Adam and Christopher interview Craig Frazier, an alumnus of Epsilon Epsilon Chapter at Oklahoma State University and a Chapter Advisor for our Gamma Beta Chapter at Northwestern University. Craig was recently recognized as the Fraternity's 2022 Chapter Advisor of the Year. In this episode, Adam, Christopher, and Craig talk about Best Practices for alumni volunteers interested in getting involved with the Fraternity and Craig shares his Sigma Nu Story.
The Gavel Podcast is the official podcast of Sigma Nu Fraternity, Inc. and is dedicated to keeping you updated on the operations of the Legion of Honor and connecting you to stories from our brotherhood.
To find out more from the Fraternity, you can always check out our website at www.sigmanu.org. Also consider following us on: Facebook | Instagram | LinkedIn | Twitter | YouTube | Flickr
Have feedback or a question about this episode? Want to submit an idea for a future topic you'd like to see covered? Contact the Gavel Podcast team at news@sigmanu.org.
Hosts for this Episode
Guests for this Episode
Episode Mentions and References
The Gavel Podcast - Ep 20 - Alumni Volunteers with Craig Frazier (Oklahoma State)
[Intro Music]
0:00:42.6 Adam Girtz: Hello and welcome to the latest episode of The Gavel Podcast, I'm Adam.
0:00:46.7 Christopher Brenton: And I'm Christopher.
0:00:48.2 Adam Girtz: The Gavel Podcast is the official Podcast of Sigma Nu Fraternity, and is a show dedicated to keeping you updated on the operations of the Legion of Honor and connecting you to the stories from our brotherhood.
0:00:58.8 Christopher Brenton: To find out more from the Fraternity, you can always check out our website at sigmanu.org. You can also find us on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter at @SigmaNuHQ, or by searching for Sigma Nu Fraternity.
0:01:10.6 Adam Girtz: Christopher, another episode, another summer episode.
0:01:14.7 Christopher Brenton: Another episode, yes.
0:01:19.5 Adam Girtz: I've been enjoying these summer episodes. I feel like we have an interesting job where it's us and teachers that still operate around the student schedule of fall, and spring, and summer being separate seasons, and it is fun to have this as part of our day-to-day getting together and doing some recording, so...
0:01:45.5 Christopher Brenton: Yeah.
0:01:45.8 Adam Girtz: Yeah. How have you been, how have things been?
0:01:47.7 Christopher Brenton: I'm good. Well, I will say too to your point it's kind of... It's the bitter-sweet part of summer.
0:01:53.7 Adam Girtz: Yes.
0:01:53.8 Christopher Brenton: Bitter in the sense that summer is coming to a conclusion here pretty soon, we're about a month away from it officially being fall which is kind of terrifying how quickly this year has moved, but sweet in the sense that I think for our industry and for our collegiate chapters, many of them are headed back to school now, if they're not already back on campus, and so this is a really, I think, energetic part of the year, it's exciting, it's electric, chapters are getting ready to go through recruitment, all these things I think are just a really cool experience for our fraternity and for the work that we do at the National Headquarters. And so yeah, I think it's a really exciting time of year, even if it is kind of the end of the summer, so to speak.
0:02:41.9 Adam Girtz: Well, and Christopher, as you may know, as it starts to get colder, that means it's stew season. That means I get to start making stew and soup in the crockpot, and that's my favorite time of the year.
0:02:55.0 Christopher Brenton: I'll leave that to you. As someone who is not the biggest fan of stew or liquid-based foods, you're more than welcome to hog it and hoard it for yourself.
0:03:10.0 Adam Girtz: One of our consultant conference calls we did, guess how many bowls of chili that each person eats in a year, and the guesses from some of the consultants were in the 50s for me. I was like, how much chili do you think I could possibly eat? That's a bowl of chili every week. Anyway, I digress.
0:03:28.5 Christopher Brenton: Were they wrong? It sounds like from your... [laughter]
0:03:33.7 Adam Girtz: No, they're very wrong, and I think a bowl of chili a week is too much. I just think that's too much.
0:03:42.2 Christopher Brenton: You're just going to go off into the wilderness and kind of retroactively reflect on what vibe you're giving off that people are assuming you're consuming this much soup.
0:03:50.8 Adam Girtz: Yeah, I don't know, I don't know. I might have to think about it, yeah, he's like, "well, yeah, when you make some don't you just have leftovers and then eat chili?" And I'm like, well, yeah, if I make it. I'm lucky if I make it maybe once a month, maybe even that and... Anyway...
0:04:09.5 Christopher Brenton: Well, really quickly, speaking of other vibes you're giving off, you're giving off a new job vibe.
0:04:14.5 Adam Girtz: Yes, new job glow.
0:04:18.5 Christopher Brenton: Yeah. So exciting news for listeners of the podcast who've been following along, your title has changed yet again. For our long time listeners, this is the, I think, third time that Adam... The third position that Adam has had while a co-host of the podcast. Podcasting being one of his most consistent job responsibilities...
0:04:36.7 Adam Girtz: Actually, yeah.
0:04:38.3 Christopher Brenton: On our team, but yeah. So Adam... So you are now the new Director of Engagement, you'll be working with... It's Director of Engagement, right? Not Director of Member Engagement?
