Zeta Psi Iota Alpha Newsletter

Fall 2012, Vol. 2

Alpha Sigma Report

Ben Sherman
Alumni involvement, philanthropy, growth, and renovation. These are the four markers of the Fall 2012 semester. In this newsletter, you will hear about the Iota Alpha chapters efforts in all of them. Youll see a new alumnus spotlight feature, which this time falls on Sam Mullick 06. Youll also see profiles of our eight newly initiated brothers. We thoroughly enjoyed our poker night in October, one of the largest weve had at the house in years. The hands were plentiful, as was the conversation and sharing of Iota Alpha memories. Twelve alumni stopped by throughout the night. Next time wed like to see 25 of yall. Our alumni cookout/reflagging ceremony was a big success, and is rumored to have played an important role in the Longhorns victory over Baylor. On a bright day seemingly designed for football and barbecue, almost thirty alumni came to the house from all over the state and met the actives, enjoyed catered Rubys BBQ, and had great porch time. We all heard from the designers of the upcoming house renovation about the plans for a side patio, basketball court, and wholesale sprucing up of the outside of the house. There will be more news about the renovation soon. This semester, were going to throw an event we hope will double alumni attendance at the cookout. Around that event and all the others, we will be trying new ways to reach out to you as we collectively work to improve our great chapter and keep it on a path of sustainable growth. The journey continues.

Sam Mullick 06

Iota Alpha Alumnus Spotlight

Sam Mullick graduated in 2006 with a BS in Mathematics with an Actuarial Studies concentration. Currently, he is an actuarial analyst (financial risk management) with Liberty Mutual Group in Seattle. During his undergraduate days, Sam held many positions in the fraternity; including president while bartending to pay his way through school. In addition, he also served as a Natural Sciences Councilman where he represented student interests in academic policy. In fall 2005, Sam participated in the Washington Scholar Fellowship Program, a public policy leadership development program founded by Zetes in the nations capital. (http://www.washingtonscholars.org/) During his time in DC, Sam gained work experience as a statistician for the National Transportation Safety Board. Some of his work projects included identifying efficient processes to reduce costs (thus saving taxpayer money), communication protocols in deploying accident investigation teams, and fatigue studies. Also, he served as president of his Fellowship class to meet the social, professional, and philanthropic goals of the program. Sam also took the opportunity to live in the Zeta Psi house at the University of Maryland and became an active member for his semester in the DC area. After graduating, Sam took a job in the actuarial field at Safeco (a member of Liberty Mutual). He was drawn to the rotation program, where participants change roles every 18 months to develop a diverse work experience. Sam received a leadership award from Liberty Mutual in 2011. Also, Liberty Mutual sends Sam back to UT to recruit and interview new hires and interns. He attributes the many roles in his Zeta Psi experience as a head start in developing leadership, communication, and work-life balance skills. Connections with other Texas Zete alumni in Seattle also assisted in making the move easier. For fun, Sam also likes to remain as active as possible by playing lacrosse, soccer, and snowboarding.

Phi Report
Devon Diggs

This semester was a good one for the Iota Alpha chapter. We aimed to start out the semester strong, and produced 11 pledges initially. Despite numerous personal financial issues, we ended the semester initiating eight new brothers who exhibit a commitment to the fraternity and the direction that we intend to move in. Two newly initiated brothers were voted into officer positions during elections at our last meeting of the semester and we are excited to see the influence that these enthusiastic brothers will have. The month of November was our strongest month this semester. We took on a variety of philanthropic challenges and did very well. Primarily, we participated in Movember and dominated our Interfraternity Council competition. We learned that a fraternity that is less than a quarter of the size of the largest fraternities on campus was capable of competing with and conquering the giants it is compared to. This feat really created a great sense of pride and we hope to carry this philanthropic drive into the spring. Id like to congratulate Brothers Shehryar Shah and Ben Sherman who were the top and 3rd place earners in the IFC respectively. Looking forward to the spring, there is a lot of work to be done. Jay Maguire has begun his improvements of the house and we aim to support him in that through fundraising and by doing what we can to put the house in a good condition. The officers will aim to better organize our activities, continuing to implement our new bylaws. We will be administering the Gold Escutcheon test multiple times next semester in order to gain more esteem at the upcoming convention. Most importantly, we will start the semester with a young and rejuvenated rush team that has wholeheartedly taken on the goal of matching their ambitions with a pledge class of twenty. All in all, the spring semester looks to be even better than the fall. We have taken on the responsibility of hosting an LTI, inviting the Tulane and Nebraska Wesleyan chapters to come visit us. During the same weekend, that of January 26th, Austin will also play host to the Zeta Psi Executive Board meeting. We hope to leave a great impression on the many Zetes from around the nation as they visit the great city we call home. We will continue improving our alumni contact and hope to see many of you out at the various events that are in the works.

