Athens, Ga. – The University of Georgia Interfraternity Council received seven awards at the Southeastern Interfraternity Conference Awards Banquet held last month in Atlanta. The IFC was recognized in academics, educational programming, community service and recruitment.
“These awards reflect the outstanding nature of our fraternity system and the diligent effort of the interfraternity leadership and our member chapters,” said Michael Pisciotta, IFC staff adviser. “The awards give us a great deal of encouragement to continue the programs we have. It’s nice to be recognized in such a way among our peers in the Southeastern Conference.”
The IFC received the Academic Achievement and Scholarship Programming Award, which is given to the IFC that excels in encouraging and assisting high chapter and individual academic achievement and recognizes academic excellence as well as improvement in new members, members and chapters throughout the system. For the fall of 2011, IFC fraternity men averaged a 3.21 GPA, 0.13 points above the average of 3.08.
The council also was presented the Educational Programming Award, recognizing its efforts to provide education in the areas of scholarship, alcohol awareness and hazing prevention for both initiates and new members. In addition, the group received the award for Outstanding Educational Program for its continuing education program, created to outline expectations for second-year fraternity members.
“The continuing education program for second-year members has been very successful in reminding members of our rules and expectations and also in educating them about alcohol, hazing and risk management,” said Fisher Law, IFC president.
The IFC received the Excellence in Community Service Award, which recognizes the IFC that best provides initiates and new members with the opportunity to enrich their own lives by giving back to their campus or local community in a meaningful way. The award also recognizes chapters who place an emphasis on hands-on community service.
In addition, the council received the Outstanding Service Project Award for its annual Halloween event Trunk-or-Treat.
“UGA’s IFC worked hard during the past year to promote community service and philanthropic events,” said IFC vice president of public relations Bill Gow, who served as community service chair for IFC in 2011. “Trunk-or-Treat was a great success this year as we saw increased participation across all councils, and students from multiple Boys and Girls Club locations were able to attend.”
The council also was recognized with the Recruitment Award, given to the IFC that has well-designed, effective and organized year-round recruitment programs that attract high quality, motivated prospective members to the fraternity community.
The IFC garnered the Outstanding Publication Award for The Fraternity Way, the IFC’s guide to fraternity life at UGA. The Fraternity Way was chosen as the best publication based on layout, content, distribution and overall quality. Tony Hart, graphic designer in the Tate Student Center’s Print & Copy Services, designed the publication.
The awards ceremony was a culmination of a weekend at the SEIFC Leadership Academy, which brings together member councils for educational seminars, service events and presentations. The Southeastern Interfraternity Conference, an association of fraternity governing councils in the southeastern United States, was established in 1966 and consists of more than 100 fraternity-governing councils from colleges and universities.
The Interfraternity Council is a registered student organization in the Greek Life Office within UGA’s Division of Student Affairs. For more information, call 706/542-4612 or see http://ifc.uga.edu.