0:04:48.8 Adam Girtz: Yeah, yes.
0:04:51.3 Christopher Brenton: Director of Engagement?
0:04:52.4 Adam Girtz: Yeah, Engagement.
0:04:52.5 Christopher Brenton: You'll be working closely with Justin Winger, who has also been given a new title, he is now the Senior Director of Engagement. Do you mind sharing with the listeners a little bit about what this transition will mean for you and what your new responsibilities are?
0:05:05.5 Adam Girtz: Yes, yeah. So like you said, one of the consistent responsibilities is going to be continuing on with The Gavel Podcast here, so I'm very excited about that. I guess, fortunately, it's now landed back directly under my responsibilities as opposed to when I was the Director of Chapter Services, kind of a side project that I was luckily able to still participate in, but beyond that, I'll be working with alumni clubs, managing some of our communications, campaigns, when it comes to the transitions, messages and some of the efforts that we're going to be undergoing here for... Basically just a different member engagement programs, my focus is going to be primarily on young alumni. So in addition to that, one of the cool things with this position is that it is going to be, you split between the general fraternity, so you're working on the engagement side and then also splitting some time with the Educational Foundation, so working with Dave Manilla on some of our development...
0:06:16.8 Adam Girtz: Charitable giving, and the non-profit arm of the Fraternity, so working with our Black and Gold Society, getting into working with the 1869 Club, or our Collegiate Giving, and the Omega society, or our Lifetime Giving. So very excited about that. And then also in there, a couple of small projects, limited time projects that I'll be working on, that I will be very excited, particularly some of them to start sharing with people when they start to show fruit here. But yeah, I'm very excited about the position. I think it's a great fit for me. I'm glad to be able to continue working for the Fraternity, and I think most excited to continue on our podcast here, to be able to devote some time to that as part of my day-to-day responsibilities as well, so...
0:07:14.6 Christopher Brenton: Yeah. Absolutely. Well, certainly excited for you, but then also as someone who has the inside scoop on some of the projects you're working on, I too, am very excited about the day in which we get to announce them to our listeners, so I'm looking forward to that as well.
0:07:33.9 Adam Girtz: Absolutely. Well, speaking of being excited, we're killing it with the transitions today, this is wonderful. I'm very excited. I think you are very excited as well to hear the news coming out this last week, that is our award winners. So could you tell us more about our award winners and where we can find more information about who we are recognizing for 2022?
0:08:00.6 Christopher Brenton: Yeah, absolutely. So for those who are unfamiliar, the Fraternity does awards on an annual basis, so there are several different award categories that we have to recognize, both collegiate chapters, individual members, so kind of merit awards, and then also our alumni, and then we have our more specific awards that kind of come out on an every other year basis, so Rock Chapter Award, which is kind of our highest award that can be given to an individual chapter. We award that on every two years at the conclusion of a biennium at Grand Chapter, also the Hall of Fame and Hall of Honor awards, those are typically given out every other year as well.
0:08:46.6 Christopher Brenton: But, for this year, we do have several really significant categories that we're excited to share. So for our individual award winners, we have our Alpha Affiliates, which is our highest, one of our highest honors that you can earn as a collegiate member. We have our Merit Awards, so Man of the Year and Scholar of the Year. This year, they went to one person who was incredibly impressive, Coleman Warren from our Gamma Upsilon Chapter. And then we also have our Alumni Awards. So Chapter Advisor of the year, Division Commander of the Year, House Corporation Officer of the Year, Alumni Chapter Officer the Year, and then a slew of other chapter awards recognizing high performance in categories, including scholarship, recruitment, service and philanthropy, LEAD, so a number of incredibly exciting things for us to get to share, and celebrate, and recognize the incredible performance of our chapters over this past year. But, and hopefully this will be another good segue. One of those award winners, we actually get to have on the podcast today, so we always like the opportunity to bring into studio...
0:10:03.6 Christopher Brenton: So to speak, some of our past award winners to kind of talk about their successes, what led to their success. We've done this in the past with our Lambda Gamma Chapter at Eastern Illinois, giving them the opportunity to kind of talk about what led to them winning the Community Service Contribution Award. They were actually our 2021 winner, and spoiler alert, they're also our 2022 Award winner as well, just continuing that performance, which is exciting to see, and another reason to go back and listen to that episode, to get to hear their advice on how they have been able to create a sustained performance in community service.
0:10:44.7 Christopher Brenton: Today, we actually have the opportunity to bring in an alumnus to talk about his experience serving as a Chapter Advisor. So our 2022 Chapter Advisor of the Year, is Craig Frazier. We'll have the opportunity to talk a little bit more about him here in a moment when we get into the interview, but he is an Epsilon Epsilon initiate and advisor for our Gamma Beta Chapter at Northwestern University. So it'll be really interesting to hear his perspective on advising a chapter, one that had some struggle, and so how the chapter and the Advisory Board kind of helped the chapter overcome that situation, but then also to get his perspective on what is it like for an alumnus to advise a chapter that he is not an initiate of. So he left Epsilon Epsilon after graduation, moved to the Chicago area, and then was able to get involved with our Gamma Beta Chapter, and so I think he brings in a really unique perspective as well.
