member of theTheta Chi Chapter at the University of Georgia where heserved as seargent at arms and president. He was awarded a$2,500 McKee Scholarship.

Congratulations to these worthy recipients. The 2010-2011 McKee Scholarship application will be available on the Fraternity’s web site in spring 2010.

21F A L L 2 0 0 9

YOUR MTO ACCOMPLISH YOUR MISSION, YOU, OUR DELTA SIG AGENTS, ARE BEING ASKED TO COMPLETE FIVE MINI-MISSIONS THAT WILL

HELP THE ORGANIZATION ACCOMPLISH ITS GOALS.

should you choose to accept it – help

Mini-Mission #1 – Live the Ritual and Set the Example

As alumni and undergraduates, it’s important for all Delta Sigs to livethe Ritual on a daily basis. Our Ritualis an embodiment of what we are as a Fraternity, and the best way to showthe world what we are as an organiza-tion is by embodying the Ritual ineverything we do, everyday.

The best piece of advice that newnational president Chris Edmondsreceived was to live the Ritual.According to Edmonds, “It (the Ritual)will never let you down! If you live it, it will give you far more back thanyou can ever give it. I believe this mustbe why our brilliant founding fathersdefined Paying the Debt the way theydid. Add the Pearl of Great Price toPaying the Debt and the result is agreat life!”

One of the very easy aspects of living the Ritual is being balanced.The Ritual talks a great deal about

balance, thus the equilateral trianglein our mystic symbol and on our badgeof membership. By being balanced inyour life, you are able to set a greatexample for not only your friends andfamily, but also the younger brotherswho are looking up to you.

As alumni specifically, setting the tone and the example for today’sundergraduates is extremely impor-tant. If undergraduates see you comingback to the chapter house and hazingthe new members, that’s exactly whatthey’re going to do. If they think it’sok to be disrespectful to others, theywill do the same thing.

As alumni, you have a greatresponsibility to understand how your actions shape the experiencesand lives of the young men who arecurrent undergraduates. Setting anexample about how to act and how to become successful is extremelyimportant for Delta Sigma Phi to continue to build better men.

If you live the Ritual and set a good example for today’s undergrad-uates, congratulations. You haveaccomplished mini-mission #1. Please move on to mini-mission #2 – becoming educated about today’sDelta Sigma Phi.

Mini-Mission #2 – Become Educated aboutToday’s Delta Sigma Phi

Today’s Delta Sigma Phi is very different from twenty, ten, or even five years ago. Twenty years ago, riskmanagement was in the early stages of discussion, and the LeadershipInstitute, which has since graduatedover 800 brothers, hadn’t even beenthought about. Ten years ago, therewas a great deal of talk about theimpending alcohol-free housing initiative, which really has become a less and less divisive issue since itsinception in the early 2000s. Fiveyears ago, the organization had just


23F A L L 2 0 0 9

reinstated its regional educationevents, now called the RegionalLeadership Academies, which havebecome an integral part in educatingour members.

Overall, the organization andtoday’s undergraduate members are different. The experience of today’sundergraduates is shaped by the use of technology, developing relationshipsvirtually that grow into personal rela-tionships, almost excessive informationsharing, and a need for knowledge andsupport right here, right now.

The Fraternity has ventured intothe social media world to help ouryounger undergraduates get what theyneed in a timely manner. Delta Sig hasintroduced an online education seriesfor chapter and alumni leaders, whichis helping undergraduate membersbecome more educated about theirchapters and positions virtually.Information is being shared on theFraternity’s web site often, and continuedefforts are being made to help ourundergraduate members and youngalumni as they are preparing for lifeafter graduation.

Today, young Delta Sigs and the Fraternity as a whole, are more concerned with high scholasticachievement, recruitment perform-

ance, and becoming campus & community leaders. In fact, theFraternity-wide GPA is above 2.8, and our recruitment numbers continue to rise even with a difficulteconomic climate and rising costs of college for our members.

Our new Grand Council is focusedon excellence and becomingAmerica’s Leading Fraternity, whilealso re-engaging alumni to supportour mission. It’s a great time to be aDelta Sig, and even though today’sFraternity may not be exactly like it was when you joined, you havevaluable experience and expertisethat you can share to help us get towhere we need to be, and to help usmeet our overall mission of buildingbetter men.

You now know more about today’s Delta Sigma Phi. You can also check out the web site to learnmore at www.deltasig.org. Move on to mini-mission #3 to gain a betterunderstanding of where theFraternity is going in the future.

MISSION Delta Sigma Phi BUILD BETTER MEN.

Mini-Mission #3 –Understand Where DeltaSigma Phi is Going in theFuture

In 2005, the Fraternity, under the leadership of national president,Mike Hoffman, undertook an aggres-sive strategic planning process, whichspearheaded by then vice presidentChris Edmonds. This process led to adocument being produced that includ-ed all of its findings. To help us meetour mission of building better men, it’svitally important for you, our agents, tohave an understanding of theFraternity’s future goals.

Within the strategic plan werethree overarching initiatives to guidethe plan – building strong leaders,building stronger chapters, and beingthe strongest fraternity. Each of theseincluded metrics to be accomplishedin two phases: Phase I by 2007 andPhase II by 2010. All of the metricsthat were due in Phase I were completed successfully, and many ofthose that are coming due in Phase IIare moving forward toward comple-tion. All of the information on eachinitiative and metric can be foundonline at www.deltasig.org/ourstrategy.

In addition to these short-term initiatives and metrics, the committeedeveloped long-term goals called,“Vision 2025: What Delta Sigma PhiFraternity will Become.” These sevenlong-term goals are important tounderstand, as everything that theFraternity is doing today and in thecoming years will help us achievethem. While they are audacious goalsaimed at making Delta Sig America’sLeading Fraternity, with the rightefforts and support from brothers, theyare achievable. They are:

• Have 200 active chapters andcolonies (as of September 1,2009, Delta Sigma Phi has justover 100)

• Have 10,000 active undergraduatemembers (as of September 1,2009, Delta Sigma Phi hasapproximately 4,500)

• Have 2,500 trained and engagedalumni volunteers (as of September1, 2009, Delta Sigma Phi has justover 750)

• Be #1 amongst North AmericanInterfraternity Conference (NIC)fraternities in terms of undergrad-uates receiving leadership training(in 2008-09, the Fraternity had over 1,000 undergraduatesreceiving fraternity-sponsoredleadership training)

• Be amongst the Top 5 in theNIC in terms of chapter academ-ic excellence (in the most recentstatistics released, Delta SigmaPhi was in the top 15)

• Be amongst the Top 5 in theNIC in terms of average chaptersize (in the most recent statisticsreleased, Delta Sigma Phi was inthe top 10)

• Be the largest service organizer,providing 250,000 hours annuallyto The American Red Cross

With all of these audacious goals,the Fraternity needs your help!Actually, Delta Sig needs your help, aswell as the help of many other alumni,to accomplish our overall mission andto meet our Vision 2025 metrics.

You understand where theFraternity is going in the future,checking off mini-mission #3. Now it’s time to accomplish mini-mission#4 – stepping up and going All In for Delta Sig to help us meet our overall mission.

Mini-Mission #4 – Step Up and Go All In forDelta Sigma Phi

Now that you have accomplishedthe first three mini-missions, you havegone most of the way to helping theFraternity accomplish its overall mission of building better men. So,why stop now? Now is the time to stepup and get involved to help steer theorganization in the right direction,and to help lead Delta Sigma Phi tobecome America’s Leading Fraternity.


25F A L L 2 0 0 9

You may be asking yourself “howcan I make a difference?” or saying“but I don’t have the time to devoteto this right now…” The fact is thatthere are many ways to help theFraternity with its mission, and thefirst is identifying yourself as someonewho WANTS to help.

Once that happens, you can beplaced into a role that best fits withinyour determined amount of availabletime. There are ways to becomeinvolved that take very little time,and ways that take up more time andrequire more of a commitment.

The best way to show you’re inter-ested in helping the Fraternity meetour overall mission is to show yoursupport of the Fraternity’s All In forDelta Sig movement, a campaign thatwas launched in late August to engagemembers and non-members in what isgoing on with the Fraternity.

By checking out the web site atwww.deltasig.org/allin, you will be ableto decide in which of the three areasyou can best contribute to meetingour overall mission – DevelopingStronger Leaders, Building StrongerChapters, or Building America’sLeading Fraternity.

Each of the three areas show examples of ways alumni can becomeinvolved in helping the organization –some of which are long-term andsome of which are shorter term.

Going All In is an important step in helping the Fraternity identifyalumni who are willing to step up andassist, and by showing your willingnessto do so, you will be assisting theFraternity tremendously as we look to identify the next wave of volunteerleaders of the Fraternity. The first stepis showing your willingness to beinvolved by signing up to go All In.We hope you’ll do so, and then finish

up your mini-missions by helping theFraternity identify others who wouldbe interested in helping us move forward – our final mini-mission.

Mini-Mission #5 – Re-Engage Another Delta Sigto Accomplish Our Mission

As each of us was joining DeltaSigma Phi, we learned about Payingthe Debt. One part of Paying the Debtwas bringing in a man better thanyourself to Delta Sigma Phi. In somecases, this happened when you werean undergraduate – you helped recruitbrothers into your chapter whobecame leaders, moved the Fraternityforward, and were quality brothers.

If that wasn’t your experiencewhen you were an undergraduate, nowis your chance to bring a man betterthan yourself back into the fold!

As we think about Building BetterMen, Delta Sigma Phi needs a widevariety of brothers who are willing tostep up and push our mission forward.Without this large group of vocal andcommitted alumni leaders, BuildingBetter Men will just be something wesay we do, as opposed to something weactually do.

We need the help of all of our brothers who understand theimportance the Fraternity has had in their lives, and who are committedto ensuring that tomorrow’s brothershave the same experiences they did. And we need you, who havealready decided to step up and go All In, to help your fellow brothers see the importance of re-engaging in the Fraternity.

Delta Sigma Phi is not a four yearexperience that takes place from ages18-22. It is a commitment for life thateach and every brother pledged to

when we joined the Fraternity duringour undergraduate years. But it’s likelynot something that we think about asoften as we should.

In addition, in our personal liveswe often don’t just decide that wewant to get involved in yet anotheractivity unless someone we know andtrust asks us.

So, the question is, can you identifya brother or two that you can ask tojoin you in going All In for Delta Sig?Do you think you can help us identifysome of the brothers who will help uscontinue our push toward becomingAmerica’s Leading Fraternity? If youare able to engage some additionalbrothers to join us in meeting our mission of Building Better Men, youhave successfully completed mini-mis-sion #5, helping us move ever closerto accomplishing our overall mission.

Delta Sigma Phi is an importantorganization, steeped in developingleaders in our local communities andin our nation. Our mission of BuildingBetter Men is not just a phrase. It issomething that we strive to do every-day, and only with the commitment ofyou, Delta Sig’s league of agents acrossthe country, can we accomplish this all too important mission that will help shape the future of the world.Will you help the Fraternity meet itsmission? The future of the Fraternitydepends on it.

This message and our mission will(NOT) self destruct, it will actuallybe more important and dynamic, infive, four, three, two, one…

ColorTyme is celebrating its 30th year in 2009, and is one of the oldest companies in the rent-to-own (RTO) industry.With over 200 franchised stores in 33 states across the US,located in towns large and small, urban and rural, it has awide reach providing customers with items from refrigeratorsto car rims. It’s an interesting business – one that Bloom isexcited that he is a part of.

However, before he could get to ColorTyme to lead itsday-to-day operations, he had an interesting journey thatstarted by him working his way up the ladder at PonderosaSteakhouse. Immediately after graduating from college,Bloom took a position with the company in its infancy, and spent the first 17 years of his career helping it become a large company.

