OSU Greek Centennial: OSU Greek Centennial

This is the story of the the OSU Greek Centennial Project. Please share it with your friends and get involved today! It's our TIME.

100 years ago, A&M was 9 years young in the first decade of a new century in a new state. Student activities were pretty limited to events like the Class Fight & and the OAMC spell out.

In 1908, a group of Dancers and Singers at Oklahoma A&M dubbed themselves Delta Sigma and became Gamma Lambda chapter of Beta Theta Pi Joined in 1912 by Kappa Delta, first sorority

The last century has spawned so many traditions: Remember the PhiPsi 500 and Dance Hour? Today’s Homecoming grew out of the Harvest Carnival. Pond tossing is out now and Redskin Beauties are also part of history. But philanthropy is bigger than ever .

The list of successful Greek alums is lengthy. Most of OSU’s major donors have a Greek connection. Greeks count Congressmen and women, Senators, Singers and Scholars among their contributions to OSU and beyond

If you look around the campus, monuments to important OSU influences are everywhere BUT!!! except for "Theta Pond" and the Chi-O Clock, there are no symbols of Greek Life. There are examples of Military History, the International Mall, the Spirit Rider and the Magruder Plots

And so we come to 2008 and OSU's Greek Centennial -- an event with three major goals:

to CELEBRATE the timeless values of Greek life by

Developing a registry of successful OSU Greek Alumni

Establishing a Greek Hall of Fame at OSU

Creating displays that highlight Greek Life throughout the campus

to RECOGNIZE a century of leadership and service by Greeks at OSU by

Developing a scholarship endowment to support Greek students

Spotlighting service by Greeks on campus and in the community

to PRESENT the gift of timless monument to the entire campus from the Greek community

The timing of three things make this the perfect time to move forward with this project:

The completion of a new OSU Master Plan that identifies key locations for new monuments
The OSU Greek Centennial in 2008 – 43 of 50 chapters still active
A new OSU President with an OSU Greek Background

And it's important to take a moment to recognize the national level of excellence Greek Life at OSU maintains:

Our Greek students were recognized by Gamma Sigma Alpha, Greek Academic Honorary, for having the highest differential between Greek and non-Greek grades in the Midwest Region. Our students have won this award six times in a row. No other campus has received this honor more than once in a row.

Our FarmHouse chapter was just recognized by the North American Interfraternity Conference as being one of eight chapters in the nation who had a chapter GPA over .5 higher than the all-men’s GPA.

Jessica Moore was selected as outstanding member of Alpha Pi Omega and the local chapter was selected as one of two top chapters of the year. (Native American sorority)
Our Panhellenic Council was recognized by NPC for academic excellence.

A Vision Committee of alums, university reps and undergrads has been meeting since 2006
sheparding this project through the university process of OSU Master Planners, Facilities Committees and Regents so we can unveil this exciting concept to you.

This beautiful watercolor by OSU Professor of Architecture John Womack depicts the vision of the Greek Centennial Sundial. Womack is the designer of the project and the slideshow below tells the story of how the project developed

Here's the Timeline of what has happened and what MUST happen still in order for this dream to become reality:

Construction is likely to take three to four months to complete and there are cost savings to be realized by completing the project during the resurfacing project for University Avenue. Here's the rest of the funding picture:

Obviously, holding construction costs to under $400,000 will enable us to increase the initial scholarship endowment to $400,000 with an eventual goal of awarding 30 $2000 scholarships each year.

And here is one breakdown of contributions that can make it happen:

Current Greeks and their chapters are determined to produce the lead gift of $190,000 through joint events such as a Ribbon Dance or t-shirt sales. They will be distributing information about the project to parents and alumni and honoring fellow members with gifts to the campaign.

But timing is critical:

Here's what you can do NOW to help:

You can download a brochure about the project and e-mail it or hand it to your friends.

You can get involved and receive e-news updates about the Centennial Sundial project by contacting Ival Gregory through e-mail or by phone at 405-744-5490.

You can donate through the OSU Foundation by contacting Vana Phibbs, Development Director for Students Affairs through e-mail or by phone at 405-744-2305. Be sure to specify the Greek Centennial Sundial Project and, of course, your donations are tax deductible!