0:11:42.4 Adam Girtz: Yeah, absolutely. Well, let's get into it.
[Transition Music]
0:12:10.2 Christopher Brenton: Hello, and welcome back. So we are very excited to have the opportunity to once again, give our listeners the opportunity here from the trenches, the perspective of an alumnus who has been doing the work in regards to helping to advise our chapters. Every so often on the podcast, we really like to reach out to experts, individuals who are actually practicing what we talk about to get their perspective. From the national organization, it's easy to glaze over and I think like, "Oh, this is just stuff that they talk about, what's its actual impact?" But whenever we have the opportunity to talk about or have guests on that actually do this work on a day-to-day basis, we're really excited to be able to share those perspectives with our members and listeners. Today we are joined by the 2022 Chapter Advisor of the Year, Craig Frazier. Craig is an initiate of our Oklahoma State Chapter, Epsilon Epsilon, but is the current Chapter Advisor for our Gamma Beta Chapter at Northwestern University, and so we're excited to have him on to talk about his experience. Craig, in just a moment, we'll give you the opportunity to do a quick introduction of yourself even beyond your role as a Chapter Advisor, but once again, thank you and congratulations on your recent recognition as our 2022 Chapter Advisor of the Year.
0:13:44.4 Craig Frazier: Thank you, thank you.
0:13:46.9 Christopher Brenton: So Craig, if you wouldn't mind for the listeners, would you please do a quick introduction, who you are, especially beyond your role as Chapter Advisor?
0:13:57.4 Craig Frazier: Certainly, I actually am a healthcare executive and consultant here in Chicago and I've actually been in Chicago for 25 years now, so it is home, and had been consulting or working with the local chapter here at Northwestern since from just before... Actually, the process leading up to regaining their charter in 20... I'm going to say 2013, 2014.
0:14:31.9 Christopher Brenton: Yeah, so quickly approaching a decade here... [chuckle] Yeah.
0:14:35.7 Craig Frazier: Not far. Not far.
0:14:37.3 Christopher Brenton: Absolutely. Well, Craig something that we really enjoy doing with all of our guests before we get into the meat of our conversation is just walking through your Sigma Nu story, we know that everyone has one, and certainly yours is unique, because you're an advisor for our Gamma Beta Chapter, but that's not where you began your Sigma Nu career, you're an initiate of our Epsilon Epsilon Chapter at Oklahoma State. And so we want to hear from you, what is it about Sigma Nu that attracted you to the organization, and if you could kind of briefly describe some of the things that you most enjoyed about your time at Epsilon Epsilon?
0:15:14.7 Craig Frazier: Certainly. Well, unbeknownst to me, I actually had been a legacy through my uncle and had a cousin in what was to be then a future brother-in-law, and actually two future brother-in-laws were Sigma Nus there at Epsilon Epsilon. For me, what drew me to Sigma Nu really was looking at, A, the type of guy... Other type of guys, they were recruiting at the time, and then more so looking at the senior class, because if they were... They were to be a roughly a three-to-four-year product of what the fraternity stood for and what it was about. And to me, that was sort of one of the better tell-tales, if you will, relative to the quality or what they really stood for, as opposed to if it was more than just words they stood for. So I was highly impressed, and it was a difficult decision because a brother, two years older than I, was at a different fraternity and so it was tough to say no, but it was very easy to say yes to Sigma Nu at the time.
0:16:25.1 Craig Frazier: So Sigma Nu just has been one of those things that through time continues to what they stand for has been very much something that stays strong in spite of the change in the culture, in our cultures, and our society and something that continues to draw me to support Sigma Nu, even to this day. So just very grateful as well as the friendships, the bonds that were forged during that time, not only with my own pledge brothers, but also those who in that three-year class ahead of me, and then the three-year classes to follow, still remember that fondly and the many friendships remained from that time.
0:17:16.6 Christopher Brenton: That's awesome. We're so lucky to have you for one, but as we talked about it, that kind of the top of this, we're wanting to be able to learn from you about your experience as a Chapter Advisor, and knowing that you had this impactful undergraduate experience, but then you moved away from Stillwater, and you relocated in the Chicago area. For a lot of our alumni, that is a very relatable experience, but I think a lot of our collegiate members, once they move away, they kind of become distant from their chapter, they lose some of those connections, they may feel like they lack the opportunity for involvement or engagement. But you're kind of an example of ways in which you can re-engage with the national organization and find fulfillment in another collegiate chapter. Can you talk a little bit about that, how you got involved with Gamma Beta at Northwestern?
0:18:16.7 Craig Frazier: Certainly, this was... Well, first, I just always look for a way to give back, it's not always about monetary, your ability to give in that way, although from small to large, that's certainly still a way. But I'm convinced more and more and particularly today, that the only place really...
