Sigma Kappa - Missouri State University

Delta Upsilon Update 2 Sigma Kappa Helped Mindy Dilley '06 Shine at Missouri State Greek Life Experience Prepared Her for Career as Fraternity and Sorority Life Professional G oing through recruitment with an open mind, Mindy Dilley '06 realized she had to be a Sigma Kappa after being paired with a woman who was a Broncos fan. As a die-hard Chiefs fan herself, Mindy and Ashley Gannaway '03 gave each other a hard time and had fun discussing their football rivalry. It was the real-life interests she realized she had in common with the women at Delta Upsilon that made Sigma Kappa feel like home. Her Sigma Kappa experience helped her gain confidence to become a leader and spring-boarded her career as a fraternity and sorority life professional. "Missouri State is a larger institution, and it's easy to lose your sparkle when you have so many people there. Delta Upsilon provided me an opportunity to shine brightly and make connections with women who are like-minded, as well as to be social and meet men and women in Greek life," Mindy said. "I credit my membership in a sorority to anything positive that came out of my college experience. I don't know what would have happened if I hadn't joined." After graduate school, Mindy served as the assistant coordinator of student conduct at Oklahoma State University, where she worked with sexual assault survivors and students who had conduct issues in the area of the university. Next, she moved to Nebraska Wesleyan University in Lincoln where she worked as the assistant director of student involvement. There, she oversaw the Greek community, which brought back her own positive experiences with Sigma Kappa. "I formed great relationships with students, and all these memories flooded back of how impactful my own sorority experience was. Delta Upsilon helped me empathize with the students in ways that other adults couldn't," she shared. "They didn't understand why students were so wound up about recruitment, but I know how hard it is to plan and the heartbreak when it doesn't go well." Mindy's next professional chapter led her to serve as the fraternity and sorority life coordinator at the University of Missouri—St. Louis, a position she held for three years before becoming the associate director of student involvement this summer. It's rewarding to see her students following their own journeys and building meaningful relationships with them. She enjoys helping them navigate their feelings and career paths, but it can be challenging to balance her role as a mentor and friend with her professional role. "It's tough when you've built such great relationships with students to be that person who holds them accountable. Sometimes the president of a sorority is a wonderful person, but the sorority made poor choices, and as the leader of that group, she's who I communicate with," she said. "It's challenging to flip the switch between students as individuals whom I have a relationship with and consider a mentee to having to hold them accountable for the group's actions." COVID-19 has of course presented its own unique challenges, the biggest being the transition to a mostly virtual environment. While this change has shown Mindy that students are much more resilient than they get credit for, she knows that helping them navigate these uncertain times and making sure they take the pandemic seriously represents a whole new set of challenges. "Now we're in a weird limbo with COVID- 19 where society makes it much more lax in some aspects, but safety needs to be the top priority. If there are going to be any in-person events, which I have strongly discouraged, there can only be 10 people," she stated. "It's been tough navigating the perspectives of students, staff, university, city, county, state, and the country. I'm still taking it very seriously, and it's my job to help them understand all those different perspectives." Mindy wants her younger Delta Upsilon sisters to know that Sigma Kappa is so much more than just the women you meet at Missouri State University. Some of her best friends are women she's met through advising the Kappa Alpha Chapter, from the St. Louis alumnae group, and from the Walk to End Alzheimer's in St. Louis. "I still hold Delta Upsilon and Missouri State in my heart, but Sigma Kappa is so much larger than that," she shared. "I hope everyone understands the lasting impact this organization can have." Contact Mindy at mindydilley.sk@gmail.com. Mindy Dilley '06 and UMSL Coordinator of Student Activities Jessica Mode. Mindy Dilley '06 and Lindsey Early '03 in Paris during their two-week European vacation together last year.

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