Fall Rush 09 finds its way onto Facebook
ATTN: The Fall Rush 2009 facebook group is up and running. Be sure to check in and make use of the updates for yourself, whether you are an alumnus, brother, or potential rushee.
Welcome!The fraternity and sorority community at USC exemplifies what Greek Organizations should be. With 21 fraternities and 10 sororities, boasting membership over 2,650, our Greek Community has established itself as one of the most diverse, exciting, and well respected systems in the country. Recognized nationally as a trend-setter in Greek life, USC Greeks are constantly being recognized for academic, philanthropic, athletic, and social achievements. The Greek Community has been, and still is, one of USC's proudest traditions. Welcome home. Latest Developments
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Fall RUSH 2009!ScholarshipIronman SportsArchived News
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Saturday, June 27, 2009
Pi Kappa Phi Fraternity Returns to USC
This fall, you can expect a new bunch of faces proudly displaying their Greek letters. After an interim of absence, Pi Kappa Phi fraternity has returned to the USC campus, and will be recruiting this fall.
Pi Kappa Phi will have its own chapter profile updated to the website soon:
Pi Kappa Phi prides itself in balancing professionalism and leadership while maintaining a rigorous social schedule.
For over a century, the brothers of Pi Kappa Phi have been building better men on college campuses across the nation. From our humble roots at the College of Charleston in South Carolina to over 130 campuses today including the University of Southern California, Pi Kappa Phi stands for a commitment to fundamental values.
We are a first CLASS fraternity who firmly believes in the tenets of CLASS, which encompasses Character, Leadership, Academics, Sportsmanship, and Service.
Pi Kappa Phi is returning to the University of Southern California and is quickly establishing itself as a premier fraternity on campus.
Pi Kappa Phi is the only fraternity to own and operate its own national philanthropy, Push America. It remains the exclusive service learning project of the fraternity, with the purpose of instilling lifelong service in our members and serving people with disabilities.
Pi Kappa Phi members have raised nearly $8 million dollars as well as donated thousands of man hours to renovate facilities that serve people with disabilities across the country. Expanding the education and values of America's finest men, we will lead.
Monday, April 27, 2009
New Pan-Greek Logo Contest
Attention all Graphic Designers!
The Office For Fraternity and Sorority Leadership Development in conjunction with IFC is opening up a campus-wide contest for a new pan-Greek Logo. The new logo will bring the entire Greek Community under the same banner, and foster Trojan Family ties in image in addition to our shared spirit. The main objective is to focus on the positive aspects of being a Trojan and a Greek, rather than highlight the stereotypes of all college life. We want to encourage diversity, academics, community involvement, leadership, and the five Trojan values. First place wins $250, and second place, $50. The first place logo will subsequently appear on every media outlet concerning "USC's Greek System" in the upcoming future.
The conest runs until May 15, and will be selected based on what the Student Division of the Office For Fraternity and Sorority Leadership Development and the Univeristy find most appealing and appropriate.
Criteria for Judging: Simplicity, Boldness, How recognizable it is, is appropriately reflective of both the Univeristy and a desirable image of USC's Greek System.
Please email all submissions and any questions to greeklogocontest@gmail.com. We encourage everyone to participate, regardless of class standing or Major/Minor emphases!
The Office For Fraternity and Sorority Leadership Development in conjunction with IFC is opening up a campus-wide contest for a new pan-Greek Logo. The new logo will bring the entire Greek Community under the same banner, and foster Trojan Family ties in image in addition to our shared spirit. The main objective is to focus on the positive aspects of being a Trojan and a Greek, rather than highlight the stereotypes of all college life. We want to encourage diversity, academics, community involvement, leadership, and the five Trojan values. First place wins $250, and second place, $50. The first place logo will subsequently appear on every media outlet concerning "USC's Greek System" in the upcoming future.
The conest runs until May 15, and will be selected based on what the Student Division of the Office For Fraternity and Sorority Leadership Development and the Univeristy find most appealing and appropriate.
Criteria for Judging: Simplicity, Boldness, How recognizable it is, is appropriately reflective of both the Univeristy and a desirable image of USC's Greek System.
Please email all submissions and any questions to greeklogocontest@gmail.com. We encourage everyone to participate, regardless of class standing or Major/Minor emphases!
USC Greek System Wins Big at Regional Conference
USC's Interfraternity and Panhellenic Councils walked away with 11 awards during this year's Western Region Greek Association's Leadership Conference held April 2-5 in San Francisco.
USC's Interfraternity Council won every award for which it applied (five out of a possible eight awards), and the Panhellenic Council won five awards. USC's Order of Omega chapter (the national greek leadership honor society) won the highest award for the region.