0:18:40.0 Craig Frazier: Young men can get the exposure and the opportunity and personal growth. I don't know of any other collegiate organizations, certainly they do provide leadership positions and opportunity there, but it's different in a fraternity setting if it's done right. If it's done right. And so seeing the potential that that has, I know... I should say knowing the potential it has, that continues to draw me to Sigma Nu and frankly it doesn't matter chapter. Yes, in distance I'm well far away from Stillwater, Oklahoma, unfortunately, and but close to certainly some of the chapters here in the Chicago area, and so about the time that Gamma Beta had positioned itself for a re-launch, to re-charter potentially with a colony effort. I was engaged by Spencer Montgomery along with about eight or nine other local alumni in the area, who by the way, also were not from Gamma Beta.
0:19:51.1 Craig Frazier: We do have Gamma Betas on the alumni advisory board, but it's not solely. And I think at one time, during the time that I've worked with the board, we had as many as five different chapters, inclusive of course of Gamma Beta. So, I would sort of go to your other point, it matters not honestly whether or not you're from the chapter, and I feel very fortunate that certainly the engaged alumni of Gamma Beta have been very welcoming of Sigma Nus from other chapters to come and help out, certainly during this time and forward. They're very open to that and very grateful for that because there are many who want to give back, and we also know that what our experience was, it doesn't necessarily mean that we could take that and super-impose it upon the local chapter of Gamma Beta.
0:20:44.3 Craig Frazier: We have to understand, as with any type of organization, to understand where they are, and then more importantly for what learnings you might bring it's going to be well. If that worked well where you were for a variety of reasons, do those same reasons apply to where you or this particular chapter is now? And it may or may not, but there can be some things that you can do a derivative of. There's certainly no need to recreate the wheel, however, there's also the need for that local chapter to sort of be actively engaged in the choices and the decision making that goes on to operate the chapter to make those important critical decisions to go through the fire, the trials of fire if you will, to see how we choose to stand for what we stand for, and how that manifests in operational decisions and chapter decisions and also in interpersonal interactions there within the chapter as well.
0:21:44.3 Craig Frazier: So, I count myself fortunate. So, as I mentioned, and certainly Gamma Beta's been very fortunate on many fronts to have had an alumni advisory board which was a new concept to me. I had not operated under an advisory of that type of structure before. We had been in that tried and true House Corporation Board that sort of the all-encompassing. And so Gamma Beta has both, which is great. Certainly in coming back that was very instrumental having that arm very present, and for them then to have an ability to hand off from an operational perspective and work with, collaborate with an alumni advisory board is a great model, is a great model. So, we're very fortunate, very fortunate.
0:22:35.0 Adam Girtz: So Craig, I wanted to ask about the last couple of years of Gamma Beta's history.
0:22:44.6 Adam Girtz: Yeah, it was a roller coaster for sure.
0:22:46.9 Craig Frazier: It was hard. Yeah, it was a hard time.
0:22:48.5 Adam Girtz: And so, a little bit of context, there was an Abolish Greek Life Movement at Northwestern that the attempt there was to shame fraternity men out of their fraternities, and the goal was to have them resign their membership, and unfortunately that affected your Gamma Beta chapter very heavily. So, you're down to the point where the future of the chapter was really uncertain, so you're in quite a roller coaster boat. Now, here we are, we are back, and it sounds like recruitment has gone really well and the chapter is on pace to once again become very strong. In having worked with Gamma Beta and been able to see a little bit closer at hand some of the work that you guys did, I would say that the alumni board had a very large part in making sure that the chapter maintained some of that infrastructure and was able to be supported through it. So my question to you is, what was that experience like, and from that, what advice would you have for other advisory boards that feel that they are providing that structure to a struggling chapter?
0:24:06.9 Craig Frazier: I... At the time it was very, very difficult. That was also about the time the COVID impacts hit. And so, I think at Northwestern it was very difficult as it was across all the campuses, honestly. We're human beings we... That daily interaction is really a lot for what it's about and that opportunity to not only get to know one another, but to strengthen friendships and do certain things, activities together, everything from philanthropic to social. So that was very difficult and I... You know, every campus has its own history and set of variables that it has to deal with, and certainly it was a very difficult time to see the responses of the guys to some of the questions that were posed, and we... From the get go, we could only respect their decisions because it was their decision to join as much as it was a decision to leave.
0:25:30.5 Craig Frazier: Not something that any of them took lightly, but it was certainly something that... You know, given the presence of social media, etcetera, people's careers could almost be in jeopardy because of the negative and damaging impacts, which people generally don't necessarily realize. I'd like to think that they certainly... It can be wielded in a very divisive way. And so that was difficult to watch. And so we went from... I think we lost anywhere from 75% to 80% of the actives, and we sort of had a remnant who wanted to finish out and kind of stick with it. And so during that COVID period, it was very difficult to get through that. And then as... But we sort of stood the course, and we kind of...
0:26:24.7 Craig Frazier: As COVID sort of started to loosen and the campus entertain the notion, although a slightly different timeline to maybe do recruitment again, even amidst of sort of the undercurrent at the time, we felt like we had to give it a shot, that we didn't want to leave and just capitulate, although that might have been the easy thing to do. We just felt like we needed to give it another shot and let the campus... Let the student body make that decision or give us that response of whether or not it was worthwhile to do. But again, as mentioned before, we were armed with what Sigma Nu stands for, and when done right, it is absolutely amazing to be a part of, not only internally, but also that positivity can also be experienced, even though you may not be a member of that, of Sigma Nu, so...
