Sigma Phi Epsilon - University of Texas

FALL 2016 Inside Skull & Crossbones Society Members ~ p. 2 Chapter Report ~ p. 3 Alumni News ~ p. 4 ΣΦΕ T E X A S A L P H A s U N I V E R S I T Y O F T E X A S S I G M A P H I E P S I L O N A E CCOLAD PUTTING OUR ACHIEVEMENTS IN CONTEXT Join the Excitement in a Few Simple Ways B rothers of Texas Alpha, I hope all of you had a great summer. Brothers are settling in at 2500 Pearl for the fall semester. Spring 2016 was a great semester. The chapter ended the term with a 3.33 GPA, ranking us fifth overall and a higher GPA than fall 2015. In reality, their GPA is even higher, at 3.36, in that the University counted four members at 0.00 even though they were not on campus in the spring. What's interesting is that we are fifth with 174 members, while the four chapters above us have 123, 119, 71, and 70 members, respectively. I bring this up because, although Texas Alpha has always excelled socially, the men work as hard as they play. We, as local alumni, as well as the chapter leaders, continue to stress academic achievement. We strive to produce well-rounded, socially adept, and intelligent young men for the University and society as a whole. Summer recruitment went well, as usual, with an incoming class of high- achieving, motivated new members. We have another 40 Acres student, several National Merit-recognized scholars, athletes, business honors, and Plan II majors within our new 54-member class. We greatly appreciate the parents entrusting the chapter with their sons' development in college. I know the chapter takes this responsibility seriously. This year, we are expanding professional development opportunities for the chapter by bringing Daniel Liu, SMU '08, on the alumni board. Daniel is a SigEp from SMU and the Career and Talent Development Consultant for the McCombs MBA program. Daniel has agreed to work with the chapter members to foster their preparation for post-grad life. Finally, we'd value your participation in the following ways: 1. Please send us any news of Texas Alpha brothers. 2. Send us your recruitment recommendations. 3. Join the Texas Alpha LinkedIn group at www.linkedin.com/groups/3089903. 4. Come by the house for football tailgates! Hook 'em and HFF! Lynn Butler '88 AVC President Roger Soape '78 Provides Opportunities for Young SigEps S itting in his office, Roger Soape '78 can think of about a dozen SigEps who have worked for him in the last 30-plus years. In fact, Roger has hired more SigEps than anyone in Texas Alpha's history. "I started my consulting business in 1980," Roger said. "Part of the fun was being able to help SigEps who were a little younger than me by employing them when they graduated. And it continues today—there is a SigEp working on a project for us right now." Roger earned a degree in business, studying primarily petroleum land management, a field he was introduced to during college. The work of a petroleum landman was unknown to Roger at the time, but now, 38 years later, he has made a successful career, starting his own energy land services company—Roger A. Soape Inc. He has made significant contributions in the industry, serving as president of both the Houston Association of Professional Landmen and the American Association of Professional Landmen (AAPL). In 2009, Roger was named AAPL's Landman of the Year, a prestigious honor given to one of the group's 20,000 members in the U.S. and Canada. Looking back to his days at SigEp, Roger sees the early influences of the fraternity. "I loved my time in school as a SigEp. I probably loved it too much! There are times when I think SigEp was a distraction from my studies—and I'm sure it was—but the long-term tradeoff has been well worth (Continued on page 4)

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