Sigma Chi - University of Michigan

THETA THETA CHAPTER OF SIGMA CHI FRATERNITY | UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN | SPRING 2021 I f you talk with enough Sigma Chis who have attended one of the Fraternity's leadership training workshops since the program began in 1947, you're likely to find thousands of men in various stages of life who recall fondly lessons they learned from the late 48th Grand Consul, Order of Constantine Sig and Significant Sig Dr. Charles Thatcher '43 who entered the Chapter Eternal on Jan. 27, 2021, and credit him in some part with shaping the person they are today. There's Thatcher's lesson on time management that has stuck with 59th Grand Consul Dick Hester, Ball State '77, and scores of others where Thatcher, an Army veteran and former professor of chemical engineering, shared advice on how to manage every minute of every day. Then, there's the analogy that springs to the mind of Order of Constantine Sig and Sigma Chi Foundation Senior Director of Development Sig Frank Raymond, Penn State '71, where he encouraged Sigs to be mindful of their interactions with others and compared those interactions to billiard balls colliding— whereby the trajectory of each person changes as a result of the energy transferred from another. Despite how numerous and varied Thatcher's lessons were, each was sure to be filled with his trademark intellect and wit and to be delivered with the sort of compassion and empathy that made Thatcher so beloved by generations of Sigs and students. THE GIFT OF LEARNING Thatcher was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on April 4, 1922, and in 1929 moved to Escanaba, Michigan, with his parents, Oliver and Carrie. He then attended the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor and earned a bachelor's degree in chemical engineering. He was an editor of The Michigan Daily newspaper, cadet commander of Michigan's Army ROTC program, a member of the all-campus honor society, a member of the University of Michigan band and joined Sigma Chi thanks in part to encouragement from fellow band member Roy Mattern Jr. '42. After graduating from Michigan and winning the 1943 International Balfour Award, Thatcher served from 1943 to 1946 as an ordinance officer in the U.S. Army. He then returned to the University of Michigan and began a lifelong career in education, working in the school's dean of students of office and as a faculty member of its chemical engineering department from 1947 to 1958. Thatcher's career subsequently brought him to the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, New York, as professor from 1958 to 1965 and as dean of Pratt's school of engineering and science from 1965 to 1970. From 1970 to 1992, Thatcher was a distinguished professor of engineering at the University of Arkansas before retiring at age 70. He was so well remembered, however, that he was called back to teach in 2005 and 2006 and continued doing so unofficially until his passing. Along the way, he authored three textbooks and in 1973 earned the American Society for Education Award for Excellence in Teaching, among other accolades. AN ADVOCATE FOR UNDERGRADUATE To say that Thatcher took seriously his lifelong commitment to the White Cross would be an understatement. Rather fittingly, his more than 70-year career of volunteerism and service in Sigma Chi began with an invitation to join the 1948 Leadership Training Workshop faculty. "I probably would have never been seen again in Sigma Chi had it not been for the Balfour Award," he said in a 2017 interview with Sigma Chi. "That's the only way [Order of Constantine Sig Fred Mitchell, Mississippi State and Michigan State 1913,] who was looking for faculty at workshop, would've known about me. His invitation for me to be on the workshop faculty in 1948 was the beginning of my Sigma Chi career." That career included service as a member of the Leadership Training Board from 1957 to 1973 and a stint as its chairman from 1971 to 1973; serving as alumnus member-at-large to the Executive Committee from 1964 to 1973; as Grand Pro Consul from 1973 to 1975; and as Grand Consul from 1977 to 1979. The Fraternity dedicated its 1974 workshop at Purdue University to him, and in 1979 he received the William H. Carlisle Jr. Outstanding Workshop Faculty Award. A highlight of Thatcher's term as Grand Consul included his visiting all 172 active Chapters at the time — a feat that Thatcher completed by April of 1976, less than one year into his term. "Visiting 172 Chapters was an experience I would not have missed for anything. It was an experience I would not do again, even if my wife, Flo, would let me. But in doing so, I get a feeling of vitality that is exciting in most Chapters," he said at the end of his term. It was during one of these visits that Hester, then the Consul of the Ball State Chapter, first met Thatcher, who planned to visit the Chapter and observe its initiation ceremonies. Hester recalls being nervous at the prospect of having a Grand Consul critique his Chapter's Ritual performance but felt reassured upon meeting Thatcher. "His immediate warmth, his reassurance and his encouragement just put me and the entire Ritual team immediately at ease. At that moment, I knew what type of brother he really was." Years later when Hester, during his own term as Grand Consul from 1995 to 1997, sought advice on a new leadership program designed for sophomore members that became the Horizons Huntsman Leadership Summit, Thatcher was one the first calls he made asking for feedback on the program and to be part of the planning committee. Thatcher agreed. "Chuck immediately said 'Absolutely,'" Hester recalls. ENDEAVORING TO RETAIN THE SPIRIT OF YOUTH Sigma Chi Remembers 48th Grand Consul Dr. Charles Thatcher '43 Editor's Note: This article was originally published in the spring issue of The Magazine of Sigma Chi and reprinted with their permission. (Continued on page 2)

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