Foundation Awards Fraternity $233,000 in Educational Grants

 The Educational Foundation Board of Directors unanimously voted to award $233,000 in Fraternity grants for the 2017-2018 academic year. These grants will support four strategic initiatives: this summer’s three Stead Leadership Seminars, the High Alpha and Officers Summit, career services and professional development programming aimed to help members prepare for a successful transition after college, and the long-standing Neville Advisor’s College.

$95,000 – This summer the Fraternity will host three Stead Leadership Seminars, each strategically located to minimize travel for our members.  More than 600 undergraduate participants are expected at the three seminars, and more than 100 of these brothers will be in attendance through a fully-funded Educational Foundation scholarship.

“During each Stead seminar, attendees will volunteer with local charitable organizations,” said Marcus Kelley, Associate Director of Education. “It has been a dream of mine to be able to incorporate programming focused on volunteering and community service at a summer conference, and with the new regional Steads, we are able to offer that opportunity!”

$30,000 – Through a new joint initiative between the Fraternity and Foundation, a grant has been awarded to fund programming aimed at educating undergraduates about the resources available to them within Lambda Chi Alpha and host campuses. The focus of the Fraternity’s new career services programming is to develop and implement a career/networking program at the chapter level.

$48,000 – Leadership training for our undergraduate officers continues to be a priority through the High Alpha and Officers Summit, an updated program for 2018. The High Alpha Summit has prepared more than 250 High Alphas since its launch in 2015 and will expand to include High Beta, Theta, Tau, Delta, Iota and Kappa this year.

“Expanding to additional officers is a result of feedback from High Alphas attending the Summit,” said Nick Zuniga, Director of Chapter Services. “Their feedback is that more officers need this information and training – the grant from the Educational Foundation will allow our officers to train together and learn from each other.”

$60,000 – The final grant will support the Neville Advisor’s College, which will take place February 15-17 in Indianapolis. Last year, more than 100 alumni volunteers attended the conference completely free.

The Neville Advisor’s College is a training conference for High Pis, Alumni Association Boards, Alumni Control Boards and House corporation officers.

“As a result of attending the Neville Advisor’s College, I now have a much clearer understanding of our students and the risks we face daily within our fraternities,” said Robert Miller, High Pi at the University of West Virginia. “I better understand my role as an advisor, facilitator, teacher and coach.”

Since 2007, the Foundation has granted more than $4.8 million to the Fraternity. For more information about the Educational Foundation and how you can help, please visit our website.