“When I started, there were three stores in New YorkState. When I left, I was managing over 100 stores and probably 35 of them were in New York State,” he said.

He started as an assistant manager, working his way upthrough the company, and 17 years later, he left as aRegional Vice President, responsible for the restaurants inseveral states. However, it was a position earlier in his careerthat really was a big break for him – that showed him how amajor corporation worked from the inside.

He spent five years serving as the manager of concept andproduct development, a position in which he led the teamthat tested and introduced new products. In that positionBloom was involved with every department. From market-ing, to market research, to food technology, to financing andfranchising, Bloom got a tremendous sneak peek into how acorporation works. And that franchising experience woulddo well for him when it came time to work for ColorTyme.


Business & Finance

RISETO THE TOPBOB BLOOM, HARTWICK ’73

Leading a company is not an easy thing. Leading one of the oldest companies in a particular

industry puts even more on someone’s shoulders. For Bob Bloom, Hartwick ’73, the opportunity

to lead an established company and help it grow were important aspects of him taking the

President and CEO job with ColorTyme, Inc. five years ago.

THE STORY OF A DELTA SIG CEO’S

After his 17th year with the company, it was acquired, andhe was ready for new challenges. So, he began networking. He talked to former colleagues, former acquaintances, andpeople who he had met in different phases of his career.

Through his networking, and after three months of being offwork, he had four job offers on the same day. Three were in therestaurant industry and the fourth was with the rent-to-owngiant Rent-a-Center (RAC). He had made contact with aformer marketing director during his networking who wasat RAC at the time, and saw a tremendous opportunity forgrowth with the company. So, he accepted their offer toserve as a market manager trainee leading six stores.

It turns out Bloom was right about the opportunities forgrowth with the company. After six months, he was leading75 stores, and after 18 months, he was a corporate vice president of operations support. He said, “It was the rightplace, at the right time, with the right skill set.”

After three years in the operations support role, Bloomwas given the opportunity to start a new business withinRAC – the Rent to Rent business. After a few years puttinga team in place and making it successful, Bloom moved onto head a division of the company called Rural Stores, whichgrew from 50 to over 300 stores under his leadership.

After what he called a fun experience, once again, thecompany where he worked was acquired, leading Bloomback to networking. This led him to go back to PonderosaSteakhouse as the vice president for franchise operations, aposition in which he led 400 franchise stores. However, hefound that he wasn’t growing personally or professionallywithin that position, and felt that the company wasn’t progressing where it needed to. Now, five years later, it’s in bankruptcy, so Bloom was right yet again.

He then spent four years as the senior vice president of operations at EZ Corp., the second largest operator ofpawn shops in the US. During his time there, he was part of a team that consolidated operations, improved the storeeconomics and entered the payday loan segment. Profitswent from significant losses to profitability and the stockprice quadrupled. Not a bad four years.

The last stop on his journey was when in 2004, hebecame President and CEO of ColorTyme, a subsidiary company of RAC. When RAC was bought by Renter’sChoice five years earlier, they also brought their franchisearm, ColorTyme, with them.

Bloom was brought on board to lead ColorTyme’s opera-tions, which he had gotten quite good at during his otherstops along his journey. While a subsidiary company of RAC,ColorTyme is a large company in its own right. It is the thirdlargest RTO company in the United States. It would be even

bigger than its current 200 stores, but RAC has bought 130of ColorTyme’s stores over the last five years.

Due to it being 100% franchise owned, ColorTyme is in aunique position to foster and reward innovation, and Bloomencourages that regularly. Franchisees have developed ideasfor the stores to include financial services operations, andeven custom rims and wheels.

“We got into the rim business when a longtimeColorTyme franchisee, Jim Moore, called me and said thatthere was a new business model out there that used the samecore competencies that we have at ColorTyme, and thathe’d like to do it. We helped fund his new effort 3 ½ yearsago, and today there are 24 RimTyme stores, 14 franchisedand 10 company-owned,” Bloom said.

The rent-to-own business is a unique one, especially with a 100% franchise-owned company. Bloom is responsiblefor ensuring that all of the franchisees are on board with thecompany’s efforts, and that they are representing the companywell. It comes down to trusting franchisees, developing relationships with them, developing credibility that youknow what you’re doing, and listening to them. Franchisingalso requires much stronger communication among the corporate office staff and the franchisees according to Bloom.

Regularly, he is the keynote speaker at state level conferences on rent-to-own, and spends two-three weeks per year doing work with the International FranchisingAssociation. He works with his boss, the president of RAC,as well as his staff on developing long-term goals for thecompany, talks with legislators about RTO legislation, andworks hard to foster an environment where best practices are identified and easily implemented.

According to Bloom, what’s hot right now in the world isalso hot for the company and his franchisees in terms of bestpractices. The use of social networking sites, as well asCraigslist, have been extremely important to the company’s

27F A L L 2 0 0 9

franchisees, and are great places for them to sell used merchandise that is returned to the store. They’re also greatplaces to find good employees. The company is also planningto incorporate webinars to help train their many franchiseesall over the country at once.

In addition, to help foster that innovation and the bestpractices, the company holds two events each year. The firstis an event in Dallas in January where store managers,regional directors, and owners attend and where a lot of thecompany’s recognition, training, and a vendor tradeshowtake place for them to potentially expand their offerings intheir stores. In the summer, the company goes to a resortwith mostly owners and their families to provide an industry update, information from RAC, andsome additional sharing of best practices.

So what’s next for the company? There are a number of new avenues that the company is embarking upon. One of the hotter new items for ColorTyme has been flat screentelevisions, according to Bloom, but the question continuescoming back to how the company can communicate thecompany’s value proposition so more people fall into thatproposition. There are currently 3 million RTO customers,but a lot more people fall into the demographics that don’tuse RTO, so it’s a matter of figuring out how to get them to do business with ColorTyme. That will be the next big thing.

With all of the turmoil that has been going on this year, and the fact that people are losing patience with debt and credit cards, Bloom and ColorTyme might just get their wish.

Bob Bloom is a 1971 initiate of the Fraternity’s Beta RhoChapter at Hartwick College. He is a native of Cambridge,New York, and currently resides in a Dallas suburb withhis wife of 33 years. He has two adult daughters – Ginnywho is a manager for Nickelodeon and Kelly who is a manager at the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum.


Business & Finance

About Rent-to-Own

• Gives customers access to brand name

merchandise, typically furniture, appliances,

televisions and other electronics, without

them worrying about going into debt.

• Customers make weekly, bi-weekly or monthly

payments and they have the option to own

the merchandise after as little as 12 months

• There are cash sales and early purchase

options that allow customers not to use

a credit card and go into debt.

• Ability to return your merchandise with

no penalties at any time.

• Statistics according to RTOhq.org:

– The industry as a whole is a $6.3

billion industry

– 52% of customers are home owners,

48% are renters

– Largest age demographic is the 35-44

range, with 34% of customers being in

this age range

– 69% of customers are Caucasian, 22%

are African American, 6% are Hispanic

– 60% are high school graduates, another

24% have completed some college, and

only 8% are college graduates

– 63% of customers are females, 37%

are males

29

DEAN HALLET, USC ’77KEITH FELDMAN, STETSON ’81

F A L L 2 0 0 9

Dean Hallett (left) and Keith Feldman (right) work together to make Fox one of the top entertainment companies in the world.

OPPOSITES COME TOGETHER

TO LEAD AT FOX

One is from southern California. The other is from southFlorida.

One attended a large public university. The other attended asmall private university.

One was more involved on campus. The other was heavilyinvolved as an undergraduate in the Fraternity.

One has an accounting background. The other has a salesand advertising background.

One has two grown children ages 18 and 20. The other hastwo young children ages one and four.

One racks up his miles commuting in a Toyota Prius fromOrange County to Beverly Hills each day (which probablyseems as long as an international flight). The other has millionsof airline miles due to his many annual international trips.

On the surface, these two Delta Sigs couldn’t be more differ-ent. However, they have a lot of things in common as well,including their interest in getting the movies and televisionshows produced by Fox Filmed Entertainment into the hands of as many consumers as possible.

Dean Hallett, USC ’77, the first in our examples above,serves as the Executive Vice President of Operations andStrategy, as well as the Chief Financial Officer of Fox FilmedEntertainment, and Keith Feldman, Stetson ’81, our secondabove, serves as the Executive Vice President, International, ofthe Home Entertainment Division of 20th Century Fox.

ABOUT THE BROTHERSEven with varying backgrounds, one thing they have in com-mon is that neither planned to go into entertainment whenthey were thinking about their career trajectories.

For Hallett, a native of southern California whose fatheralso attended the University of Southern California, he beganhis career in public accounting for Ernst & Whinney, a Big 8firm at the time. After a nearly eight years, he moved on toserve in corporate finance and accounting for a division of oneof his public accounting clients. A few years later, he had anopportunity to interview at The Walt Disney Company, wherehe worked for eleven years eventually becoming the CFO forthe Walt Disney Studios. In his current role with Fox FilmedEntertainment, he oversees all of the financial and accountingareas, the IT department, and all of the studio and post-pro-duction facilities. He also works closely with the business unitsto help drive their strategy and results.

Hallett arrived at Fox as the CFO only, but in his first cou-ple of years took on an operational focus. In his interactions,he noticed that the Fox infrastructure needed to evolve morerapidly to keep up with changes in technology used to deliverfilms and TV programming. His role as Executive VicePresident of Operations and Strategy was established to fillthat gap and manage the infrastructure that would support thecompany’s growth.

“An example of this is the digital cinema initiative, whichcompletely changes the way we distribute theatrical products,”he said. “You have the engineers, the IT department, thedistribution sales organization, and the finance team, andeverybody has a perspective and point of view based on theirdiffering agendas. “I watched for six months as the conflictingagendas prevented the group from developing an effectivestrategy to move the technology into the marketplace, andrealized someone had to bring the group together.”

Hallett serves mostly as a facilitator, ensuring that thesmartest, best people are in the room to develop the strategywith his guidance, and bringing the group together to supportand execute the strategy. One of the smart people he gets inthe room is Keith Feldman.

Feldman has a different role, and a different backgroundleading up to his time at Fox. Originally born in upstate NewYork, Feldman’s family relocated to south Florida before heattended Stetson University. He graduated and went on tobegin a career in sales and marketing in the wine business,which took him overseas early in his career.

He lived and worked all over the world, including inLondon and Frankfurt during his time with E&J Gallo.Then, he was approached by an executive recruiter for anopportunity to move to Fox, an opportunity that allowed himto leverage the experience he had already gotten working inconsumer products for the wine company. He came on boardin a European-based position, and decided to make the move,which 14 years later seems like a good one. He said, “I’m soglad I decided to come to the entertainment business, becausemost of the time it doesn’t seem like work.”

In his current position, Feldman’s objective is to getfilms and television programs the company produces intothe homes of as many consumers as he can. He leads thecompany’s 15 operating companies outside of North Americain Europe, Asia and Latin America, who serve as partnersin bringing the content to their marketplaces. He travelsapproximately 12-16 times per year internationally, manytimes to places he once lived in previous positions withinthe company – London, Amsterdam, Brussels, and Paris.

“I spend a lot of time on planes out in the marketplacetrying to understand the challenges the operating companiesare facing,” he said. “I also spend that time trying to under-stand how changes in technology, the regulation around theworld, consumer behavior, and the retail landscape areaffecting the company.”

THE COMPANY AND THE MOVIE BUSINESSFox is a huge company, which is evidenced by the large num-ber of different production arms within it. You’ve likely heardabout 20th Century Fox and Fox Searchlight, but what aboutFox 2000 and Blue Sky Studios? These are all under the over-arching Fox Filmed Entertainment umbrella. In addition to all


Business & Finance

of these production studios, there are also different distributionchannels, including home entertainment, theatrical, andonline. Feldman’s position is based in the home entertainmentarea, currently generating the greatest revenue for the studio.

