Alpha Tau Omega - Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology

The last year has been a tremendous and highly re- warding learning experience for the Gamma Gamma Board of Trustees. Starting with one of the youngest elected officer groups that anyone can remember, to helping the chapter navigate a wide variety of new and often unexpected challenges, there has been no end to obvious progress the Chapter has made in the last 12-16 months! Working hand in glove with Chapter leaders, we devel- oped simple, user friendly "playbooks" for each elected officer position, created an officer orientation and tran- sition process also involving assigned and active Board mentors for each officer, and helped overhaul the Rush and pledge education processes. Significant improve- ments and mandated changes were made in chapter financial processes, we worked with the Chapter and Student Affairs as well as the other seven Rose fraterni- ties to improve the safety of registered parties and better comply with ATO National guidelines, have put in place several processes to help focus and improve ongo- ing Chapter academic performance, and are working with ATO National to revise the start date of pledge education to facilitate freshmen academic performance and improve continuity and quality of the education program. It certainly has been a busy but successful year for the Chapter as well as the Board! The ultimate barometer of an ATO chapter's success is competitiveness for the annual ATO National True Merit recognition, one that our chapter has achieved 26 times since the recognition began in 1969, and we re- main the fourth most decorated chapter in the nation based on full True Merit recognition. However, in the last ten years, the Chapter has only achieved full True Merit recognition 3 times, has received Honorable Men- tion 6 times, and fallen short of any recognition once. Invariably, academic performance has been the primary or only reason for the Chapter not achieving this recog- nition. While there is no doubt that sustained academic excellence is more difficult at Rose-Hulman than at many of our 130+ other ATO chapters, for a variety of reasons grades have even lagged several other Rose fraternities (not to mention the three sororities!). In an effort to increase focus on academics, which after all is the primary reason these young men come to Rose to begin with, the Board decided to initiate three things to help the Chapter focus more on academics: First, in December 2023, we initiated twice-a-year academic recognition dinners to recognize individual academic excellence as well as brothers demonstrating significant academic improvement (a Board sponsored/paid, ca- tered filet mignon dinner on campus on a night when the Chapter does not have meal service is an extra bo- nus!). Second, we initiated a 100% alumni-funded scholarship program (see page X of this Tau Talk issue) to financially recognize academic excellence and im- provement with quarterly scholarship awards beyond any Rose initiated financial aid and use the recognition dinners as a venue to hand out the scholarships. And finally, we co-sponsored, with the Housing Corporation Board, a task team in conjunction with the active chap- ter to evaluate what changes could be made to the Chap- ter house and processes to facilitate improved academic performance and adjust to a significantly larger size chapter that has not been seen since before COVID and the large house renovation project in 2021. The task team conducted a survey of the actives and held many discussions to understand the challenges of studying in the house. We learned that the designated study areas are also utilized for socializing and "hanging out". The task team has determined several improvement priorities including utilization of the downstairs chapter room to provide a furnished space for brothers to "hang out" when not studying (much like we had when the house was newly built), physical im- provements to the designated study areas such as addi- tional individual work spaces, dual monitor work sta- tions, increased focus on quiet hours in those areas, and improvements to the individual living quarters to en- hance the ability to study (new, durable, stow-away desks and office chairs), improved wi-fi reception, and a few other identified enhancements to the physical plant. Most of that work will be completed this summer when the house is largely vacant and will be funded by exist- ing educational funds at the ATO Foundation as well as some funding from the capital campaign. Those chang- es will be evaluated during the 2024-2025 academic year and further enhancements will be considered next year. The Board has had some turnover and additions in the last year. Ben Klick, '16, rotated off late in 2023 to focus on a growing family. Dave Clauss, '88, joined the Board in December, 2023, Matt Wentz, '03 joined in March, 2024 and Mike Bandy, '77 also joined in March in anticipation of Rex Phillips, '82, rotating off later this year as Chapter Financial Advisor, ensuring an orderly transition of a critical advisory role as the chap- ter size and operating budget have grown. Additionally, Bob Pease, '80, has taken a leave of absence from the Board following his February appointment to the Phil- lips 66 Petroleum Company Board of Directors. Bob hopes to rejoin the Board once he is up to speed in the Phillips role and more thoroughly understands that time commitment. For those of us most closely associated with the active chapter, we could not be more thrilled with the positive trajectory of the organization, whether it be improving academic performance, increasing chapter size, the quality of young men in the chapter, the improved cul- ture and care for each other and the chapter house, the diversity of brothers' backgrounds, capabilities and experiences, most of which are quite obvious. What is perhaps less obvious is that we have worked with the chapter to develop much more sustainable processes in just about every significant area of chapter operation to help ensure that the chapter not only continues to im- prove, but that those improvements will be sustained well after the current Board members transition to new challenges and interests. It has been a tremendously rewarding and satisfying opportunity for Board mem- bers to give back to the Chapter, and to watch and help many young men grow into capable leaders as they move on to their careers after Rose. Respectfully submitted, - Rick Stanley '78 Vice Chairman - Rob Banerjee '78 Chairman \\\\\\\\\\\\ BOARD OF TRUSTEES \\\\\\\\\\\\ Spring 2024 Board of Trustees Update Dr. Bill Weiner, Faculty Advisor Mike Bandy '77 Jerry Matthews '77 David Ayars '78 HCB President Rob Banerjee '78 Chairman Rick Stanley '78 Vice-Chairman Rex Phillips '82 Financial Advisor Kenny McCleary '83 Secretary Bill Daugherty '87 Dave Clauss '88 Nathan Wright '88 Matt Wentz '03 Current Board of Trustees Alumni and BoT Members present at the 2023-2024 Initiation Left to Right: Rob Banerjee, Kent Harris, Bill Daugherty

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