The USC group — represented by six IFC members and 11 Panhellenic members —went above and beyond previous years, says Beth Saul, director for Fraternity and Sorority Leadership Development and Parent Programs. "This was a monumental year," Saul says. "Panhellenic won for Multicultural Initiatives and Campus Involvement, which are two categories they had never won before."
The oldest of the regional conferences, the Western Region Greek Association includes 60 schools spread across the Western U.S. and Canada. USC competed with 38 other greek councils for the annual awards.
"We have really good student leaders and strong advisement," Saul says. "We take a lot of pride in our greek community."
"I love going to the conference," says Panhellenic President Blessing Waung. "It is a great opportunity to meet other greek leaders and see what the community is like at their school. I learn a lot from them. I've kept in touch with people from other schools in Los Angeles that I met at the conference, and we hope to work together this year on a community service project in the city."
In addition to the council awards, IFC President Nick Hamada and Assistant Director of the Fraternity and Sorority Leadership Development Ray Carlos placed third in the Order of Omega case study competition held during the conference.
"The weekend essentially consists of a series of student leadership workshops and networking opportunities," says Hamada. "The conference has a nice way of providing perspective, because it's often hard to gauge how well we are doing as a council. This year we won an award for every category we applied, and I think that says a lot about the greek community at USC. At the same time, we feel there is always room for improvement, and we want to continue to build on these successes."
"We were thrilled to have received such high honors this year by one of the most prestigious greek associations in the country," Saul adds. "This provides motivation to go one step further in next year's competition."
A list of the categories in which USC won awards:
Panhellenic Council:
Multicultural Initiatives
Scholarship Achievement
Campus Involvement
Community Involvement
Media and Marketing
Interfraternity Council:
Community Involvement
University Involvement
Educational Programming
Scholarship Achievement
Media and Marketing
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Children and athletes unite over reading
Fraternity’s new program encourages reading by pairing kids with their favorite athletes.
Published: Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Updated: Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Fourth-grader T.J. Griffin had his eyes glued to the court Saturday as Taj Gibson, his favorite USC basketball player, dunked the ball through the hoop.
“We’re their biggest fans,” T.J. said about the basketball team.
T.J., who attends Vermont Elementary School, was one of 50 students who earned free tickets to Saturday’s game against Oregon State through Phi Kappa Psi’s new Slam Dunk Scholars program, which encourages area children to read.
For the past five weeks, members of Phi Psi, along with a few student athletes, visited the school every Friday at 8 a.m. to read to students in 20 to 30 classrooms.
“It was pretty good to see other guys, other athletes, come out and help with the kids. It made a big impact,” basketball team captain and Phi Psi member Gibson said. “The kids really lit up when we came in.”
Other athletes involved in the program are Phi Psi pledges Everson Griffin, Daniel Harper and Spencer Spiegel, as well as Marcus Simmons, who is not a member of the fraternity.
The top 50 students out of the 500 students in the program read an average of 172 pages each to win tickets to Saturday’s game.
“It’s not simply reading to the kids,” said Tyler Vanstory, co-coordinator of the program and a junior majoring in business. “We try to get out there and engage them in discussions and encourage them.”
When talks of starting the program began last summer, Vanstory said he and fellow coordinators, Jason Lipsitz and Alex London, knew Phi Psi could make use of the athletes affiliated with the fraternity.
“We realized with all these athletes it would be really cool to make a tie between academics and athletics.” Vanstory said. “If they put the same effort in sports as they do in academics, the possibilities are limitless.”
For many of the students, including T.J., Saturday’s game was their first time at a USC athletic event.
Although T.J. said he was happy to win the tickets, he also enjoyed the reading involved with the program.
“I liked reading all the fun books and going to the library to get some more,” he said.
T.J. also said he plans to continue reading regularly, even though the program is over for the semester.
Parents said they were pleased with the program’s impact on their kids.
“It really worked because he was really enthusiastic and proud when he won the tickets to the game,” T.J.’s father, Tim Griffin, said.
Although only about a dozen students attended the game, Vanstory said he was proud of the overall success of the program and is looking for ways to improve and expand.
“Obviously we would have loved to have more kids. That’s where we’re going to have to revisit our strategy for next year,” Vanstory said.
Phi Psi President Alex Fiance said future goals for the program include bringing it to other schools, getting the football team involved and having more consistent volunteer support from other fraternities and sororities.
“The real key is continuing next year so the younger kids have something to aspire to, even on a small scale like this,” Fiance said.
Gibson said the program was a reflection of Phi Psi’s effort to reach out to the community.
“I’m just another guy in the Phi Psi house branching out and helping kids in the inner city,” he said. “All the credit goes to the Phi Psi house.”