As you likely know, the movie business and entertainmentas a whole are undergoing a lot of changes. The rise in tech-nological advances is spurring a great deal of change in howmovies are developed, and how content is delivered across thecountry and the world.

At Fox, Hallett and his team have been developing aninfrastructure in which the content that is being developedby the company can easily be distributed across a number ofplatforms soon after it is developed.

This distribution infrastructure is the industry-leadingsolution for the Hollywood studios, allowing the company tomove marketing materials virtually cost free around the world,and to distribute the company’s shows and movies digitally totelevision and digital platforms without costing the companymoney to duplicate and ship tapes. These changes will savethe company millions, and will make your experience as anend user more enjoyable by giving you the ability to watchyour favorite Fox television shows and movies where you wantto watch them.

Hallett and Feldman both enjoy the company’s family-likeatmosphere, which allows them to feel comfortable workingtogether to accomplish the company’s overarching goal – tohave sustainable bottom line growth for the company. Thisgoal allows everyone to be successful, and encourages everyoneto work together, as their incentives are tied to it.

According to Hallett, “If you look at incentives, many ofour programs provide for discretionary awards, but we knowthat as the company’s performance improves, the incentiveswill improve as well. If we’re all playing the game together,we’re all going to participate in the rewards and benefits,even if one division must sacrifice for the benefit of another.We all feel like we’re working toward the same goal.”

For Feldman, looking at the company’s efforts with aninternational lens, Fox continues to grow internationally interms of its distribution reach. He has been able to championthe significant expansion of the company’s operations interna-tionally, including the establishment of operations in Brazil,Russia, and Switzerland.

He has been able to gain the support of the top level exec-utives of the company, like Hallett and the two chairmen, toexpand the company’s distribution infrastructure around theworld. With the way the world is become flatter and moreinterconnected these days, these expansions will significantlyhelp the company’s bottom line, that is, once the currentrecession turns around.

As for the company’s performance during the downturn,Hallett is upbeat. “So far, as it has historically been, it’s beenrecession-resistant. The box office admissions are up both

domestically and internationally,” he said. The place wherethe company is struggling a bit is in the home entertainmentarea, Feldman’s area, as people are becoming more and moreselective about purchasing DVDs.

THE FUTURE OF ENTERTAINMENTWhile Fox is seeing a bit of a drop off in home entertainmentsales during the downturn, it is quick to mention that thisisn’t necessarily a reason to draw conclusions that the wholemodel of entertainment is shifting. According to Hallett, it’smuch too early to make that determination, as the homeentertainment area’s slowdown is not any more significantthan any other segments of business, such as clothing, duringthis economic crisis.

At the same time, one has to wonder whether theemergence of easily accessible movies online will make adent in the DVD sales moving forward. Hallett sees DVDssticking around for a long time, at least until there is a muchmore efficient way to move movies, and until broadbandspeeds are higher for consumers. In addition, there is thevisceral feel of a DVD itself that today’s generations may notmove away from quickly.

However, that doesn’t mean that Fox isn’t looking atalternative ways to sell and move its content. The companyis dipping its toes into all of the different business models toensure that it’s ready once one of them sticks. “We’re tryingvideo on demand, subscription, and ad supported streaming,and we try to steer solutions in directions that are more mean-ingful to us while also satisfying the consumer,” Hallett said.

Technology may make consuming the movie easier forconsumers, but it’s making it more difficult for the company tomarket the movies. Feldman said that the marketing challengewas much simpler when there were fewer ways to consume themovie back when he and Hallett entered the entertainmentbusiness. You would let people know it’s available, and theywould see it in the theater or get the VHS tape.

Now with the additional ways to consume movies, themarketing challenge has increased for the company, forcingthem to tickle everyone’s buying bone so to speak. One personmay want the movie to be portable, while another may wantit to be picture perfect on a large home-theater screen. “Weused to just market a movie. Now, we’re trying to market themovie and the benefit of a certain delivery mechanism,”Feldman said.

As you can see, Fox seems to be pushing the right buttonswhen it comes to preparing for the future of the entertainmentbusiness.

The company also seems to have made the right choice interms of who it hired to lead it – two Delta Sigs who whileseemingly opposites on paper, are amazingly down to Earthcorporate executives helping to take the company to newheights. At least they have that in common!

31F A L L 2 0 0 9


Health & Fitness

Meeting the Medical Needs in Third World Countries

By Matt Yarnell, Western Illinois ’02

Sometimes it is difficult to take the time to care for everypatient the way we would like. Sometimes we are forced tocut conversations short or hurry through an explanation.Working in the Emergency Department at a public hospitalhas taught me a number of things, of course about health-care, but also about myself and about the people we serve.I have found that through this work I have seen the goodthat people have, as well as the harsh reality that is life. It isunfortunate that we have to refer to patients simply by their

room number or main illness, but with the enormous taskthat is presented to us on a daily basis, we often forget thatwe are there for these people, and they rely on us.

In February of this year I was given the opportunity to embark on a medical mission trip to the country ofGuatemala. Guatemala is one of the poorest countries in theworld, with a nearly half of its population living on under $1 a day. Guatemala is also very well known for its largeorphan population, due to mothers being prostitutes or

EXPERIENCEA DELTA SIG’S

33F A L L 2 0 0 9

families simply not being able to afford another child. Thecountry of Guatemala has recently put a freeze on foreignadoptions due to a lack of the government getting their“proper cut.” Healthcare is a luxury for these people. Forsome, the nearest hospital is 60 miles or more from theirhome, not to mention they would need public transportationin the form of a school bus to get there.

The program, ER Abroad, is set up through friends thatlive in the country. For one week our team operated a freeclinic on the campus of a large orphanage in the mountainsoutside of Chimaltenango. For the most part, we saw vil-lagers from the area, people who lived in small homes madeof scrap metal and other discarded industrial items. Peoplewho were so grateful to see a physician and medical staffthey were brought to tears. A contrast to the overcrowdingof ERs in America, the villagers gladly waited sometimes twohours before seeing a nurse and physician. People presentedfor the most part with minor aches and pains, mostly fromyears of physical labor and farming. We preformed numerous“well-child” checks, looking for everything from lice to diabetes. This year we were fortunate enough to have a dentist from Texas join us with his team. This group cleanedteeth and even did a few extractions.

However, not everyone presented with the normal achesand pains. On our first day, a woman walked nearly twomiles, one of them uphill, to bring in her two children. Shewanted a “well-child” check done. After it was determinedthe children were as healthy as they should be, their mothermentioned that she believes that morning her water broke.After a quick exam it was determined that she would bedelivering her baby in the clinic that afternoon. After gathering the proper equipment, mainly a clean towel towrap the newborn in and an umbilical clamp that just happened to be at the clinic, we were ready, we hoped. After nearly an hour of letting nature work its course, Mom was ready to deliver, with a little pushing and encour-agement, baby Marco was born. He was of healthy weightand size, with all ten fingers and ten toes. The excitementwas contagious that day and we were all very proud of Momand ourselves. We recently received an e-mail from the clinicwith an update on Marco; he is doing great and growing.

We continued seeing people in the clinic and one daywent to Guatemala City to visit an orphanage and do “well-child” checks. A woman known as Mama Carmenruns the orphanage. Everyday she feeds, bathes, and gets herchildren off to school. She does not receive governmentfunding or grants, she simply operates from donations andcharitable gifts from the community and mission groups.Mama Carmen also feeds the homeless in her neighborhood.

The trip was very humbling in the sense that the peoplethat we served were so grateful for their care. In the highpaced world of emergency medicine, where we deal with

acute illness and severe pain, it is not uncommon forpatients to become short with staff or families to get emotional. In Guatemala, where it is not common practiceto see a physician and get medical care, being treated for abackache was a blessing. With the hustle that has becomeAmerica’s hospitals, bedside manner and one-on-one patientcare is quickly and sadly becoming a thing of the past.Where a nurse may take care of thirty patients during a shiftin the ER, we were allowed to see each person or familyindividually and take the time to explain their medicationsor better body mechanics.

If I can pass on one thing to the Brothers of Delta SigmaPhi, I would remind them to remember that during ourundergraduate years we served ourselves, our brothers, ourschool, and our community. In these uncertain times, weshould look at ways we can improve not only ourselves butalso those around us. A charitable contribution does notnecessarily have to be financial. Donating time or manpoweris sometimes just as valuable, if not more, than a check.

Matt Yarnell with one of the orphans he treated while inGuatemala.


Health & Fitness

AN EXCERPT FROM

David Lindemann, Eastern Michigan ’61

HAPPINESS IN

steps88

35F A L L 2 0 0 9

Author, speaker, consultant and coach David Lindemann,Eastern Michigan ’61, published a book called Happiness in 8 Steps (read more about it in the Books by Brothers section on page 50), in which he provides his eight steps to happiness.It’s a quick and interesting read, and since happiness is reallyan important part of one’s overall health, we thought thatreprinting one of the sections called “thank you” made sensehere in the Health & Fitness section of the magazine.

See below for Chapter 2 from Lindemann’s book, whichgives a story as an example of the importance of saying thankyou to make you and others happy. The other chapters of hisbook focus on such things as giving, eating healthy, keepingyour body in shape, being around people you love, makingpeople happy, and the importance of laughter.

Chapter 2 – Thank YouWhen you enter a store and you hold the door open for someone else and they say “thank you”, doesn’t that make you feel good? Well, it does for me too. “Thank you”, just two little words, but what a world of positive impact!

In reality, you can’t say “thank you” enough. Every time you say “thank you”, you are making someone feel good. Everytime you say “thank you”, you are acknowledging the otherperson, giving them respect, and reaching out to make ahuman connection.

If you want to enjoy life more, say “thank you” more often.It is really that easy! That reminds me of a story.

Eric was a very nice little boy. Even at that age, you couldsee he was something special. He liked people, and peopleliked him. As Eric grew up, he became an excellent athlete,playing sports in high school and later in college. He also was agood student. People wanted to be around Eric. However, theythought there was something a bit strange about Eric. He wasnice as he could be, handsome and strong, and was a goodfriend to many. Still, he seemed to be missing something,which no one could put their finger on.

What was that something? Well, when Eric was well into college, he ran into Ellen. They seemed to have a greatfascination for one another, and they seemed to have the same interests. They were both athletic, they were both goodstudents, and they liked to experiment. They liked to see newthings. They loved the same music. They seemed to be a great match.

Then one day Ellen said, “Eric, I know what’s wrong.”“What do you mean ‘what’s wrong’?” Eric questioned Ellen.

“It’s not that you’re nota great guy. I care aboutyou, and I really caremore about you everyday. But there’s some-thing missing. I thinkyou might know, aspleasant and nice asyou are. I’ve neverheard you say ‘thankyou’. Maybe youshould try saying‘thank you’ for therest of the daywhen something nice is done foryou. Say ‘thank you’ and observe what happens,” Ellen recommended.

Eric, being a bright guy, told Ellen he would give it a try.For the rest of the day, Eric went around saying “thank you”

when it was appropriate, and he started noticing that peoplewould smile. Eric noticed that by saying just these two words,he was making others feel good, and then Eric started to realizeit made him feel good, too. So he decided to put those twowords permanently into his vocabulary: “thank you”.

One evening, after they both had graduated from college, Eric and Ellen had a very quiet dinner. At that point, both of them had landed good jobs and were ready to move on with life.

Out of the blue, Eric asked, “Will you marry me?”Ellen looked at him, and said, “Of course, Eric.”Eric said, “Thank you.”Just think of these two words, “thank you”, and the impact

they can have on others, as well as yourself. The impact wastremendous for Eric and Ellen.