0:27:28.5 Craig Frazier: So yeah. So we had the board who... We had quite a bit of discussion both with our advisory board as well as with Brad Beacham, certainly, and also with Ben Buettell in the corporation board, because it was a collective. We weren't going to try... This wasn't a solo effort, and we knew it couldn't be, and it shouldn't be. So in those discussions, we kind of worked through it and said, "We're going to give it another shot." We did, and it was a bit of a rally and that by the time... COVID, it was a two-year period, so by the time things started kind of loosening up a little bit, our remnant was even smaller. We were down to six or five guys.
0:28:14.1 Adam Girtz: Yeah.
0:28:14.9 Craig Frazier: And so that was... What that meant was that the alumni board was going to need to shoulder more. And so essentially, we kind of kicked into recruitment mode and collaborated with Scott and …and also... I'm blanking. Forgive me. I'm...
0:28:37.4 Adam Girtz: It would have been Michael or Ryan or one or the other?
0:28:40.8 Craig Frazier: Well, Michael was part of it as well, but Director of Expansion. I'm fine, but I'm just blanking. Forgive me.
0:28:48.3 Adam Girtz: Evan. Yeah.
0:28:49.7 Craig Frazier: Yes, Evan. So between Scott and Evan, who sort of helped us... [chuckle] Sort of came in toward the end of recruitment because, who knew? We didn't know what we were going to get. We thought maybe we would have... We could do maybe 12, 12 would be just ambitious, and lo and behold, we land 30.
0:29:07.2 Adam Girtz: Wow.
0:29:07.9 Craig Frazier: And so we were... Wow is right, we were shocked. And so we needed quickly... That's when Evan and Scott mobilized and helped us with Michael, who was absolutely amazing to kind of help us with boots on the ground, and so I worked a lot with Michael as well as with the rest of the board to really help set the foundation for what was essentially an Alpha 3, if you will, class to sort of reinvigorate, not only Sigma Nu, because we... And this was bigger than just Sigma Nu. This was also a campus thing.
0:29:48.1 Adam Girtz: Yeah.
0:29:49.0 Craig Frazier: Campus-wide initiative, and so we also worked very closely with IFC, and the Office of Fraternity and Sorority Life. Keith Garcia was amazingly helpful for us and understanding and supportive. And again, this was a collective effort to pull this off. And I just have to also tip the hat to the guys that we recruited and that they essentially had predominantly alumni giving their stories about Sigma Nu, and in a way that, at least, engendered more than just interest, but also commitment to further explore on a very serious basis through candidacy. And we were able to get them through that, and then in May, we initiated, I believe, 28 of what we had started out with, 30. And the others that had to withdraw did so for personal reasons, nothing... Luckily for us, there wasn't an uprising or not a swelling of the undercurrent from Abolish Greek Life, but it, you know... We are where we are, and we have a lot of work to catch up. There's a lot of...
0:31:09.6 Adam Girtz: So Craig, one other piece of advice I would love to hear from you, especially given your experience as an alumnus of a different chapter coming to advise your chapter that is not your alma mater, what advice would you have for a chapter that is looking to replicate that, to reach out to local alumni who might not be your part of their own chapter?
0:31:37.0 Craig Frazier: Well, first, I just consider myself fortunate to have had the opportunity, as I mentioned. You certainly have to have some sensitivity to getting to know the Chapter, because every Chapter is a little bit different and you need to give that... Give a little bit of deference there. But it is about giving back at the end of the day, and so, as you come in, you always have to remember is within an organization, you got to meet them where they are, not where your Chapter was or is or should have been, but where this particular Chapter is, and its strengths and its opportunities where it can grow and be better. So I would say just for those alumni who are no longer in the area of their home Chapter that take the leap, take the leap, reach out. The worst that can happen is a no or a "not at this time" kind of thing, but I would imagine that most Chapters have a need for, either with the corporation board and/or with an Alumni Advisory Board, and there's many ways to be able to engage, and it's not a huge burden, if you will, it'll be as much as you make it, but I would say just as with anything else, it is about something that you got to have... The timing has to be right and your bandwidth has to be right, and... Because it's not going to be fair to you or to the Chapter if neither one really aligned. So, but like I said, I count it just a blessing that the opportunity arose and this time had presented itself for me.
0:33:27.2 Craig Frazier: And so, again, just to encourage those guys to reach out, and I think Sigma Nu is probably one of the few organizations where you've got a greater sense of consistency across Chapters. And it may not be where those individual Chapters are, but it's about that pursuit and helping guys, helping young men in that pursuit is really what it's all about, and, you know, it's like, just feel strongly that there's no other campus organization like it that can give young men that opportunity to grow and to develop and also make mistakes in an environment that won't punish them for the rest of their life on earth, but rather an area where you've got people that are going to have your back, and that's an important aspect, but one that has to be developed within the Chapter, that trust and that's also very key. So hopefully that's answered your question a bit there, Adam.