Elder Phi Report

Jay Maguire

The Fall semester of 2012 has come to a close and the men of Iota Alpha have returned from whence they came for the holiday break. It was a good semester all around. Our two service projects were exceptional. Our guys beat Fiji in the Movember charity fundraiser. We registered many new voters and turned the chapter out to the polls themselves. Elder-Active relations reached a new high as the reinstitution of our traditional Poker Night saw full participation from both groups. Tailgate parties were well attended. We survived the Obama-Romney election without bloodshed. Progress on arresting the decline of the property is underway. We had the grounds professionally groomed and hauled away a decades worth of refuse. The house was spiffed up and professionally deep cleaned. Our contractor replaced damaged and rotted doors and floorboards. Our landscape architect, Palo Verde Designs showed us a plan to make the grounds more useful and attractive. Much more work remains to be done, but I remain dedicated to the challenge of restoring the Zete House to its former glory. The year ahead offers plenty of opportunity for our Elder brothers to get involved with the restoration/renovation project and with the active chapter itself.. Anyone in the Austin area is encouraged to attend a Monday night meeting this semester, and our new executive board (which has been up to now an ad hoc committee of me, Dave, and Sparrow) will be taking on a more formalized role in the months aheadIm looking for volunteers and would be glad to speak with anyone interested in serving. Professional demands on my time during the upcoming legislative session will require me to delegate some of the tasks I have undertaken this session, so this is the perfect time for us to round out our team! Also, the Zeta Psi of North America Board of Directors will hold its annual Winter meeting in January, concurrent with a Leadership Training Institute for the active chapters at UT, Tulane and Nebraska. Were planning at least one event at the house for our out of town guests, so please keep an eye peeled for event invitations from Dave Hunter or the Alpha Sigma. This will be the first opportunity weve had and many years to buffalo Brother Andy Nunez, our Most Worthy Phi Alpha, and Im looking forward to it. I hope youll join us.

Newly Initiated Brothers

Adam Marino
Hometown: El Paso, TX Year of Graduation: 2016 Major: Undeclared in Natural Sciences

Interests: Reddit, Science, Fitness

Why you joined Zeta Psi: To be a part of something greater than myself.

Tanner Beuke
Hometown: Frisco, TX Year of Graduation: 2015 Major: Aerospace Engineer (Minor: Japanese) Interests: Drawing and painting, Writing, Music (writing it and listening to it), Sports Why I joined: I found a group of people I got along with well, people I felt I would be friends with long after college. Plus Zeta Psi is completely unique from the rest of the Greek system, which was refreshing since I wasn't impressed with any other fraternity.

Leo Vela
Hometown: Alamo, TX Year of Graduation: 2015 Major: Political Communication Interests: Music, Politics, Economics, Philosophy, Movies Why I joined Zeta Psi: I wanted to join an organization that was close knit where people clearly valued each other's opinion and thoughts. A fraternity is meant to be a brotherhood and that's exactly what I got out of joining Zeta Psi.

Stephen Pino
Hometown: San Antonio, TX Year of Graduation: 2015 Major: Economics Interests: Politics, Philosophy, Gaming Why you joined Zeta Psi: To be part of a meaningful brotherhood and to create friendships that will last a lifetime.

Chet Kumar
Hometown: Naperville, Illinois Year of Graduation: 2016 Major: Biomedical Engineering Interests: Watching sports, Surfing the web, Reading, Playing Chess Why I joined Zeta Psi: I wanted to get some brothers who will become my lifelong friends. I also want to connect with a vast and strong alumni network and participate in the fraternity's traditions.

David Lara III

Hometown: Duncanville, TX Year of Graduation: 2016 Major: Radio-TV-Film Interests: Watching Sports, Making movies, Watching movies, Trying new places to eat Why I joined Zeta Psi: I joined Zeta Psi in order to achieve the full college experience and to get a sense of brotherhood with a group of guys on campus.

Beau Roland
Hometown: Rockwall, TX Year of Graduation: 2015 Major: Electrical Engineering Interests: Parkour, American Ninja Warrior, Art, Computers, Games, TVs, Japanese culture Why I joined Zeta Psi: I joined Zeta Psi because I wasn't getting the college life that I wanted. I was studious but I just didn't have any real friends that I could hang out with or have college memories. I wanted real friends that would be there for me when I needed them and I would be there for them in return. I wanted to have fun and share these college days with people that I could know for the rest of my life. Everything, I had been doing before hand wasn't going to achieve those goals and well, ever since pledging I have obtained this goal and more.

Pratham Mohapatra
Hometown: Frisco, TX Year of Graduation: 2015

Major: Biology
Interests: Music production Why you joined Zeta Psi: I knew Shehryar from soccer but didn't realize how genuine his brothers were until I came to some events.