David Lindemann has had a long career in business, ending up as the Chairman and CEO of Huron MachineProducts Inc. before turning over the reins over to his son.Presently David is president of A Child Is Missing, a nationalorganization that supports law enforcement in locating missing people. David is an active member of BrowardCollege Foundation, and has a passion for helping peopleunderstand themselves and others. He has spoken on thistopic throughout the United States.


I woke up this particular morning in Springfield, Missouri aftera night’s stay at the Motel 6, you know, the people who “leavethe light on for you.” There was nothing overwhelminglyunexpected from my stay; a television with basic cable, aremote with a missing battery, and the quiet thrum of highwaytraffic. My morning routine is just that; I shave with myGillette razor, “The best a man can get”, I brush my teeth withsomething approved by 4 out of 5 dentists, and finally, I laceup my Puma sneakers – sorry, no nifty slogan here, its all aboutthe lifestyle.

Walking out the door, I realize just how much every image,brand, and slogan in my daily life represents something a littlemore tangible. As that I applies to me, I wonder what exactly

it is that the world sees when they look. I throw my bags inthe car, close the trunk, and stare directly at the Delta SigmaPhi decal that rests perfectly centered on my rear window. Asthat applies to us, I wonder what exactly it is that the worldsees when they look.

Now, I have noticed this decal on more than one occasion,and it has represented many passionate ideals over the years.The day I was initiated it was a symbol of immeasurableprowess that only deserved to be accompanied by loud musicand lowered windows. By my senior year these letters becamea mixed pantheon derived from some obscure combination of success, failure, and friendship. With each day adding onemore tally in the alumnus category, the message seems some-

Leadership & Education

We ShareBy Ry Beck, North Texas ’04

THE Actions WE SHOW, THE Image

ΔΣΦ37F A L L 2 0 0 9

what more nostalgic, and with that vagueness, somewhatmore literal in definition; simply put, the letters are that of an organization, Delta Sigma Phi.

Unlike the images of my morning routine, I am proud thatthere is something more substantial represented by this decaland organization. With this thought comes a slightly moreimportant detail; that as much as the value of our letters represent who I am, there is further emphasis on how myactions represent the value of who we are. However seeminglyirrelevant, the speed I am now driving down the constructionzone of Interstate 44, my late night Twitter post at the Motel6, and the old bid day shirt that is worn during weekly softball games, all tend to send the world a message aboutDelta Sigma Phi. I guess the point is that this relationshipbetween personal action and outward image is almost alwaysinterchangeable; and if we are in the business of being “Better Men,” then it is our responsibility to make sure our actions mirror the message.

It is difficult to identify which opinion of Delta Sigma Phiwill be derived from our behaviors. We are such an eclecticassortment of fraternity men, and have been since our found-ing, with everything we exemplify, how could one particularaction define an entire brotherhood? In all honesty, a singleaction will not tell the world about every member of DeltaSigma Phi; however, a single action could tell one person,everything they ever wanted to know.

I pull over to stop for food, check my e-mail, and catch upwith friends on Facebook. As I scroll down the list of statusupdates, I see that someone had a fun weekend, someone losttheir job, and someone else apparently didn’t care too muchfor theirs; “Big surprise, my stupid boss is makin me work lateagain… I really need to get out of this place… ANYONE HIRING?” So, apart from forgetting the “g” in making, thereare a couple things here that make me want to pick up myphone, call this guy, and ask him what exactly he is thinking.Social media is a strange thing, and while I haven’t fullywrapped my head around all its far-reaching extremities, I have figured out that I probably shouldn’t use any publicforum as a place to passive aggressively defame my boss, talkabout how I was arrested the night before, or pick a fight withmy significant other. We all have our less than memorablemoments, but the thing to know about proclaiming yourintrospection through an internet post or picture, is that these“moments” lose their past tense qualification, and will mostassuredly root themselves in a more permanent fashion.

Digressions aside, I enter the on-ramp and continue on myway. My thoughts of image and action are brought back to the forefront by a well-known remark on the back of a passingtruck, “How am I driving?”. The question is probably onlyanswered when the driver slips up and some angered motoristdecides to make amends by calling the toll-free number, but Iget the feeling that the same call isn’t made when the driverchanges lanes and allows someone to pass. The connectionhere is that while good deeds are appreciated, it is usually theone bad mistake that gets noticed.

We have chapters that have committed thousands of hoursof service to better their communities, and the reality is thatindividuals, people like you and me, woke up, dedicated time,effort, and money, to make their world a better place. Theblood we have donated will save lives. The trees we haveplanted will better our environment. And the children wehave mentored will view the world differently, all because we cared to act. These great endeavors, however, becomequickly overshadowed by the times we fail to fulfill a promise,or act without regard to others. What message are we sendingwhen we show up for class in our Delta Sig sweats, but we fall asleep ten minutes later, or when we raise $5,000 forM.A.D.D. (Mothers Against Drunk Driving), but our pro-ceeds come from the cover charge at our favorite bar? What ismost likely to get noticed here, that we made it to class, orthat we fell asleep; that we raised money for a charitableorganization, or that we spent all of Wednesday night at thebar? It’s been said many times before, but it can be a difficultconcept to embrace, this being the simple truth that we arealways wearing our letters. We cannot choose when we willact as Delta Sigs, and when we will not; and because theworld does not see a distinction between our pledged faithand our followed action, neither should we.

It is amazing how every image, brand, and slogan impactsthose who view them. Just as someone expects a certain qualityof razor from Gillette, or shoe from Puma, there is a certainexpectation in the quality of brand that is Delta Sigma Phi.We are not in the business of making products that peoplewear or use, but in the furtherance of who people are. Only by our earnest attention to the choices we make, howeverseemingly inconsequential, will the letters on our shirts, flags,banners, and cars, be synonymous with the better men thatcomprise our great fraternity.


You’re at your company picnic munching on chips and talk-ing with your co-workers when you notice the CEO of yourcompany near the grill. Two days ago, an office memo wasreleased stating that he was looking for a new project manag-er for a high profile client. You know you will be a perfect fit,but you’re not sure if the CEO even knows your name.Besides, even if you had the guts to approach him right nowyou wouldn’t know what to say.

Does this sound familiar? If it does, chances are that you’relousy at networking.

There are many misconceptions about networking. Fromthe moment you graduate from college, if you haven’t already,you will be confronted with people telling you, “It’s not whatyou know; it’s who you know.” First, it would have been niceto know this BEFORE you got up to your neck in studentloans, and second, they’ve got it all wrong. That statementshould be changed to: “It’s not who you know, it’s who knowsyou.” You can have thousands of friends on Facebook, but itmeans nothing if those people don’t keep you in the forefrontof their minds. It’s my job to make sure that when a bigopportunity comes up, the decision makers think of you first.

There are four key elements to social networking, two ofwhich most people don’t understand. These elements arehow to deal with approach anxiety and how to give value.Master these two ideas and you will have the power to masterboth your professional life as well as your social life.

Approach anxiety is that little voice in your head givingyou reasons and excuses for not striking up a conversationwith the beautiful woman you see across the room or yourCEO near the grill.

“They look busy.” “I don’t know what to say.” “I’m too shy.” “I’m just an office drone.” These are just a few of the self limiting beliefs that voice

can instill in your brain keeping your feet firmly planted onthe ground. I have news for you, if you don’t believe inyourself, how do you expect your CEO to believe in you? It’s time to look at yourself like a business. Great socialnetworkers are great at selling themselves. To gain that senseof self worth you must invest in your life just like any entre-preneur would invest in his company. Start creating smallattainable goals and follow through with them. As corny asthis might sound, doing these small tasks like reading beforebed, running for thirty minutes everyday, or learning to playthat musical instrument you’ve always wanted to play, willgive you a sense of accomplishment. One of my manymantras I repeat daily is, “Believe in your heart of heartsthat you are worthy of greatness.”

Now that you are beginning to invest in your self worthand confidence, we need to get you from point A to point B.In any social situation you should employ something I call the“Three Second Rule.” If you see somebody you would like tospeak with, you must approach him or her within three sec-onds. The longer you and that little voice debate about thepros and cons of speaking with your target, the more stress isadded to the situation. This is quite possibly the only timewhere not thinking before you act can work out in your favor.As you approach your potential new contact, be sure that youare at a slight angle. If you approach somebody with yourshoulders square to them, you are going to convey that you

Leadership & Education

BY JOE DOYLE, OREGON ’03

Four Tips to Becoming a Master Networker

NETWORKINGTHE ART OF

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have too much interest in that person. This will subconsciouslyraise their guard and give away the fact that you might be look-ing for something from them. We want our new contact to beas relaxed and comfortable with us as possible.

Now that you are standing near them, you’d better starttalking or else things are going to get awkward fast. It’s timeto give value. There is nothing worse then a leech. Thesepeople are constantly taking without giving back. The bestway to avoid being “that guy” is to resist any journalistic urgeto rattle off questions. This forces your potential contact togive the conversation value. It’s your time to shine. Here aresome tips to help you provide value to the conversation:

• Enter the conversation with equal or slightly higherenergy then the group. This way you start the interac-tion off by giving the gift of energy to the group.

• Have confidence and take charge.

• Make sure to speak to the entire group, and not singleout your potential contact.

• Don’t start the conversation off talking about work.These people spend eight to ten hours a day living andbreathing their profession. The last thing that theywant to talk about when they are off the clock is work.

• Once the ice has been broken, throw in a false timeconstraint to make your contact comfortable and notwondering when you are going to leave. “I can onlystay a second,” is my go to false time constraint.

Now that everyone is engaged and knows you aren’tgoing to follow them around, demonstrate your valuethrough stories. Rather than saying, “I know I would makea great project manager for this client,” show them by tellingstories of past projects that you helped succeed. You’ve nowestablished you are a value giver and not a value taker, sofeel free to pepper in a few of those questions you were dyingto ask. Now that you aren’t relying on them, you will findthat the answers to those questions surface through thecourse of the interaction.

The final two steps to becoming a successful at network-ing are exchanging contact information and following upwith your new contact.

Asking for someone’s contact information is easier thenyou think. “I’ve enjoyed our conversation. How can wecontinue it?” Using this exact phrasing takes the pressureof both you and your new contact by allowing your contactto decide how to stay in touch. They can decide to exchangephone numbers, business cards, or e-mails. In reality, it doesn’tmatter what contact information you get because the goal isto see them on a different occasion. An important point toremember is that when you do receive the contact informa-

tion, stick around for at least five minutes. This will insurethat your contact won’t think that the whole point of inter-acting with them was to get their contact information.

If you haven’t already set up another encounter duringyour conversation make it a point to follow up with yournew contact the next day. This will ensure that theyremember who you are and where they met you. Also,be aware that when your new contact receives your callor e-mail, they won’t be in the same mindset as when youmet them. It’s your job to get them back there. I will usuallybring up an inside joke we shared from our first meeting.Sometimes your schedule won’t match up with theirs andyou run the risk of not being able to meet right away. Notto worry. You don’t want to seem too needy. Remember thatyou are a high value person with a busy schedule as well.Reinitiate the conversation with your contact in two weeksand then again a month after that. This will keep you freshin their minds.

I’ll leave you with one last networking tip. Never hold adrink and a hors d’oeuvre plate at the same time. With bothhands full, you will not be ready to shake hands with anyone orreceive a business card. You always want to be prepared in casethat CEO happens to approach you at the company picnic.

Joe Doyle graduated in 2006 from the University ofOregon as a member of the Theta Rho chapter of DeltaSig. A year after graduating, Doyle appeared on the hitVH1 reality series “The Pickup Artist,” where he learnedthe art of social dynamics and networking. After placingthird, he went on to teach seminars across the country tomen who were looking to improve the social, romantic, andbusiness aspects of their lives. For more information aboutparticipating in a seminar or his new e-book “DateOverweight: A Big Guy’s Guide to Dating and Romance,”you can contact him at [email protected] He currentlyresides in Los Angeles, California where he continues topersue acting, and writing while working as the PublicRelations Director for the social dynamics company TheStylelife Academy (stylelife.com).