0:34:33.3 Adam Girtz: No, I appreciate it. And it sounds like from everything you've said that you've had a really rewarding experience, you advising the Chapter there Gamma Beta. And so I would encourage all of our alumni, if you're listening to this and, like me, living in a city that is not the city that you graduated school from, that your Chapter is in, that I would encourage you to reach out to your local Chapter if you know there is one, and get involved in. If you are either an alumnus looking to make that connection or if you're a local Chapter looking to identify your alumni that are in your area, definitely you reach out to headquarters and we can help facilitate that, however that might be. Christopher, any final questions for Craig before we wrap here?
0:35:26.8 Christopher Brenton: Well, yeah, one final one. But before I get to that, I did want to just do a quick interjection, which is, if you are someone who has just been inspired by Craig's encouragement to get involved locally, that's you're now feeling inspired, encouraged, you can reach out to Todd Denson. Todd is our Director of Alumni Advisory Programs, he oversees our volunteers, and he is going to be an excellent resource for you to get connected with available local Chapter needs, regardless of your awareness of the local Chapters or how they're performing or what their needs are. So he can really get you connected with the local alumni if there are any, or kind of get you the resources you need if you are interested in stepping into a Chapter advisory role, or would just like to join the board. So Todd Denson, you can reach him at Todd.denson@sigmanu.org. So highly encourage that.
0:36:29.9 Christopher Brenton: And the last question I have for you, Craig, is just thinking back over the entirety of your time as an advisor, are there any final pieces of advice that you have, kind of learned experiences, stumbling blocks, pitfalls, things that you overcame that you would suggest or you wanted to talk about really quickly before we wrap up for any... Especially new advisors that are kind of new to role or maybe encountering their first setbacks or challenges in the role, what advice might you have for them?
0:37:07.0 Craig Frazier: You know, I would say it's just a... Number one, be persistent, but not in a burdensome way, oftentimes, because it's all about rapport, so there are going to be times where the officer you're consulting or the exact counsel you're consulting is going to be busy academically and seemingly unavailable, but use the... Be persistent and consistent with that. Meet them, second is meet them where they are. Don't assume that... I think that's one thing that we learned as a board is to assume certain things, and we had to make sure that we did not do that, we really curtailed that inclination, if you will. And third is just to be very present and participative. Attend Chapter, try to... If they're doing a philanthropic event or a community service event, there's no reason why you as the advisor or an alumni board can't also help out on that Saturday or whenever that might be inappropriately, so you don't want to overstay your welcome, but just find those ways to engage, to connect, because the overarching thing here is really about developing that rapport with them and...
0:38:39.2 Craig Frazier: Supporting them, which is a lot of... Particularly, I would say today, I think if ever, that these college guys are really... They're very independent, they're very capable, but part of that is also helping them learn that it's not about just schlepping it on their back and carrying the whole chapter, or carrying the whole committee, or what have you. It really is about helping them learn how to engage others in that effort, and to sort of... It's not going to be a familiar thing for them, so just again, that to me, that's kind of part of trying to meet them where they are, to understand them better, so that you can help them more effectively. So that's what I would suggest, and it definitely is a labor of love for sure, but for the board, seeing the chapter through its high times, and certainly it's... Working through the lower, the more challenging times really has been about that common bond, and sort of allegiance that we have to what Sigma Nu stands for and is about, and we had come from all walks of life, healthcare, engineering, private equity, law, all kinds of backgrounds.
0:40:15.9 Craig Frazier: And at the end of the day, it's about really connecting and developing the rapport with them, and while at the same time trying to meet them where they are. I will also say, lastly, that Headquarters is amazingly helpful, both with the leadership consultants, and with other branches within the chapter to sort of better enable yourselves to sort of help you brush up on a few things, so those resources are out there, and please take advantage of those, because they're there, and they're very grateful that they are, that Sigma Nu's gone to the length that it has to put those resources out there to help chapter, chapter advisors, the officers, boards, etcetera.
0:41:04.9 Christopher Brenton: Absolutely. Well, Craig, as we bring your conversation to a close, once again, I just want to say congratulations on the 2022...
0:41:12.4 Adam Girtz: Yeah. Congrats.
0:41:13.3 Christopher Brenton: Chapter Advisor of the Year Award, and then also thank you so much for your willingness to be on the podcast with us today to share your advice and expertise over the last couple of years that you've had the opportunity to serve as Chapter Advisor.
0:41:27.6 Craig Frazier: Thank you, thank you, couldn't have done it without the board.
[Transition Music]
0:42:03.9 Adam Girtz: Alright. Welcome back, everyone. That was wonderful. As a consultant, I got to work with Craig, Northwestern was in my region when I was traveling, so Craig always very kind, would always take me to dinner, and I enjoyed that very much. And yeah, getting to know him, but it was really cool to hear some of his experiences, especially over this last year, or this last what, I guess, two years or so, you are working with Gamma Beta, so I think a very well-deserved award there. Like you mentioned, that group effort, I think, is very neat to hear him talk about that group effort of the Alumni Advisory Board there. And I thought interesting to hear about how it is kind of a melting pot of different chapters of alumni that live in the area there, and that's just such a great resource for the chapter, and what an awesome resource to have as a collegiate chapter, all of this experience from all over the place. Pretty cool.