‘‘Believe in your heart

of hearts that you are

worthy of greatness.


Kids across the country grow updreaming of the chance to make it tothe big leagues of America’s Pastime.They play games in the sandlot intheir neighborhood trying to be thenext Albert Pujols or Alex Rodriguez.

When most of them watch thegames on television, they are enam-ored by the players who smack 500foot homeruns and steal bases left andright. But not Mark Neely, Missouri’84. Growing up in Ballwin, Missouri,a St. Louis suburb, Neely was moreenamored by the voice of long-timeCardinals play by play announcer JackBuck, as he wanted to become a majorleague play by play announcer.

His dreams came true earlier thisyear, when he was hired to be the leadtelevision play by play announcer forthe San Diego Padres. Although it’shis first year in the big leagues, Neelyis no rookie in broadcasting.

His interest in working as aplay by play announcer began inhigh school, when he began doinghigh school basketball play by playon a local YMCA’s 10 watt radiostation in his hometown. He wouldcall the games, and eventuallybecame the station’s manager as asenior in high school, leading himto the University of Missouri’s presti-gious journalism school.

However, he still wasn’t totally surethat he wanted to do play by play

sports work. That quickly becameclear to him however when he got toMizzou. “I thought that perhaps newswould be what I wanted to do,” hesaid. “It just took a few city councilmeetings, and I was sure that sportsreally was where I wanted to go.”

After five semesters of working oncampus at Missouri, a school that didnot offer play by play-specific curricu-lum at the time, he decided that heneeded to transfer somewhere that didoffer it. He chose Missouri’s arch rival,the University of Kansas, to continuehis academic career.

“At the time, I looked at differentschools who offered play by play, andKansas allowed me to come in and dothe men’s basketball games on the stu-dent station right away, as well as onehalf of all of the football games. It wasjust something I didn’t regret, eventhough it was tough to leave Mizzouand the house,” he said.

After graduating from Kansas,Neely began his rise to his currentposition at a small radio station inCarthage, Missouri, a town in south-western Missouri near Joplin. Thatstation was a carrier of the KansasCity Royals radio network, and thatallowed its employees to get presspasses to cover Royals games. Whileat one of the games, Neely inquiredabout how to get into play by play in

baseball, to which he was told to goto the Winter Baseball Meetings.

A year later, he attended theWinter Meetings, and landed hisfirst job in baseball as the play byplay announcer for the Class A teamin Boise, Idaho, a part of the Angelssystem at the time. After that assign-ment, he began climbing the ladderall the way to AAA, making stopsin Springfield, Illinois(A), Louisville,Kentucky (AAA), Salem, Virginia(A), and finally in Tulsa, Oklahoma(AA), where he led the broadcastsfor the Tulsa Drillers team. Whilein Tulsa, Neely got another bigbreak, meeting ESPN announcerBob Carpenter.

“Bob Carpenter lives in Tulsa,was doing ESPN baseball at the time,and helped me send my tape to a guynamed Tim Scanlan at ESPN inBristol, Connecticut,” Neely said.“Tim gave me the opportunity to dothe 2000 AA All Star Game onESPN.” From there, Neely begandoing major league games on ESPNin 2001, as well as some college bas-ketball and college football for theESPN family of networks, all whilestill doing his work with the Drillers.

In 2007, Neely once again movedon, this time to the new Big TenNetwork, where he began doing col-lege football and basketball games, aswell as other sports, all the while still

Sports

MARK NEELY, MISSOURI ’84

A DREAM COME TRUE –

A DELTA SIG MAKES ITTO THE BIG LEAGUES

41F A L L 2 0 0 9

keeping the dream of doing full-timemajor league baseball in the back ofhis mind.

His chance to accomplish hisdream came in early 2009, when hewas hired to serve as the lead televi-sion play by play announcer for thePadres, a position in which he workswith baseball greats Mark Grant andHall of Famer Tony Gwynn as hisanalysts. While Gwynn only does30-40 games per year with thebroadcast team, he brings a lot tothe telecasts according to Neely.

“Tony Gwynn is baseball in SanDiego. Everything that you’ve proba-bly ever heard about him is true,” hesaid. “He’s a gentleman, he’s humble,and the interesting dynamic now iswith his son Tony Jr. on the team.He obviously is a big fan and wantsto see his son do well, but he’s alsoobjective about it. When Tony Jr.does well he says so, and whendoesn’t do well, he says so.”

So what is life like for a majorleague play by play announcer?

According to Neely it’s essentiallyshowing up at the stadium four hoursbefore game time, where he talks toplayers, coaches, the managers ofboth teams, his producer and direc-tor. Then, it’s time to do the telecast.The next day, he gets up and does itagain. There’s also the travel, whichis with the team from city to city.

Neely says that it is amazing to beable to do what he does on a dailybasis, but the fact that baseball isessentially played every day for sixmonths makes it mentally demand-ing. “It’s fun, and it definitely beatsworking an actual job for a living,that’s for sure,” he said. “But it’s avery demanding job time-wise sixmonths out of the year, and youcertainly have to be able to handlethat grind. It’s not like once a weekwith football or a couple times aweek with basketball. You’re doing iteveryday, which is one of the reasonsit’s my favorite sport to do.”

Now living in San Diego with hiswife of 14 years and young son,

Neely has a long career ahead ofhim. He spent over a decade in theminor leagues honing his craft, andnow is a lead play by play announcerin the big leagues, probably influenc-ing young children who want to gointo the line of work later in life,much like Jack Buck did for him.

Interestingly, he was able to meetBuck a number of years back, whohe listened to as a youngster inSt. Louis. Perhaps two decades fromnow he’ll meet a young up and com-ing announcer trying to make hisdreams come true, who listened tohim while growing up in San Diego.

It would be a nice finish to whathas already been a magical trip tothe top of his profession.

Mark Neely resides in San Diegowith his wife of 14 years, Christine,and their seven year old son, Trevor.Neely can be seen on Cox Channel 4 in San Diego, and some of his clips can be found on mlb.com.

The San Diego Padres’ television announcing team from left, former Major League player Mark Grant, Baseball Hall of Famer Tony Gwynn,and Mark Neely, Missouri ’84.


Sports

Andy Lammers, Ohio Northern ’07, walks us through twodays leading up to his participation in the pole vault duringthe 2009 NCAA Division III Outdoor Track & Field meet.

WEDNESDAY, MAY 20

6:45 am It’s the third day of finals week and I amexhausted from my three exams yesterday and two the daybefore. I had to get all of my exams moved around becauseI am leaving this morning for Marietta College to competeat the NCAA Track and Field Championships. I’m bothexcited and nervous for the next three days. I am ranked14th coming into this competition and determined to fin-ish in the top 10. I wake up and get my things together toget on the van for Marietta College and as I’m walking outof the house, many of my brothers are already up and wish-ing me luck. That eased the nerves for the time being.

11:30 am After a nearly four hour drive, we finallyarrive at Marietta’s track for our practice session. We all getout of the van to stretch our legs and get our workout clotheson so that we can practice on the track we’re going to be com-peting on in less than 24 hours. I’ve dreamed about this daysince I was a freshman and it was surreal to me that I hadalready achieved part of my goal as quickly as sophomore year.I took down one of my warm-up poles from the van and mademy way to the pole vault pit where I already saw some athleteswarming up. On my way to the pit, a few coaches from myconference stopped me and talked to me for a little while,wishing me luck and saying that they were rooting for me. Itwas such a great feeling to know that the people who havebeen my rivals all year long were now cheering for me. Thatseemed to ease my nerves.

3:00 pm We head to our hotel, which is across theOhio River in West Virginia, and we get settled into ourrooms and head to dinner. Since it was our pre-race dinner,we went out to a nice restaurant and had a good meal.After dinner, we all went back to our hotel and dida fantasy draft of the athletes who were going to be com-peting throughout the weekend. Everyone on our teamtook part in this annual competition. We all had a list ofthe athletes competing and we took turns drafting themonto our teams just like fantasy football. Points are distrib-uted based on how our draft picks finish in the competitionand at the end of the weekend, the team with the mostpoints wins. As we were picking teams, we were talkingabout some athletes we thought were going to cause anupset in the listings. As we were talking about that, TravisAlthouse, one of my fraternity brothers who was alsocompeting, picked me with his second pick in the draft.It was a great feeling to know that everyone felt as though I had a great chance to do really well.

11:00 pm I finally get to lie down in bed after a longday. So many emotions are running through my head, butthe most dominant one is excitement. All of my hard work

2009 NCAA Division III Track & Field Championships Participant

Andy Lammers clears the bar during the competition at the 2009NCAA Division III Outdoor Track & Field meet.

TWO DAYS IN THE LIFE OF

ANDY LAMMERS

43F A L L 2 0 0 9

had paid off and I had my chance to be an All-Americanpole vaulter, something I had dreamed about since I beganvaulting in the 7th grade. I talk to my roommates for alittle while about what tomorrow holds and fade off to sleepready to wake up and go to work.

THURSDAY, MAY 21

9:00 am I wake up and can’t wait to get to the trackand be around all of the excitement. We go out to eat as ateam and then head over to Marietta. On our way to thetrack facility, everyone was very talkative because we wereall so excited to be there.

11:00 am We get to the stadium and I go up to thebleachers to watch the other competitions of the day,hoping to take my mind off of my nervousness. There werethousands of people in the stands already and it wasn’t evenNoon. As the day dragged on, it got hotter and hotter. Ihad to go inside to wait for my warm up time because it wasover 90 degrees outside, and coach wanted me to stay cool.

3:15 pm I go to the warm up staging area, check inand begin my warm up routine. As I run through my drills,I see vaulters from around the country doing the same. Irecognize some, but I am seeing many of them for the firsttime. My nervousness turns to excitement and readiness aswe load the bus to head to the stadium.

3:45 pm We arrive at the stadium 15 minutes beforewe’re supposed to start warming up on the runway to findout that high jump has run over and is still going. We areadvised that we have to now wait for them to finish so thatthey can move the mats off of the pole vault area. Little didwe know, we had to wait another 45 minutes before wecould finally start warming up again. The heat is starting toget to everyone, including me, so I pop my umbrella andget some cold water.

4:30 pm The runway in finally cleared and we aregiven time to warm up on the mats. The pole vault compe-tition was supposed to start at 5 but now we are scheduledto start around 6:15. I notice that my legs are beginning totire so I sit down for a while in the shade, drink some coldwater and start up conversations with some of the otherathletes. Sharing stories with them was so much fun and ithelped keep my nerves from setting in.

6:15 pm The competition finally starts and I can’t waitto start jumping. My warm ups were feeling good so I wasready to go. As I stood on the runway, my nervousness

faded and I knew what I had to do. It was like I was movingin slow motion the first time I jumped off the ground andcleared my first height. Everything was perfect! I felt great,I looked great and most importantly, I was jumping great.

7:45 pm As the contest dragged on, I could feel theheat taking a toll on my body. I had warmed up too muchand my legs were beginning to tire. I went and talked to mycoach and he told me to do my best. He told me how proudhe was of me and how much of an achievement it was toeven be standing where I was. As I set up for my final jump,all I could do was pray that I cleared the bar. I was sitting at9th place currently and I needed to clear this to be in thetop 8 and make All-American. I jumped off the ground andat that moment I knew I wasn’t going to make the height.On the long fall to the mat, I thanked God for the opportu-nity he had given me and prayed that he would give meanother chance in the future.

Although I didn’t make All-American, my family, friends,and coaches were very proud of me as I was proud of myself.I told myself that if given the chance again, I won’t miss itby one place. I have been training hard this off season and Ihope that I get to go back to Nationals so that I can bettermy 9th place finish.

Andy Lammers finished 9th in the 2009 NCAA DivisionIII Outdoor Track & Field Meet in the pole vault,clearing a height of 15 feet 7.25 inches. In additionto his track and field participation, Lammers serves theAlpha Eta Chapter as Recruitment Chairman.

Lammers talks with his head coach Ryan New.


Tech Trends

By Brent Rowe,By Brent Rowe, NC State ’99NC State ’99

What If... Your ISP Could Offer a SECURE Internet Connection?

How much would you pay for it?

45F A L L 2 0 0 9

The total cost of cyber security breaches and associatedlosses is estimated to be over $1 trillion every year. Thisincludes a variety of attacks and breaches, including IDtheft, theft of company information, and attacks aimed atslowing or shutting down a company’s public web site orinternal network. Over $100 billion is spent every year oncyber security products and services, with consumers spend-ing approximately $8 billion for home security software,hardware, and subscriptions. And still, the total cost of secu-rity prevention and losses continues to increase each year asthe Internet becomes more entrenched in our daily lives.

You yourself may have been the victim of identity theft.Or your computer may currently be used to wage attacks onother computers. Remember that web site you went to thatlooked a little strange? It could have been a phishing sitewhich automatically downloaded software on your computerso that a cyber criminal can now send e-mail or otherInternet traffic from your computer, thus helping to hidetheir location and identify. Even if the hacker doesn’t stealany of your information, your computer performance couldbe much slower, and one day an FBI agent might comeknocking on your door asking why you’ve been sending outso much spam (side note: an FBI agent was knocking on mydoor recently, but for more benign purposes.). Either way,you’re losing time or money.

What if your Internet Service Provider (ISP) was able tooffer you more security? The technology exists for ISPs, bothcable and DSL-based services, to conduct a variety of scanson the networks they manage and detect malicious activity.They could also provide antivirus software at a lower costthan you probably pay currently. And if they detect that youmay have been “compromised,” they could let you know andhelp you clean up your computer. More generally, ISPs are ina place to provide better security to home Internet users for amuch lower per customer cost than is currently being spenton software fees, security subscription fees, losses from fraud,etc. ISPs, however, are hesitant.

Legal concerns top their list. Although ISPs can scantraffic across their networks and look for general patternswithout “looking inside” your traffic, identifying malicioushome Internet users’ traffic would likely cause someconsumers to raise privacy concerns. Further, ISPs fearthat once they state “we are now working to secure yourconnection”, even if they say that they cannot provideperfect protection, they will be sued any time one of theircustomers is successfully attacked.

Possibly more importantly, ISPs are not convincedthat they could make money by offering new services,which would be very costly to implement. They worrythat businesses and consumers, like you, would not bewilling to pay enough to justify their investment. Pastresearch has shown that home users are often completelyunaware that their computers have been breached, andas such, they are often not willing to pay much to securetheir computers. The result is that there are literally tensof millions of hijacked U.S. computers, called “bots,” thatare used by hackers to send spam and attack other homeusers or companies. So, not only might a hacker be stealingyour information and slowing down your computer, theymight also be attacking others from your computer.

So, now that you know that you’re probably insecureand that your computer is probably being used to attackother folks like me, how much would you be willing to payyour ISP to essentially guarantee your security? Would youpay $10 per month? Maybe even $15?

The Institute of Homeland Security Solutions recentlyprovided me with funding to study this issue. I’m tryingto estimate out how much home Internet users would bewilling to pay ISPs to increase their security, and what typesof security solutions and marketing strategies most interestcustomers. I’m also studying how much it will cost ISPs toprovide various types of security. Are certain solutions morecost effective than others?

As part of this study, we’re conducting interviews withISPs, and developing a survey to help consumers estimatethe value they would put on additional security, as well aswhat educational and marketing campaigns might provideconsumers with the necessary information to make themost cost effective decision.

And then comes the tricky part. If consumers and businessesare not willing to pay enough to cover the costs that ISPswould have to incur, should the government step in to forcethem to do so? Or should the government help subsidize ISPs’investments and security activities so that all Internet users aremore secure? These questions remain unanswered.

Brent Rowe is an Economist at RTI International. Herecently co-authored a book entitled Cyber Security: EconomicStrategies and Public Policy Alternatives that is being used ina variety of university technology policy courses.


Tech Trends

HEY BUDDY, GOT A WEB SITE? You’ve probably never had someone sidle up to you onthe street and ask this question, but it might be kind

of interesting if it were to happen. What wouldyou say to the guy? Do you have a web site?

Does your business have a site? How aboutyour chapter? If yes, can it be improved?

Is it everything that you need for it tobe? And if no, why not? What’s

stopping you from representingyour business or your chapter on

the web in a decent manner? There are many ways for everyone to

have a decent web presence these days. Tools like Wordpress, Drupal and Joomla

allow for easy content creation and management.Image editing programs like GIMP, Picnik and

Photoshop Express allow for image creation and manipulation without a large investment. Web site hosting can be had for as little as $4-5 a month

through GoDaddy or OneandOne, and most larger compa-nies now have at least decent customer service that will helpyou through nearly any issue. They won’t build your site foryou, but if you break something or just can’t figure out whysomething isn’t working, they’ll generally help you.

Below, we’ll explore some tips about how you can usesome of the options already mentioned to make your sitethe best that it can be.

By KJ Turner, Stephen F. Austin ’83

TIPS TO DEVELOP A GREAT WEB SITEFOR YOUR CHAPTER OR BUSINESS

47F A L L 2 0 0 9

KNOW YOUR AUDIENCE AND DESIGNFOR THEMWho is your audience? If you’re designing a site for yourFraternity chapter, then it’s probably going to be muchdifferent than one you would design for your business sellinghardware. The audience is much different and you have topresent the content in a way that they’re going to findpleasurable and meaningful.

Java script is great and Flash can be very cool. Not toknock either, because both applications are useful and canhelp provide rich content to your site, however Flash andJava script also require the latest browsers, memory, upgradedoperating system, or really some combination of all of theabove to work properly.

Remember that not everyone has the latest browserupdates, the screaming laptop that you have, nor do theywant to have to purchase the same to view your site. Justmake your site work, and work well, with multiple browsersand even different versions of the popular browsers.Remember that what works well in Internet Explorer 8may not work at all in Internet Explorer 6. Test it. Thentest it again.

Once you’re sure your site works, think about the set up.If you have a brick and mortar store, do you hide your saleitems in another room that requires people to go throughseveral other rooms to get through? If you’re designing a sitefor your Fraternity chapter, do you want people to have towork to find a history of your chapter? Would you hide yourhistory behind a wall that people have to crawl over to getit? Probably not.

In your store you’ll make sure that your sale items areclearly marked so that there are absolutely no questions as towhat’s on sale. If you’re creating a site for your chapter, you’llwant people to be able to easily and readily find the historyof your chapter.

Don’t make your audience work too hard. They’ll thankyou for it.

MAKE YOUR HOME PAGE IDIOT PROOFSpinning globes are cool in the library, and hard to deciphernavigation is wonderful if you’re creating a puzzle for thelocal chapter of your explorer’s club. Unless you really arecreating a page for your explorer’s club, then make yourhome pages and the interior pages easy to read and easy tonavigate through.

Your home page should show as much content as you canplace on it, while still keeping it clean and sectioned. Yourreader is there for information on you, your business or yourChapter. Give it to them.

Make your navigation clearly marked and easy to under-stand. Don’t label the sections of your site in lingo that onlyyou and your friends might understand. If you’re creating asite for your business, don’t create a navigation system that is industry only. If someone finds your site, make them welcome and help them get around.

Create a clearly marked section on your home page that either provides contact information for you and/or your organization, or a direct link to an interior page wherecontact information is clearly marked. If someone is at yoursite, they’re probably there for a specific reason and may very well want to talk to you or visit your company.

TEST YOUR SITE AT YOUR GRANDMA’SWhen you get done with your site, test it. Test it again and then test it one more time. Go to your grandma’s house, your mom’s house, or anyone who isn’t the sitedesigner that you are. Make sure that they can get aroundeasily, find information easily, and can get back to the homepage without crying. If they can navigate easily and withoutasking for a map from the guy at the gas station, thenyou’re doing well.

MAKE YOUR NAVIGATION EASY TOGET THROUGH AND GUESS PROOFCreative and successful site design doesn’t mean that yoursite has to have navigation that is hidden, driven by weirdimages, or just plain silly. Mark your navigation clearly,create drop down menus for interior pages if needed, andmake it easy for your reader to get around. You might alsoprovide a secondary navigation area on either side of yoursite for easier navigation. Also, remember to put navigationto at least the major portions of your site at the bottom ofeach page.

Follow these basic tips, provide compelling constantlyupdated information, keep your site easy to get around, andyour customers or readers will come back time and again.

KJ Turner is the Digital Director for EntercomBroadcasting in Mission, Kansas.


Travel & Tourism

BY BRUCE HAMMOND, OHIO NORTHERN ’98

I have been lucky in my early careerto have a few jobs in which I havebeen on the road and through airportsabout once per month, or even moreoften. As compared to some of ourreaders, that is nothing! They’re onthe road weekly. For others, that ismuch more often than they travel,either for business or pleasure.

In my relatively frequent travels,specifically through airports, I havenoticed a number of things thatnon-travelers and some experiencedtravelers do, that to say the least,annoy me. Some might just be person-al pet peeves, but I am guessing thatmany of my fellow frequent travelersfeel similarly.

So, I thought it might be fun totalk a little about travel etiquette,and provide you with tips about theappropriate things to do in certainsituations you may find yourself inat the airport. I’ll be using some ofthe common mistakes non-travelerscontinue to make in my personalexperience.

This story in no way is meant tocall out any one particular person.However, if you can see yourself insome of these situations that followeach of the tips, I hope you’ll thinkabout this story the next time youtravel! All of us regular travelerswould appreciate it!

AIRPORT ETIQUETTE TIP #1When you’re in line to get yourboarding pass and check your lug-gage, step up to the next available

kiosk/screen instead of waiting forthe person behind the counter to call“Next person in line!!”

Being that this is the first thingthat happens most times when peopleget to the airport, it can be a frustrat-ing beginning to people’s trips if theyhave to wait behind people that don’tunderstand this simple concept. Ifthere is a kiosk open for you to walkup and use, just do it as opposed towaiting for the people behind thecounter. They are busy putting theluggage tags on other passengers’luggage and checking their IDs, sowaiting for them to call on youcauses unnecessary delays.

AIRPORT ETIQUETTE TIP #2When approaching security, beprepared when you make it to thex-ray belt.

So you’ve gotten your boardingpass and luggage claim ticket… Nowit’s time for security. Since 9/11, every-one now must remove their shoes,have their liquids in less than 3 ozbottles and in no bigger than a quartsized bag, and remove computers fromtheir bags to go through the x-raymachine separately. You can have allof this ready BEFORE you get to thebelt with a little planning.

Before getting into line, I removeeverything from my pockets and putthem in my computer bag, untie myshoes, unzip the compartment in mycomputer bag where my computerresides, and remove my jacket if Ihave one on. When I get up to the

x-ray machine, I have everythingalready prepared to go through themachine. Seems simple, right? Byjust putting a little planning inplace before you get in line, youhelp the other passengers movethrough quicker.

One more thing relating tosecurity… After your belongingscome out the other end of the x-raymachine, don’t stand in everyone’sway putting your shoes back on, etc.Take your things to one of the nearbyseats that are at every airport, andput your things back together there.Again, you will be saving the othertravelers from backups, helping every-thing move more smoothly.

AIRPORT ETIQUETTE TIP #3If you receive a cell phone callafter you make it to your gate,kindly take it in a less congestedarea (or talk softer!)

We’ve all been there… We’resitting in the airport, and the guynext to us picks up a cell phone call.Instead of retreating to a less congest-ed area of the airport, he proceeds topractically yell into his phone abouthis upcoming surgery, his mother’shealth problems, and his recent party-ing escapades. Don’t be that guy!!!