0:43:10.6 Christopher Brenton: Yeah, absolutely. So many of our chapters have these rich and deep alumni bases they can pull from. We have some incredibly large chapters, our Gamma Upsilon Chapter, recently, to bring up another award, they won our... Well, they, collectively with a number of other chapters, sorry, won the over 100 Men Manpower Award, but Gamma Upsilon is one of, if not our largest chapter at 268 members, so you can imagine just how many alumni they are graduating every year. So we've got some chapters who have deep, deep benches.
0:43:51.9 Christopher Brenton: However, I always think that having alumni from other chapters, it gives your board kind of a rich perspective on different chapter operations. They can kind of give insight into ways in which operations may vary. But, also as much as our individual collegiate experience is important and is worth celebrating, we do have this immensely important shared connection that is common throughout the Fraternity, our ritual, our values, all of those things bind us together as brothers, and so regardless of your chapter experience, you absolutely have something to give you as a professional. If you're an alumnus, you have expertise and wisdom to share. And so we strongly encourage our alumni to get involved regardless of whether you are in the vicinity of your home chapter.
0:44:51.8 Adam Girtz: Yeah, absolutely. And what a cool experience as a collegian to look to your advisory board for role models and see alumni from other chapters getting involved locally like that, I think it serves as a good reminder of the national scale of this Fraternity. And I think Craig mentioned it during the interview, but just that shared... There is some through line, and there's a thread connecting all of our chapters that you can feel when you meet another chapter or members or alumni from another chapter, so to be able to demonstrate that in person is really cool.
0:45:34.1 Christopher Brenton: Yeah. Well, and too... I mean, this will kind of be my final piece of advice, and I think this is reflective of what Craig shared, but for those who don't know and those who don't have the perspective of the General Fraternity, now I will share, something that I have found to be incredibly consistent and highly correlated with chapter success is alumni engagement and involvement. On both sides of the coin, chapters who invest in the development of their alumni, so they're producing newsletters, they're hosting alumni events, they are involving alumni in LEAD sessions. On the flip side, for alumni, those who have well-organized boards, who have healthy and well-staffed house corporations, who are getting involved in developing meaningful mentorships and providing voluntary advisory support, those are often the best chapters. And of course, for some of our larger chapters, it may be easier to find those alumni, but I also find that some chapters are not really receptive to that level of advisory support. And even though it's there and even though they do have a deep bench, they're not utilizing their alumni to the best of their ability.
0:46:53.7 Christopher Brenton: We are one team, but just like how you can have successful collegiate and professional sports teams that have well-staffed... Oh, sorry. Well-built-out rosters of incredible athletes and they still underperform because they don't have a good coaching staff, this is exactly the same scenario, whereas we can have absolutely phenomenal rockstar collegiate members who have no advisory support. And maybe their chapter is good for a year, but they don't have that sustained excellence year over year over year like some of our repeat Rock Chapters have. And so if your chapter is aspiring to Rock chapter but you want to build a legacy, you want to have a chapter that you as an undergraduate member can come back to years into the future and feel confident about the legacy that you have left behind as something that was maintained and built upon, be open-minded to reaching out to alumni, to engaging and developing those relationships, to helping build a well of support among the alumni that can be sustained. And for advisors, if you want to see that legacy of your chapter be continued, you're going to have to get engaged as well. And I think... Craig really paints, I think, a helpful example of, regardless of whether you are near your collegiate chapter or not, you can find great satisfaction, fulfillment in being able to fulfill the Fraternity's Mission by getting involved with local chapters, so.
0:48:30.3 Christopher Brenton: I mentioned this in the interview, but once again, if you are interested in getting involved or you are a collegiate chapter who is looking for support, Todd Denson, our Director of Alumni Advisory programs, is going to be a key resource for you, and you can reach him at todd.denson@sigmanu.org.
0:48:50.1 Adam Girtz: Yes, excellent. Well, Christopher, we talked about some of your Rock chapters and your chapter awards that have gone out now. I do think it's important to talk about and remind our collegiate chapters that Pursuit of Excellence results will be coming out soon. So when this episode comes out, potentially, it just released or just sent out, but if not, then soon after that, depending on when this episode goes live. But, yeah, so that rating and feedback will be going out. And that's an excellent, excellent tool for our chapters to get a snapshot of where they're at, and I think most importantly, your plan for the future. So talking about alumni advisory programs, really, this is a great time to reconnect with your advisory board, if you feel disconnected, or to bring that rating and feedback to your advisory board, if you are connected, and discuss it with them, use it to strategize and set up a plan for this upcoming year. Resources for that planning can be found at our website, sigmanu.org.
0:50:08.1 Christopher Brenton: Yeah. Well, and kind of within that theme, we have our Pursuit of Excellence program thats helping chapters too to build towards Rock chapter, we have those scores... Sorry, not scores. Scott will be very upset with me. Our ratings for Pursuit of Excellence. So chapter should now have access to that information from your ratings for the previous year. I will say an important note, for the 2022/2023 academic year, which is the one that we're entering now, the Evaluation Guidelines for Pursuit of Excellence have changed, and so it's going to be critical for chapters who... Especially for those who have been paying very close attention to your evaluation guidelines, because you're on track for Rock Chapter, that you become aware of those changes. We'll be making sure that plentiful communication is going out, as well as our consultant team making chapters aware of that when they're on the road this fall. But if you go to sigmanu.org/pep, that is where you can find all of the information on The Pursuit of Excellence Program, you can find resources for planning for the upcoming academic year, you can find LEAD sessions for strategic planning, for the... LEAD sessions that kind of help you to walk through your results to better understand the ratings that you received, and how to make use of the ratings and feedback documents that you got, how to start to plan for implementing the ratings and feedback that you received so that you can have a...