If your phone happens to ringwhile you’re at your gate and you needto take the call, you should head to aless congested part of the gate area orinto the main walkway of the terminalso as not to disturb your fellow travel-ers. Believe me, no one sitting at the

THE ETIQUETTE OF FLYING –TIPS FOR YOUR NEXT TRIP

49F A L L 2 0 0 9

gate wants to hear all the personalitems about your life or the dealsyou’re making in your business.

Oh yeah, one other thing. Don’t sitin the gate area trying to decide on anew ringer for your phone. No one atthe gate wants to hear all of the differ-ent options for a ring tone that yourphone has – especially all at one timeas we’re waiting for our delayed flightto get off the ground. I’m not bitter…I have just run into it far too often…

AIRPORT ETIQUETTE TIP #4 When getting on a plane, listento the flight attendants and theirinstructions.

When they say put the smallercarry on underneath the seat in frontof you, that means that your computerbag, coat, or whatever the smallestthing you’re carrying on should gothere to save room in the overheadbins for the other passengers. Withoverhead bins being fuller these days,be courteous of your fellow travelersby using the space under the seat infront of you for your small stuff.

When the flight attendants saythat it’s time to put away all electronicdevices for the flight, don’t stay on

the phone until they have to ask youpersonally two or three more times.There are reasons why they don’tallow cell phone usage as the planeis moving out onto active runways, soby not putting your phone away whenthey ask, you are delaying everyone’sflight and quickly becoming every-one’s frustration on the flight. (Thanksto fellow staff member Beau Hanger forthis specific tip!)

AIRPORT ETIQUETTE TIP #5When the plane lands and you turnon your cell phone, wait until youare in the terminal before calling thepeople picking you up.

The people picking you up canwait five minutes until you get intothe terminal to know that you havelanded. One of the biggest frustrationsfor many people is when people nextto them on the flight call someonewhile they’re still on the plane anddon’t use their inside voice. They yell“We just landed!!! I’ll be down in alittle bit!!!” Do us all a favor and waitthe five minutes until you are in theterminal to make your call.

AIRPORT ETIQUETTE TIP #6When you arrive at your destination,let the people in seats ahead of youget off before you (unless you arelate for a connection).

Everyone is trying to get off theplane also, so there is no need to rushahead of the people sitting in front ofyou to get off. By doing so, you arecausing unnecessary backups for thepeople behind you. Just be a gentle-man, and allow those in front of you to get off before you do. I know it sounds simple, but all too often,people are racing ahead to get off two people ahead of where they would have…

Now, an exception to this is if youhave a close connection. For the mostpart, flight attendants will know thatthere are close connections on board,

and will say over the loud speaker“please allow those who have a con-nection to make get off before every-one else.” In some cases, you shouldlet your flight attendant know thatyou are concerned that you’re going tomiss your connection just to prime thepump and let them know you have atight connection. They are then morelikely to make the announcement.

Well, I’m sure these six travel tipsare just the tip of the iceberg, so if youhave any additional tips you’d like toshare, let us know! Send me an e-mailat [email protected] to shareyour tips. We’ll follow up in the nextissue with some of your travel tips.

‘‘We’ve all been there…

We’re sitting in the airport, and the

guy next to us picks up a cell phone

call. Instead of retreating to a less

congested area of the airport, he

proceeds to practically yell into his

phone about his upcoming surgery,

his mother’s health problems, and

his recent partying escapades.

Don’t be that guy!!!


In Their Own Words

“The Best Job in the World” was acampaign launched by TourismQueensland (TQ), the state tourismboard in Queensland, Australia.With their incredibly creative market-ing strategy of using social networkingsites and designing a campaign thatwould induce word-of-mouth frenzyacross all media platforms, TQ officialswere able to turn a $1.5 million adver-tising budget to generate over $100million worth of publicity ACROSSthe GLOBE, not to mention severalinternational advertising awards,including the Cannes Lions Awardwhich is equivalent to the Oscars ofthe industry. If you didn’t hear aboutthis campaign, or at least know some-one who talked, heard, applied orknew someone else who applied, thenyou were obviously living in a cavesomewhere near the Pakistan-Afghanborder. Wait, I take that back becauseeven Osama Bin Laden applied forthe job (you can find the video onYoutube under “Bin Laden Best Job” –I wouldn’t have minded losing to thecreator of that video).

The campaign created such a buzzthat over 34,600 60-second videoapplications came in from 200 coun-tries causing numerous server crasheson the TQ web site.

After stumbling across the story inJanuary while looking for stories to

cover for my current events radionews program that I host in Seoul,South Korea, I bookmarked the webpage and set a reminder alarm on mycell phone for the application dead-line. I actually started my applicationvideo just two days before the dead-line. The friends that saw my applica-tion video during its hasty productionlaughed and said it didn’t stand achance. However, I thought as long asthere is a chance, that’s all I neededand I didn’t want to regret later on fornot even attempting to take thatopportunity no matter what the prob-abilities were. The fact of the matteris; the chance of you winning the lot-tery goes up an infinite amount themoment you buy a ticket, and I spent38 of the remaining 48 hours trying topick the perfect combination of num-bers on that sole lotto ticket.

In a matter of weeks, BOOM! Ifound myself in the preliminary top50. After another hectic and whirl-wind three weeks of all-nightersinvolving Internet blogging, videoproduction, sorting through mediainterview requests from across theglobe and running PR campaignsboth in Korea and in Texas, allwhile keeping my day job as host oftwo radio programs in Seoul, I wasselected into the final 16! SIXTEENout of 34,600!

The high that I felt when I got thatphone call confirming my place in thefinal 16 was just absolutely… incredi-ble, mind-blowing and numb… aresome of the words that come to mind.I felt chills running throughout mybody and I guess that’s how it feelswhen someone hits the $100 millionjackpot at the Bellagio slots. On topof that, there were various “alignmentof the stars” moments throughout mycampaign that just worked out nomatter the situation, starting with myapplication video dodging the servercrashes on the TQ site. It was kind oflike playing Texas Hold’em and everydraw you went on, didn’t matter if itwas an open-ender, a gut shot straightdraw or a two-outter, if you saw the

Juweon Kim overlooking the PacificOcean during his trip to Queensland,Australia for his interview.

BY JUWEON JONATHAN KIM, TEXAS ’02

A DELTA SIG’S EXPERIENCE WITH

“THE BEST JOB INTHE WORLD”

51F A L L 2 0 0 9

river, BAM you hit it and that’s howI felt up to this point. The greatestomen in this entire process was thefact that I arrived in Australia for theinterview on the morning of May 1st– the morning of my 26th birthday.It was like how the San AntonioSpurs felt when Robert Horry hit thatgame winning 3-pointer in Detroit ingame 5 of the 2005 Finals. After that,you knew the Spurs were winning it.At least I did.

But I guess I was celebrating toosoon. If you don’t know already, I’mwriting this column in my office inSeoul, which means I’m not onHamilton Island with the Best Job inthe World. If I had to do the entireinterview process again, there mightbe a couple of things I would do differ-ently, but not in the category of effort.I poured everything I had out there, Ijust wish I had poured some of thateffort in different places, but to getinto the details of that would producea novel, not a column. But evendespite the “loss”, I still believe 100%that I came away from this experiencewith so much more than what I hadbefore. Please allow me to explain…

I had a once-in-a-lifetime experi-ence, having the opportunity to meetand make friends with some greatpeople from all around the worldwhile doing activities that I couldn’teven dream about doing.

Australia was one of the placesthat I had never been, but in justten days, the country and its peoplesucceeded in making me fall head-over-heels in love with it. Thecountry is just so vast (and I realizethat I only explored a fraction of thecontinent) but the little part of Ozthat I did see, was plenty enough toleave a lasting impression and makeme want to go back.

I snorkeled in the world’s largestcoral reef system, the Great BarrierReef. I flew in a seaplane while ridingin the copilot’s seat. I ate food pre-

pared by some the world’s best chefs,stayed in 5-star hotels, sailed on aluxury yacht, held koalas and fedkangaroos, and sand boarded onthe world’s 3rd largest sand island.Basically, I got treated like a superstar.But the best part of this entire journeywas the people I befriended and thelife motivation that I garnered.

The 15 other candidates I metwere absolutely amazing people, eachof them bringing to the table some-thing different and unique. In the end,a charismatic and energetic lad fromEngland took the job that more than34,000 people in the world were goingafter. Ben Southall is a class guy withan amazing life story to tell, and I’msure his job as the “island caretaker”will be another chapter to his fascinat-ing life. As for me, I think there is adifferent book to write.

Many people think I would havebeen depressed or disappointed at theresult, but that wasn’t the case at all.I didn’t feel like I “lost” a competition.In fact, in some weird way, I felt like Istill won. I felt like I was the successfulapplicant – I just didn’t have the“island caretaker” position. Comingout of this incredible journey, I havea newfound confidence and optimismabout this world and what an individ-ual can accomplish if we just put inthe effort and belief that we can make

a difference. I will be the first oneto admit that I was complacent forseveral years. I was satisfied withwhere I was career-wise, education-wise and lifestyle-wise, but myinvolvement in this process motivatedme to always be aiming higher inlife, because life is so much morefulfilling when you do.

So go out there and reach forsomething big and impossible, becauseyou will be so much more satisfiedeven in “failure.” You want to knowhow my “failure” ended up? Well, forone, TQ offered me a 1-year contractto be their Tourism Ambassador inKorea, giving me a nice sum of cashto maintain a blog, help in running acouple of marketing campaigns andtake two all-expenses-paid “businesstrips” back to Australia to promoteQueensland. The massive mediaexposure I got through the wholeexperience upgraded my profile inthe Korean media/broadcastingindustry, opening up a lot of newdoors for me. I will now be makinga similar sum of cash as the IslandCaretaker, although he will bemaking his cash in 6 months travelingaround paradise, while I make minein a year commuting in Seoul traffic.But the thing that tips the scale inmy favor? I’ll still be employed come2010 while he’ll officially be out of ajob in this economic environmentcome December 31st, 2009. (I havea feeling though that Ben will landsomewhere on his feet as I did.)

YITBOS,

Juweon Jonathan KimAKA “Jon Kim,” Texas, ’022002 Beta Psi Pledge Class

P.S. Come check out my web sitefor more in-depth coverage ofmy “Best Job” experience. Logon to www.juweonnago.com.

Kim holding a koala during his 10-day interview for The Best Job in the World.


LIFE’S ASALES CALLBy Jack Warkenthien, Illinois ’75ISBN: 0975273722

Do you have real relationshipskills? Can you create anever-expanding network andcommunity of friends and clientsthat creates abundance for you inevery way? When necessary, canyou convert your relationships to revenue streams?

Welcome to the world’s oldest profession – sales! Eversince Eve sold the apple to Adam on that fateful day, theearth has been moved by compelling sales calls. It doesn’teven matter whether you’re selling a product, service,opinion, cause or anything else.

As Jack Warkenthien shares his own stories of developingrelationships, you come to know him and yourself. Learnabout the qualities of Respect, Enthusiasm, Listening andother characteristics of success in a humorous, precise writingstyle that leaves you inspired to create a living, breathing,human connection that is your key to a sale – every time!

BROTHERHOODOF THE DIVINEBy Terry Fritts, Kansas State ’70ISBN: 0979151491

For over two thousand years theBrotherhood of the Divine hasprotected a secret epistle writtenby John of Patmos. An epistlecontaining a revelation so shock-ing that God demanded it not bewritten down in the Book of Revelation (Revelation 10).Thousands have died as Satan has scoured the Earth overthe centuries, gathering clues of its existence, hoping to dis-cover the secret it holds and use it to ascend to power, andnow, he thinks he is very close to succeeding in his quest.