0:51:41.3 Christopher Brenton: An academic year that improves upon your past year's performance, but also that takes into account those changes. And over the last couple of years, we've seen an increasing number of our chapters who are able to obtain that excellence standard across the board and are able to obtain rock chapter status. And while we're super excited to see that number continue to grow, it also invites the opportunity for us to elevate our standards and to hold ourselves to an increasingly higher standard.
0:52:20.0 Christopher Brenton: So that we can continue to pursue excellence and be better and better versions of our chapters, and then collectively a better fraternity experience overall. So, in response to the Fraternity's desire for continued growth and excellence, those evaluation changes have been made to more solidify certain expectations, make more clear exactly what the Sigma Nu experience is supposed to be from chapter to chapter, but then in some areas, to also raise the expectation for what it means to be an "excellent chapter" and to earn that Rock Chapter status for this biennium. So I just wanted to put out that PSA there for chapters who have been interested in their Pursuit of Excellence results from this past year, and then to make sure you're aware of those changes as you begin planning for this academic year.
0:53:16.4 Adam Girtz: Awesome. And before we wrap here, I did want to mention another effort that we're undergoing right now. So that's actually our Oral History Project, we are very excited. So you just want to... You're heading that up. So we are actually going to be soliciting from our alumni their stories, their Sigma Nu stories. Something that you and I have, and Drew in the past have done on this show is that I love... Every time we were able to do this is you're from our Sigma Nu. New guests on the show, get their Sigma Nu story and hear from them what that story is, what Sigma Nu means to them and the impact it's made in their life.
0:54:00.8 Adam Girtz: So I think now we are very lucky to have the opportunity to get those stories from all of our alumni. So all of our alumni should have gotten a little yellow card, like one that I'm holding up on the screen that you can't see right now, because this is an audio format. But it is a small yellow postcard that is requesting that you verify your alumni contact information. So just a quick call, there's a number on there, and then your invitation ID on there as well. You can verify your contact information and then you will be reaching out to request those stories. The Sigma Nu story, from each of our alumni. So for more information on the Oral history project, you can go to sigmanu.org/OHP.
0:54:49.6 Christopher Brenton: Yeah.
0:54:53.5 Adam Girtz: sigmanu.org/OHP.
0:54:54.7 Christopher Brenton: And just a quick anecdote, Adam have you participated or have you done your call yet?
0:54:58.8 Adam Girtz: I have not actually, I'm behind. So this is my reminder to do this.
0:55:02.9 Christopher Brenton: Yeah, so I'm putting him on the spot people and holding him accountable. But I had the chance to do it, it will probably take from start to finish, about 20 minutes. If you're doing the Story portion, providing your testimonial, of course, they do want to verify and update your contact information that's important. But again, as Adam mentioned, they are wanting to collect stories, we actually include the question prompts, if you want to prepare in advance before the call, you can go to... Again, sigmanu.org/OHP it stands for Oral History Project... But OHP.
0:55:44.9 Adam Girtz: OHP.
0:55:47.0 Christopher Brenton: And that's where you can find the list of questions, they're pretty simple questions. What was a memorable experience you had... Are you still in contact with your brothers, what were your relationships like with them? Those are the types of questions that they're going to hit at. And for those of you who aren't aware of what the end goal is, so we are binding a hard copy book of all of these stories to have a bound record of our Sigma Nu experience across all of our collegiate chapters. My wife actually had the opportunity to participate in a similar project that was done by the same company for Furman University, which is her undergraduate institution and the product is stunning.
0:56:34.7 Christopher Brenton: I am super excited about this for the Fraternity, it's of no cost to the Fraternity, so anybody who wants to participate, you are not obligated to purchase a book. But the project itself is funded by those who participate so the national organization is not paying in anything to get this project going, but it is a really exciting project for those who do participate to have a project or an outputted project on the end that's a just really stunning record of our fraternity history and the stories of how the Fraternity has impacted our brotherhood. My understanding is that we've had hundreds, if not thousands of brothers already participate, which is super cool, we may have to produce multiple books...
0:57:24.8 Christopher Brenton: From so many people participating, which is super exciting just to see the enthusiasm and the excitement about that. But I know sometimes people are getting the cards, they don't know, "is this... What kind of solicitation this is," but it's a really exciting project. And we hope that every alumnus has the opportunity to participate, even if you don't purchase a book.
0:57:44.0 Adam Girtz: Yep, absolutely. Well, Christopher, anything further? For the good of the order.
0:57:49.8 Christopher Brenton: I think that is it.
0:57:51.7 Adam Girtz: Okay, thanks everyone. We'll talk to you soon.
[Outro Music]