Kevin Bridges, the miracle investigator for the Vaticanhas been very busy the past few months. Three miracleworkers have suddenly become front page news thanksto Astan Ilves, the Lorenzo Medici of the modern era.As signs of the Tribulations begin to appear, Satan andKevin both race to unravel the mystery of the secretrevelation of Apostle John as they battle for the soulsof the miracle workers.

HAPPINESS IN8 STEPSBy David Lindemann,Eastern Michigan ’61ISBN: 0982054901

An author, speaker,consultant and coach, DavidLindemann, Eastern Michigan ’61,brings together some of the basicprinciples that have made himhappy over the years into one place.

The eight steps, smile, thank you, giving, eating healthy,keeping your body in shape, being around people you love,making people happy, and laughter, all include personalstories of how these have helped David in his life, andinclude tips on how you can incorporate them into your life.

BIG BOY RULES:AMERICA’SMERCENARIESFIGHTING IN IRAQBy Steve Fainaru,Missouri ’81ISBN: 0306817438

From the book’s description

‘There are tens of thousands ofthem in Iraq. They work for companies with exotic and omi-nous-sounding names like Crescent Security Group, TripleCanopy, and Blackwater Worldwide. They travel in convoysof multicolored pickups fortified with make-shift armor, belt-fed machine guns, frag grenades, and even shoulder-firedmissiles. They protect everything from the U.S. ambassadorand American generals to shipments of Frappuccino boundfor Baghdad’s Green Zone. They kill Iraqis and Iraqis killthem. And the only law they recognize is Big Boy Rules.’

This book is written by Pulitzer Prize-winning authorSteve Fainaru, Missouri ’81, who is a foreign correspondentfor the Washington Post. Read it to learn more about theprivate security contractors who were a part of the Iraq War.

Books By Brothers

53F A L L 2 0 0 9

THE TRADITIONCONTINUES:SPARTANFOOTBALLBy Constantine Demos,Michigan State ’64ISBN: 0306817438

The Tradition Continues – Spartan Football is a dream cometrue for Spartan fans. With its foreword written by GeorgeBlaha and comments by Tom Izzo, this Limited EditionClassic Illustrated Spartan football history book containsover 124 years of football highlights documented with1,970 illustrations.

This one-of-a-kind full color book is bound in a Spartangreen leather-like cover with stamped foil letters and acolorful dust jacket. It contains numerous items Spartanfans have never before seen.

Many former players have recollected their experienceswhile taking the historical and traditional “Walk” fromKellogg Center to Spartan Stadium. The book also showsthe transformation from the old to the new as Spartantraditions have evolved. It even includes past gameprograms dating back to 1908 along with highlights ofMSU’s greatest rivalries as well as every bowl team,championship team, and team photo and roster from1884 to the present.

ROUTE 66 RAILWAYBy Elrond Lawrence, CSU San Bernardino ’85

For more than 80 years, Route 66and the Santa Fe Railway havebeen constant companionsthrough California, Arizona, andNew Mexico. A new coffee-table book is the first to exploretheir relationship through cities, deserts, forests, and once-forgotten towns.

The 176-page hardcover is by award-winning photogra-pher and writer Elrond Lawrence, CSU San Bernardino ‘85.His vibrant color images and essays are the heart of thebook, taking readers to a land where modern and vintagetrains trade glances with neon cafes, tourist traps, motorcourts, railroad depots, and more. Enhancing the book arehistoric photos and an engaging text that charts the begin-nings of both railroad and highway, and examines their rise,decline and rebirth.

THE SOULDIES SLOWLYBy Gary Ramsey,Western Carolina ’62ISBN: 1615463437

Gerry Stewart is informed thathe has terminal colon cancer. Notwanting his friends and family tosee him waste away, he goes toNew York City to commit suicide.While there he meets a girl andfinds a strange, almost magical object. The events thatfollow make him question whether suicide is the answer.Before his terminal illness was diagnosed, he was theprimary expert on “The Bloodletter.” This serial killer is asplit personality psychopath whose mark is that he extractsas much blood as possible from his female victims. Thisstory contains mystery, romance, political maneuvering,and personal agony over the fact that one of the victimsof the “Bloodletter” was Gerry’s wife.

Be a Part of The Carnation

Have you written a book that The Carnation

should include in a future Books by Brothers

section? Or, do you know of a book written by

a fellow Delta Sig that we should include?

If so, contact editor Bruce Hammond

either by e-mail at [email protected],

or by phone at (317) 634-1899 x425.

Please include the name of the book,

as well as the author’s name and

contact information.

Contribute to The Carnation, and get some

great publicity for your work today!


NAME CHAPTER JOIN DATE DECEASED DATE

William D. Huttinger EPSILON 2/11/40 2/13/09

Robert Watkins Potter II LAMBDA 3/25/73 3/27/09

Charles E. Baker NU 3/22/52 12/15/08

Rex Finis Gregory Jr. OMICRON 4/24/49 3/10/09

Henry H. Latham RHO 5/5/33 2/10/09

Ralph W. Murray SIGMA 5/6/5 12/21/09

William N. Vetter SIGMA 8/10/47 5/5/09

John Russell Deer TAU 4/4/55 9/9/09

Ormond L. Hampton Jr. UPSILON 12/6/48 5/7/09

Ralph Joseph Cappy OMEGA 1/7/62 5/1/09

William G. Yedlicka OMEGA 1/7/49 5/4/09

Michael Scott King ALPHA ALPHA 1/21/78 5/3/09

Warren Thomas Robinson ALPHA ALPHA 2/28/48 7/20/09

Paul Lively Lovett Jr. ALPHA GAMMA 11/15/57 5/1/09

Parks Winfield Pratt Jr. ALPHA GAMMA 12/10/55 6/19/09

Jack R. Schuster ALPHA ETA 10/2/49 3/1/09

Floyd A. Banker ALPHA IOTA 3/2/52 8/1/09

Allan B. Currie ALPHA PI 1/14/57 5/30/09

Fred Joseph Somes Jr. ALPHA PI 2/2/41 3/3/09

William Henry Hansbarger II ALPHA SIGMA 1/21/43 5/17/09

Richard W. Plymale ALPHA TAU 2/23/58 5/13/09

Mauritius Arnoldus Meyer ALPHA UPSILON 11/14/08 11/17/08

Alfred Phillip Thode ALPHA CHI 3/26/60 7/6/09

Gary Lawrence Fink BETA ALPHA 4/23/61 8/8/09

Kenneth F. Pelletier BETA ALPHA 2/17/52 3/17/09

Michael Frederic Leadlove BETA BETA 1/27/80 4/10/09

Wilmont Eckhout BETA EPSILON 10/16/48 6/2/09

Milton Eugene Ellis BETA EPSILON 4/20/52 7/17/09

Mark F. Rice BETA MU 10/13/41 1/1/09

Robert L. Dahlgren BETA NU 12/17/48 6/18/09

Jayme Nmi Avaiusini BETA PI 6/6/48 12/15/08

Leonard G. Hess BETA RHO 5/20/51 12/13/08

Dennis Alan Christy BETA PSI 6/5/58 3/20/09

Ray Allen Taylor BETA PSI 2/20/60 2/12/09

Frank R. Culhane BETA OMEGA 11/14/48 5/8/09

James H. Van Wagner GAMMA ALPHA 1/31/49 7/4/09

Kenneth M. Brewer GAMMA DELTA 2/19/83 5/1/09

Troy Ramsey Duncan GAMMA DELTA 3/1/90 4/3/09

Michael Clinton Bushell GAMMA IOTA 11/14/96 5/1/09

Karl Mueller GAMMA LAMBDA 5/19/50 5/2/09

Charles Leonard Summers GAMMA UPSILON 1/29/73 7/10/09

Kenneth Henry Token GAMMA PHI 12/2/56 7/11/09

Richard D. Staton GAMMA CHI 5/27/62 4/6/09

Lynn Allen Schriner DELTA BETA 9/6/59 5/18/09

Joseph A. Gonzales EPSILON PI 11/24/68 5/1/09

Keith Woods Nicholson ZETA BETA 4/16/72 3/20/09

Jacob Blackburn Edfeldt THETA PSI 11/19/06 6/14/09

Answers to FraternityConfidential Questions

1. Fiction… While there are manybrothers with the name Mike andhave a D initial, this rumor is false

2. Fiction… The one-time governor ofKansas Mike Hayden, Kansas State ’64,former Alabama Governor AlbertBrewer, Alabama ’48, former VirginiaGovernor Albert Harrison, Virginia ’25,and former Louisiana GovernorRichard Leche, Tulane ’34 are DeltaSigma alumni

3. Fact… Horatio Fitch was the worldrecord holder and prohibitive favoriteto win the gold medal in the 400meter dash at the1924 Paris Games.However, he was beaten by EricLiddell, which inspired the movieChariots of Fire.

4. Although it would be great for the staffmember who got to visit them, theanswer is Fiction… Delta Sigma Phihas never been represented in Hawaii.

5. Fiction – we think… While thereare many unexplained noises at theTaggart Mansion on a daily basis thatsome people attribute to Lucy, there isno evidence that she actually hauntsthe building.

6. Fiction… Actually, three currentmembers of the US House ofRepresentatives are members ofDelta Sigma Phi. They are Bob Inglis,Duke ’79, Todd Tiahrt, South DakotaSchool of Mines ’70, and Mike Turner,Ohio Northern ’79.

7. Fact… The Alpha Tau Chapteractually chartered nearly a full twoyears prior to the Alpha AlphaChapter on June 15, 1917.

bond eternal

Due to incomplete information, deceased dates may not be exact.

55F A L L 2 0 0 9

Delta Sigs from the Rho Chapter at NC State pose with Arnold Palmer, the golf course’s designer, on the 15th hole of the newLonnie Poole Golf Course on the NC State Centennial Campus. Delta Sigma Phi Fraternity named the 15th hole by having some20 undergraduates and alumni donate money to become “Charter Partners.”

Matt Elmore, Transylvania ’09, and Thomas Baker,Transylvania ’07, created a Sphinx with the Delta Sig letters during a May 2009 layover at Chicago’s O’HareAirport. The brothers were waiting to fly to Italy for aChoir trip with the University Choir.

David “Shy” Scheihagen, Texas ’73, wears his letters infront of the Sphinx and Pyramids in Egypt during a triphe took recently.

i spy DELTA SIGMA PHI

Photo provided by Bob Kennel

Photo provided by Shy ScheihagenPhoto provided by Adam Littrell

i spy DELTA SIGMA PHI is a new feature whereDelta Sigs, or Delta Sigma Phi’s letters, are found in inter-esting and unique places. Have you taken the flag to thetop of a mountain, worn your letters in a foreign country,or done something unique with fellow brothers? If so, sendus the photo and we will include the best of them in thissection each issue.

Photos submitted must be at least 300 DPI (taken on the highest resolution of the digital camera you utilize and NOT on a camera phone), and should be e-mailed to [email protected] with an explanation and a proposed caption. We look forward to sharing more photos like the ones on this page in future issues!

NONPROFIT ORGUS POSTAGE

PAIDGREENFIELD , OH

PERMIT #286

OF DELTA SIGMA PHI

1331 N. Delaware StreetIndianapolis, IN 46202

SHOULD THIS MAGAZINE BE DELIVERED TO A DIFFERENT ADDRESS?UPDATE THE ADDRESS AT WWW.DELTASIG.ORG OR CALL 317-634-1899

CARNATIONTHE

It’s Easy to Connect with Delta Sigma Phi and Your Brothers

Find all of these ways to connect on the Fraternity’s web site at www.deltasig.org/connect.

LinkedIn Group (Over 2,350 members)

http://www.linkedin.com/groupRegistration?gid=51050

Facebook Fan Page (Over 5,000 members)

Go to www.facebook.comand search

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the carnation - fall 2009

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